The Master's Glossary

Au Courant: The phrase is an adjective from the French language. I use this word to describe persons who are mentally, emotionally, and spiritually alive, aware, awake, open, cognizant, receptive, apprehensive, and knowing. Au Courants are forerunners, people compelled to adventure into the unknown and create new ways to live life.

Balancing a Paradox: Recognizing and maintaining a working cognizance of the relative, inter-related importance of the apparently opposing ends of any continuum. Remembering that each extreme gives meaning to and defines its apparent opposite. Examples: Love/Hate, Right/Wrong, Young/Old, Life/Death.

Behavioral Lag: The time span required for our behavioral systems to reprogram themselves and become congruent with the individual’s changing social, emotional, and spiritual needs in times of rapid change.

Biological Lag: The time span required for our biological systems to reprogram themselves and become congruent with the individual’s changing social, emotional, and spiritual needs in times of rapid change.

Call (with a bold capital “C”): An intense primal urge to actualize our potential and to contribute to Evolution. When we feel like we are wasting our lives, or that a good portion of us is laying fallow, or that the best of us remains untapped, we are not heeding this Call.

Center of Power (with a bold capital “P”): The quiet place of inner strength within each of us that comes forth when the highly integrated emotional/mental/physical aspects of ourselves are aligned with Nature's Intent. (See Nature's Intent)

Center of Innocence (with a bold capital “I”): The Core of ourselves which remains uncontaminated by the everyday world and always mirrors Nature's Intent. (See Nature's Intent)

Cerebral Gymnastics: Automatic mental activity, usually referred to as “thinking.” While often individually generated, it is also almost always socially acquired and culturally based. (See Mental Machinations, Mind Spinning)

Clarity (with a bold capital “C”): Core-generated, high Integrity, simple, direct, clean, precise thinking. Clarity cuts through the overly complex mental confusion, offering both an emotionally felt sense of release and new, Self-furthering insights. (See Self-furthering, Core, Clarity)

Click-Whir Responses: Automatic behavior that is triggered by an emotional reaction. Almost always Self-defeating. (See Knee-jerk Reactions)

Consciousness (with a bold capital “C”): The art of unlearning all we have socially and physiologically acquired so that we can become Self-directed. The process of creating on on-going awareness of our acquired learning and instincts and their effects on our emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Developing the capacity to bracket our acquired knowledge and instincts to experience Life with a non-biased, innocent, clean, child-like openness. Being able to access all we have experienced, learned, and biologically inherited, while at the same time, remaining in constant contact with a universally shared Core- wisdom. (See Core-wisdom)

Core (with a bold capital “C"): The seed, Heart, center of each individual's being that is also universally shared. It contains and fosters all of our individual and shared potentials. (See Self, Heart)

Core-Clarity (with bold capital “C”s): Having a clean, uninterrupted line of thought, hearing, and vision through the Core of one's self as one interacts with the world.

Core-Connective (with a bold capital “C”): Anything that brings the Cores of one or more beings into harmony; frequently a momentary or experience-specific phenomenon.

Core-Directed (with a bold capital “C”): A clear and undeniable sense of a high Integrity action that needs to be taken; an action that is initiated from deep within us. (See Integrity)

Core-Insights (with a bold capital “C”): A spontaneous, high Integrity, Core generated flash of Clarity or understanding which is Self-furthering. (See Self-furthering, Core, Clarity, Integrity)

Core-Speak (with a bold capital “C”): A spontaneous, high Integrity, Core generated, verbal articulation of Clarity which is Self-furthering. (See Self-furthering, Integrity, Clarity, Core)

Core-Practices (with a bold capital “C”): High Integrity principles which are universally Self-furthering. (See Core, Self, Integrity)

Core-Promptings (with a bold capital “C”): Subtle, non-cognitive hunches, clues, or hints to a new understanding which sometimes precedes a Core insight. (See Core-Insights)

Core-Wisdom (with a bold capital “C”): Practical, heart-felt knowledge passed down through the ages and accessed through the Core of ourselves. (See Core)

Envy: An emotion we feel when we covet for ourselves an experience or an opportunity that we believe someone else is enjoying. (Different than “Jealousy,” see Jealousy)

Everyday World: Our day-to-day experience of ourselves, others, and the world as we have been biologically, socially, culturally, and environmentally programmed to perceive.

Epigrams: Concise, thought-provoking writings that promote awareness and deep questioning of our behaviors and belief systems.

Fear of Intimacy ( with a bold capital “I”): A universally shared, but often unrecognized, concern that a close relationship with one's Self and/or with the Selves of others will forever isolate us from everything that is socially familiar and important. (See Intimacy, Self)

Financial Synaptic Misfires: Socially acquired and culturally based fears and thoughts about money and/or financial matters that control and direct behavior. (See Synaptic Misfires)

Financial Symbiosis: Any exchange or sharing of money, services and/or goods that bonds two or more people together.

Heart (with a bold capital “H”): The universally share emotional Center that is accessed through Self-Intimacy. (See Core, Center, Self Intimacy)

Home (with a bold capital “H”): A sanctuary honoring and fostering Self-loyalty. Also symbolically represents our universally shared, spiritual place of origin. (See Self-loyalty)

Indulgence: The act of distracting ourselves from what is emotionally, mentally, and physically uncomfortable. Typically becomes habitual and Self-destructive. (See Self)

Integrity (with a bold capital “I”): The degree to which I align my behavior with my universally shared and, at the same time, individually unique Self. (See Self).

Intimacy (with a bold capital “I”): A close relationship with one's Self or with the Selves of others. Intimacy can be manifested in any facet of Life: emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, or any combination thereof.

Jealousy: An emotion experienced when competing for, or wanting to keep for one's self, what is regarded as a possession. (Different than “Envy.” See Envy.)

Knee-Jerk Reactions: Automatic emotional, verbal, and mental behaviors that both originate in and bind us to the everyday world and further separate us from our Selves. (See Click-Whir Responses)

Life ( with a bold capital “L”): The process and the existence of all being. It is everything that has ever been or will ever be. The meanings we attribute to the word “life” in our everyday conversations are merely a minuscule peek at the incomprehensible breadth of the process of being and existence.

Manufactured Rushes: Socially triggered, high-intensity chemical and/or emotional reactions that compel us into experiences that offer an immediate, short-lived, one-dimensional gratification. When the chemical/emotional rush ends it is followed by a lasting hollowness which compels us to seek another experience that will provide another high-intensity rush. This hollow aftertaste creates an addictive cycle of seeking out a constantly increasing number of manufactured rushes. (See Indulgence)

Mental Machinations: Circular ruminations that spin around in the mind. They waste time and consume energy. They divert attention from the now and away from the painful, depleting occurrences that are immediately deteriorating the quality of our lives. (See Mind Spinning)

Mental Tapes: Socially acquired, repetitive scripts, warnings, and parental-like directives that control our behavior.

M.I.A.: Stands for “Missing in Action.” A Shambhala student who, because of his or her fears (e.g., fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of social ostracism, fear of Intimacy), changes his/her priorities from the pursuit of Clarity to the avoidance of it.

Mind-Sets: Rigid, socially prescribed or self-designed beliefs acquired through our own limited life experiences and the limited life experiences of others (e.g., grandparents, parents, teachers, spouses, and friends). Mind-sets predeter¬mine perceptions and feelings about current and future experiences. They promote fear-directed behavior and almost always become self-fulfilling prophecies. They are Self-limiting.

Mind Spinning: The time consuming and energy burning mental activity of endlessly ruminating and debating with one's self about countless different topics.

Monsters-in-the-Mind: All-consuming fears which irrationally direct behavior. They limit an individual's perceptions so that the worst-case scenario is seen as the only probable outcome of any and every situation. Consequently, other rational possibilities are not perceived.

Muscle-Minded: Having the mental rigor, vigilance, and skills necessary to neutralize culturally based, socially acquired, and/or uniquely self-generated thoughts, fears, tapes, machinations, and mind-sets to access and utilize the mind for the purpose of Clarity. (See Clarity, Mental Machinations, Monsters-in-the-Mind, Tapes, Mind-sets)

Nature (with a bold capital “N”): See The Source

Nature's Intent (with a bold capital “N” and “I”): A Call heard deep within ourselves, urging us towards The Source, towards the highest level of integration and Integrity. It is Nature's Intent that we expand ourselves, fully experience Life, and Intimately know our Selves and the Selves of others. Only by doing so can we contribute to the Evolution of what it means to be Human. Only by contributing to the Evolution of what it means to be Human can we honor Nature's Intent. (See The Source, Human, Self, Evolution, Nature's Intent)

Negative Mirroring: Reacting negatively to others because we think we see in them what we secretly believe to be an undesirable trait or characteristic in ourselves. Negative mirroring is usually an unconscious, instantaneous process.

Negative Wealth: The generalized learning that comes from remembering and making Core use of our previous life experiences. (See Core)

Onion Skins: The layers upon layers of culturally based, socially acquired, and/or self-generated values, belief systems, needs, roles, styles, and scripts that become our personal identity as we learn to live in and adapt to the everyday world. Onion skins separate us from our Cores.

Overload: When the mind and/or emotional system reaches a point of saturation and can no longer absorb and process new information. At this time, the mind and/or emotional system shuts down, often causing feelings of drowsiness, boredom, foggy confusion, nausea, and a general numbing apathy. (See Core, Everyday World)

Pain Tracks: Intense emotional pain triggered by a present experience that seems similar to some painful, negative past event(s). The remembrances transport us back into the feelings of the past. Often results in consuming anger, rage, and/or paralyzing depression.

Personal Power (with a bold capital “P”): That quiet center of courageous insight, Integrity, and ingenuity which is always present within ourselves, but blocked by onion skins and conventional ways of thinking and living. (See Integrity)

Personal Priorities (with a bold capital “P”): Activities and focuses that in and of themselves (with no hope or intent of a future payoff) enrich our relationship with our Selves and make us feel alive, nurtured, and at Home. (See Self, Home)

Positive Overload: When individuals enjoy successful moments and/or pleasurable events these experiences are automatically contrasted against the collective background of their life-long accumulated experiences. If most of their life experiences are negative and painful, their minds and emotional systems will be automatically and instantaneously flooded with negative thoughts and emotions. These consuming negative thoughts and emotions will entirely over-shadow the novel feelings of success and pleasure and begin to direct these individuals' behavior.

Potency Attack: An automatic, instantaneous shift in behavior away from one's own personal Power back into non-Self-serving behavior, usually due to positive overload. Potency attacks can also be triggered by our acquired fears of operating out of our own personal Power. (See Power, Whiplash, Positive Overload)

Prince-Princessing: Interactions between two or more people based on involuntary socially and biologically acquired chemical responses to cues usually sent by the opposite sex.

Reality (with a bold capital “R”): Life as it is perceived through Consciousness when one is aligned with one's Core. It is heavily weighted in cause/effect and the interconnectedness of everything. (See Life, Consciousness, Core)

Roles: The acquired styles and personalities that we knowingly or unknowingly adopt to keep ourselves and others aligned with the culturally prescribed behaviors. We often identify with these roles. They make up our onion skins and stand between us and our Cores. (See Core, Onion Skins)

Sayings: Carefully constructed phrases, thoughts, or epigrams individuals Consciously create to call themselves back to Clarity when being consumed and directed by socially acquired behavior, fears, emotions, synaptic misfires, and faulty thinking. (See Clarity, Consciously)

Scripts: The socially acquired phrases, sound bites, and tapes that go hand-in-hand with certain roles. (See Tapes, Roles)

Self (with a bold capital “S”) : Self is the primary, underlying essence of all things. Self is our personalized experience of the Source. (See Source)

Self-Abandonment (with a bold capital “S”): Ignoring, denying, or blocking out one's relationship with Self to secure what we have been taught to think we need and want. (See Self)

Self-Diminishment (with a bold capital “S”): Behaving in ways that do not honor one's inherent worthfulness and the primary importance of one's relationship with one's Self. (See Self)

Self-Furthering (with a bold capital “S”): Any experience, behavior, or decision that enriches one's relationship with Self.

Self-Gratification (with a bold capital “S”): Those activities and experiences which in and of themselves move us closer to the Core of ourselves.

Self-Infusing (with a bold capital “S”): A permeating aliveness and inexhaustible enthusiasm for Life that comes from deep within ourselves and is fostered by nurturing a relationship with Self. (See Self)

Self-Intimacy (with a bold capital “S” and “I”): An emotionally stirring, energy infusing, personally affirming, bonded sense of unity with the Source. (See Source)

Self-Knowledge (with a bold capital “S”): Having a wide, Conscious understanding of the culturally based roles, scripts, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and mind sets one has acquired through one’s life and the effect all these have on one’s emotions, thinking, and behavior. And, being able to differentiate these acquired phenomenon from one's universally shared and, at the same time, unique Self. (See Conscious, Self)

Self-Loyalty (with a bold capital “S”): Choosing to operate out of mental and behavioral activity that is Core-connected, even at the risk of jeopardizing the social pay-offs in the everyday world. (See Core-Connective)

Self-Gratification (with a bold capital “S”): The ability to move towards experiences that have an enduring, deep-seated, Self-nurturing capacity; experiences that continue to strengthen the Core of the individual long after the experience itself has ended. (See Core, Self-Nurturing)

Self-Nurturing (with a bold capital “S”): Behaviors, mental processes and experiences which further one's relationship with one's Self.

Self-Reliant (with a bold capital “S”): The habit or developed skill of requiring oneself to rely on one's Core promptings rather than automatically aligning one's self with acquired emotions, thoughts, and/or behaviors. (See Core, Core Insights)

Self-Sabotage (with a bold capital “S”): Any behavior, thought and/or experience that interferes with our ability to maintain and honor our relationship with Self. (See Self)

Self-Study (with a bold capital “S”): Any activity that increases one's knowledge of his or her Self and/or enriches one's relationship with Self. (See Self)

Self-Trust (with a bold capital “S”): A deep-seated knowledge and confidence that one's behavior is and will be Core-connective. (See Self, Core-connected)

Sin: Anything that separates us from our Selves. (See Self)

Synaptic Misfires: Culturally based and/or uniquely self-generated thoughts and fears that take over our mental processes and direct us toward Self-sabotaging behavior. These thoughts and fears are generally focused on societal conventions of morality, success, survival, social approval, social ostracism, etc. (See Self)

Taking care of business: Attending first to all matters that separate, or have the potential to separate, me from my Self or the Selves of others. (See Self)

Tapes: Self-separating, repetitious collections of words, sound bites, and phrases that are used by a person to convince him or herself to adhere to socially prescribed behaviors. Frequently involves subjects such as morality, good vs. evil, proper behavior, etc. (See Roles, Self, Scripts)

The Source (with a bold capital “S”): The primal, Creating, Ordering, Power, and Substance of the Universe. The synergy of indestructible matter and the on-going patterns and rhythms of Eternity. The ever-continuous, Creative material and process from which everything is differentiated, and then, eventually re-integrated.

Tracking Thoughts: The mental activity of non-judgmentally attending to the thoughts and the patterns of thoughts that automatically trigger our emotions and direct our behavior. The ability to follow and/or understand the thought processes, usually emotionally triggered, that underlay our behavior and the behavior of others.

Universal Timing (with a bold capital “U” and “T”): The purposeful coincidences and patterns of occurrences (recognized and unrecognized) that occur in our lives. Sometimes known as “synchronicity.”

Value Shifts: A change of life priorities and perspectives which redirect an individual's daily patterns of living. (See Whiplash)

Walking: Purposeful walking without a destination combined with sayings, and a purposeful review of ones thoughts, emotions, and behavior. A useful tool for re-integrating one's mind, body, and emotions when one is overloaded. (See Overload, Sayings)

Whiplash: An instantaneous shift of perspective which removes a person from the universally shared Core perspective and realigns her/him with the socially prescribed values, mind-sets, fears, and other self-limiting behaviors. Whiplash can be triggered by positive overload, potency attacks, synaptic misfires, fear of Intimacy, etc. (See Core, Value Shifts, Positive Overload, Potency Attack, Synaptic Misfires, Intimacy)

Whole(ness) (with a bold capital “W”): Derived from the old English “Hale,” meaning health. Whole(ness) is to be integrated with the Source or undifferentiated, intact, non-distorted, complete unto one's Self. (See Source, Self)

Worthlessness: A deep-seated sense (acknowledged or unacknowledged) that one has little or no inherent value. A sense of being secondary; that one is of little or no significance. Having an automatic, pervasive, and at times overwhelming sense that the considerations and needs of others should take precedence over one's own well-being.

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