Ascending with Both Feet On the Ground

Visit the link below to download the full version of this book:

https://medipdf.com/product/ascending-with-both-feet-on-the-ground/

Click Download Now

Copyright © 2012 by Jeff Brown. All rights reserved. No portions of this book, except for brief
reviews, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without the written
permission of the publisher. For information, contact Pipik Press at [email protected]
(www.soulshaping.com).

Published by Pipik Press Cover photo by Jeff Brown

PO Box 64 Author photo by Paul Hemrend
Acton, Ontario Cover and book design by Susan Quasha
Canada L7J-2M2 Printed in the USA

Some of the following quotes were previously published in Soulshaping: Adventures in Self-
Creation (Pipik Press, 2007) and Soulshaping: A Journey of Self-Creation (North Atlantic Books,
2009).

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Brown, Jeff, 1962-

Ascending with both feet on the ground : words to awaken
your heart / Jeff Brown.
Issued also in electronic format.
ISBN 978-0-9808859-1-0
1. Self-actualization (Psychology). 2. Spiritual life. I. Title.
BF637.S4B765 2012 158 C2012-900220-8
 Contents
Preface
Ascending with Both Feet On the Ground
Apologies to The Divine Feminine
Apologies to The Sacred Masculine
The Awakening Man
About the Author
 EARLY PRAISE FOR

Ascending with Both Feet

On the Ground

“Anyone who has ever tried to write about the spiritual journey
knows how hard it is to find words that are big yet humble enough,
serious yet light enough, full of drama and awe yet also stripped
down and naked. This little book pulls it off. Jeff Brown has a most
marvelous way with words—you think you’re reading a joke, and it
turns into a profound realization. Or you’re following a complex
thought to completion and suddenly it blossoms into a song and
dance. I love learning about life and truth and love and purpose
through the wizardry of Jeff’s words. I think you will too.”
—ELIZABETH LESSER, author of Broken Open
and The Seeker’s Guide; Cofounder, Omega Institute

“The book is fabulous—provocative, encouraging, and blazing with

a clear-eyed truth that bows to no icons, only to the sweet, clear
song of reality itself. There are enough sparks of wisdom in this book
to ignite a blaze in the soul. Exhilarating, compassionate, in-sightful,
these truth-soundings will vibrate in your being long after you have
put them down. This is the kind of provocative companionship I
cherish.”
—PHILIP SHEPHERD, author of New Self, New World:
Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-first Century

“Jeff’s writings are so inspiring! His quotes wisely and warmly

support our shared expansion, and his Apologies series brings men
and women together in a healing process that we all must go
through to be whole. We heartfully recommend this special book.”
—STEPHEN and ONDREA LEVINE, authors of Embracing
the Beloved and The Healing I took birth for

“An insightful, wide-ranging collection of navigational aids for the

path of awakening, with a special emphasis on grounded spirituality
and deep healing.”
—ROBERT AUGUSTUS MASTERS, author of Spiritual
Bypassing, and Transformation through Intimacy

“Ascending with both feet on the ground is a concrete and vital

approach to personal evolution. The process of “enrealment” is not
for the faint of heart—this is a serious commitment to standing in
the purifying fire of a deeply discerning and ever-expanding personal
awareness. Jeff Brown’s call to consciousness is clear and direct as he
cuts to the heart of the matter with his words of wisdom in this
eloquent and engaging book of quotes and commentary.”
—FREEMAN MICHAELS, Co-host of Cutting Edge
Consciousness

“Jeff Brown is the Spiritual Warrior our planet needs today. Truth
permeates his work and his authentic “soul” message hugs my open
heart. His wisdom will inspire you to not only take your step, but to
reach the luminous place inside your soul.”
—GRACE CIROCCO, author of Take the Step,
the Bridge will be There

“This book is a breathtaking accumulation of offerings. It turns out

that our greatest love affair is actually with our very own soul. With
his written words and their subsequent echo through the center of
the heart, Jeff Brown validates the inner journey, filled with both
blustery canyons and snow-capped mountaintops, coupled with
authentic external expression as the path to freedom. Rather than
resist the paradoxes of life, we are invited to rest within them to
know ourselves, full-out and full-on, as spirit-embodied. Savor each
drop for this is as deliciously nitty-gritty as soul recognition gets!”
—ANNIE BURNSIDE, award-winning author of Soul to
Soul Parenting

“This treasure of a book offers solid stepping stones on the road of

possibility; paving the way for those who don’t just want to meet
God beyond their path, but on it.”
—JESSICA BAHR, author of The Awakening Woman
This book is dedicated to my Facebook soulpod.
Thank you for your support.
We walk this journey together.
 Preface

When my writing journey began in 2001, I was overwhelmed by a

wave of language that flooded the banks of my consciousness. It was
strong and it was determined, a soulnami of sacred purpose that
absolutely had to be humanifest if I was to have any peace. When I
resisted it, I lay sleepless in Toronto. When I honored it, I fell asleep,
granted a little shut eye from the Divine Mother herself. Even when
my shame and self-doubt obstructed the flow, I could feel the call to
write right there, pushing up against the seams, readying for its next
wave of expression. It was terrifying and it was beautiful and it was
unstoppable. The nature of a calling once it has been awakened.
In the heart of writing Soulshaping, I constantly grappled with the
meaning of grounded spirituality. I knew there was a model at the
heart of the book, but I couldn’t quite find it, perhaps because I
wasn’t yet grounded enough within myself. I had been tempted for
years by everything ungrounded—the bliss trip, the head trip, the
radical detachment trip. I loved the idea of finding the God-self
independent of my pain-body and life’s challenges. But no matter
how hard I tried to find it there, I kept crashing back to earth with
my baggage in tow. It became crystal clear that my unresolved
emotional material was determined to be worked through, both to
create more space inside for my callings to come to life and because
my emotional debris was the karmic field where my soul’s lessons
were harvested. I couldn’t mature in my spirituality without it. The
gift of falling down.
Soon after publishing my original version of Soulshaping, I joined
Facebook. At first, I didn’t see any merit in it. It felt strange and
isolating and oddly self-alienating. Projection Central. But I stayed
with it, and it soon became clear that it was just what I needed. I
began to work with my Facebook status, both as an opportunity to
bring my writing to the world, and as a way of clarifying my
perspective on grounded spirituality. My writing there became a
kind of experiment, a way to play with concepts and ideas until they
landed.
At some point, they landed. In the heart of playing with words, I
stumbled upon a model of grounded spirituality that resonated with
my experience and with my essential nature. The model—Ascending
with both feet on the ground—is inclusive and embodied and
honoring of all aspects of the sacred self. We are not just the light, or
the mind, or the emptiness. We are not just what is comfortable and
easy to digest. We are the everything. I call this Enrealment—the
idea that a more ‘heightened’ consciousness is not all about the light
(as enlightenment often implies) but is about becoming more real,
more genuinely here in all respects—shadow and light, earth and
sky, grocery list and unity consciousness. If non-duality means
everything, it means that all aspects of the human experience are
intrinsic to an expanded consciousness. It’s all God, even the dust
that falls off our awakening hearts. This philosophy is threaded
through the following pages.
Perhaps my most profound experience on Facebook was a
relational one. As any author will tell you, one of the great
challenges of writing is the isolation. Some are well suited to it and
welcome the opportunity to be left alone. I am not one of them.
Although I feel the presence of the God-self when I write, I do miss
human contact. Being alone in a room for hours on end has been
one of my great challenges.
As I deepened in my commitment to Facebook as a forum for
expression, a soulpod of wonderful beings gathered to support my
journey and keep me company in the trenches of self-creation. In
Soulshaping, I refer to the soulpod as “that person or group of people
whom our soul finds the most resonance with at any given moment.
It can include anyone that appears on our path to inform and
catalyze our expansion - our biological family, significant figures,
strangers with a lesson.” On Facebook, I came into contact with a
soulpod quite unlike any I had encountered before—a cadre of
enheartened beings who shared my longing to both connect from
the deep within and to support humanity in its liberation from the
egoic ties that bind.
Over time, I came to love them and they became inextricably
linked to my creative life. Time and again, they lit me up, carried me
along, breathed air into my lungs when I needed it most. Just when
I felt the most discouraged and drained by the challenges of writing,
I would get an email that validated my efforts. Just when I would
feel blocked in my efforts to clarify my own views of spirituality, an
email dialogue with someone in the soulpod would crystalize my
thinking. It always seemed to come at the perfect moment.
Their significance was never more obvious than in September,
2010, when I posted a note on my FB personal page called
‘Apologies to the Divine Feminine (from a warrior-in-transition)’.
Much to my surprise, this piece was met with a profound response,
traveling from soul to soul rapidly, carried on the wings of a love by
a soulpod heaven bent on supporting humanity. It was a humbling
and startling opportunity to witness the magic of social media when
it is benevolently intentioned. That piece and two subsequent
gender writings (Apologies to the Sacred Masculine, The Awakening
Man) are included at the back of this book.
With the right intention, social media is the perfect way to bridge
to humanity and to work together to enhearten consciousness. Out
in the world, the unconscious elements of the media can muffle our
message, but in the insuppressible landscape of cyberspace, they
cannot stop the soulnami of goodness from spreading. As we expand
in connectiveness, we are laying down tracks for a more heartfelt,
humane world. And we are beginning to see ourselves in each other,
to recognize our shared humanness, to realize that we are walking
beside each other on the trailways of transformation. Hands held
together, hearts intertwined, bridging our way to God.
May we all look beyond our habitual frameworks of perception
and imagine ourselves alight with unlimited possibility. There is a
sacred purpose alive in each of us, a chaotic magnificence of epic
proportions, a fire that will not die until it burns through our doubt
and our shame and lights our way home.
With gratitude in my heart, I dedicate this book to my friends
and supporters on Facebook, the wondrous gathering of souls who
have stood behind my work as it has unfolded, in-couraging me to
believe in my voice and message, sharing my writing heartfully and
without agenda. I include among them Susan “Birdie” MacIver, a
brilliant healer with a heart like no other, and two wonderful
authors who have lovingly supported my own unfolding—Elizabeth
Lesser, who suggested the sub-title for this book, and Oriah
Mountain Dreamer, herself a master of grounded ascension. Such a
magical collection of wing-lifters, lantern holders, and truth
workers. Such a delight to walk beside you on the path. Blessings
everywhere you step…

TORONTO, CANADA
August 9, 2012
Ascending with Both Feet
On the Ground
Essential lessons cannot be avoided. Callings don’t go away. When
we turn away from our lessons, when we ignore our truth-aches, the
universe jumps into action, orchestrating our return—a symphony
of self-creation dedicated to our unique expansion. This is the nature
of karmic gravity—we are returned back to our path until we fully
walk it. Return to sender, address now known…
Transcend Nothing,
Include Everything.
I imagine truth as a magnificent white-tipped Mountain. At its peak
is a deeper and more inclusive experience of the moment. As we
move through our lives, Truth Mountain comes in and out of view,
calling out to us and reminding us of what is possible. The more
truthful we are about our path, the higher our consciousness climbs.
When our view is blocked, we know that we still have work to do in
the valleys down below—traversing the foothills of illusion,
sidestepping the quicksands of artifice, overcoming our fear of
(interior) heights. But we will get to the peak, if we are willing to do
the work, if we can be truthful with ourselves about the ways we
avoid the truth.
Be especially wary of the judgmental on your spiritual journey,
particularly those who are attached to practicalities at the expense of
authenticity. Locked away in a symbolic prison (maximum ‘security’,
no doubt) of their own making, they cling to the bars for dear life,
afraid to taste the possibilities that wait on the other side. They may
harp on your missed opportunities. They may tell you that life is
entirely a question of survival—the best you can do is marry
someone you don’t deeply love, do work that does not deeply touch
you, live a life of quiet desperation and frozen feeling. Don’t listen to
them—they have lost their light.