The secrets to a meaningful life and, I believe, the very meaning of life itself, lies in our etheric body and the chi-cycle. If we follow the cycle during the day, over time we can experience what I call ‘the sleep of meaning’ at night. Our Hun, or ethereal soul, travels to the astral world and returns with advice about why we are here. Our soul purpose becomes clearer so each day we are more in-flow with who we really are and what our destiny is, and our actions will reflect this. As the soul comes fully forward, you will feel fulfilled and happiness and joy arise. You will understand the meaning of your life and what you really need will come to you. The chi-cycle is like the universe’s satellite navigation system. The final location is locked in for us, we just have to follow the directions to attract our destiny through what I call etherically integrated goal setting. If we are not connected to this master program our etheric system can’t function properly, we don’t have clarity and we make decisions or set material goals that may not necessarily harmonise with our soul purpose. Ultimately this can prove destructive to our health.

Step one for setting etherically integrated goals, is to follow the chi cycle because if we know where we are at all times and what we are supposed to be doing, it allows our etheric system to function and part of this is insight into our purpose. This is why life in religious orders is so disciplined. At any hour of the day or night, monks, nuns or religious initiates know where they are and what they should be doing. This allows their focus to be on their spiritual development. We don’t want to live like monks of course, but neither do we want to be spending all our time confused about when to get up, if to eat, what to eat, what to do next, what to have for dinner, whether to invite friends over, what to watch on TV, or what to do with our lives. This lifestyle leads to pathologies and drifts us further from finding our purpose. Back in the 90’s I lived this way and as a result I established material goals that were not necessarily connected to my bigger picture. Each day I wrote pages of affirmations and visualised chains of busy healthcare centres, fleets of cars with my logo on them, and myself leading crowded seminars on wealth, health and success – wearing a head-mic like Anthony Robbins – I could see the whole thing. But this vision wasn’t connected with my soul purpose because I wasn’t connected to the universal intelligence. It wasn’t etherically integrated so it didn’t work out the way I intended.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) the etheric world is the primary concern. This is where it all goes down. Health is regulated by the etheric body and pathology arises and develops in the etheric organs. These are different to our physical organs. People keep asking me what happens (in relation to following the chi cycle) if you have your spleen or another organ removed. In traditional Chinese medicine there are two types of organs, the dense physical organs of your physical body and the etheric organs of your etheric body. If the physical organ is removed the etheric organ is still there and it still functions. This invisible aspect of our organs is not sounding as farfetched as it once did either. In Deepak Chopra’s recent talk in Brisbane, he stated that science has ‘discovered’ and ‘proven’ that our emotions are housed in our organs. In TCM this has been known for thousands of years, but it is also known that our organs have spiritual resources and connect us with the universal intelligence. The spiritual resource of our liver (the organ associated with purpose), is the Hun, our ethereal soul. In five element theory the energetics of goal-setting could be described as follows: the Hun relates to the wood element and water nurtures wood. Water is also related to your kidneys and jing, your life force and thus your etheric blueprint (because water and kidneys are the basis of life). If I am sensitive to my etheric energetics from living the chi cycle, I sense the relationship between water and wood and set etherically integrated goals that factor in my true purpose. This is what I work on with my clients because otherwise goal-setting can turn against them. My past success goals were based on a mental concept, a picture of myself having recognition and wealth. This was not my true purpose and I created friction in the wood element because my goal-setting was not supported by water. If wood is not nurtured by water it doesn’t grow. This leads to stagnation and eventually a heat pattern arises. As illness originates in the etheric body, this is the beginning of a pathology. It usually starts by affecting the etheric spleen and this impacts on the production of chi and blood. In my case, as production of chi and blood decreased I was not receiving energy from my post-natal Jing, the energy derived from food, water and air, but had to draw from my mental energy instead. This meant I drew from my precious pre-natal Jing, the energy given to us at birth by the universe and by our parents. This is like a savings account but constantly drawing from the account without ever putting back into it guarantees collapse.

I didn’t know this was happening at the time and was still determined to do whatever it took to reach my goals. But this increased the stagnation in my etheric liver. The liver’s job is to circulate chi throughout the body-system but it couldn’t do it so my other organs didn’t receive vitalizing chi and suffered accordingly. My spleen was affected so I developed dizziness and constantly lost the thread of conversations in pressured or stressful situations. My blood and yin was depleted and I had mental energy I couldn’t control. I couldn’t sink-in, couldn’t switch off and then couldn’t sleep. My Hun’s ability to access my spiritual guidance during sleep was affected and I drifted further and further away from health and my soul purpose. So despite all my goal-setting I felt empty.

Sleep is critically important to our etheric system. We are designed to function on the ‘sleep of meaning’. I think it is only now that I have finally understood and experienced this. In my drug days I couldn’t sleep without smoking dope. Because dope creates a (artificial but corrupted) smooth flow in the etheric liver, it made falling asleep feel purposeful and subconsciously I recognised this as being right, but the drugs were impacting negatively on my etheric organs. In my days of wanting to be a success-guru, sometimes alcohol could put me to sleep as it too affects the liver but it wouldn’t be long before the heat pattern would come forward to wake me up. Without alcohol I often couldn’t fall asleep at all. These days, if I have integrated myself etherically throughout the day, I can easily fall into purposeful sleep and I can sense the significant activity that is taking place as I drift away. I’m handing over to the bigger picture. The more of this sleep I get, the more clear I am about my life. As a result my meaning in life is not derived from what I do or acquire, but from being connected to the universe. Without this quality of sleep your goal-setting can be random and can create pathologies. To avoid this make holistic health your prime goal because the outcome is soul-realisation. I’m not saying get rid of your material goals or dreams of fame and fortune, I’m suggesting a re-shuffle so that your soul gets a look-in. Get etherically integrated goals, it will change your life and it will change the future of the planet.

This is a priority for all of us now. Our desire for material goods is unsustainable and it is contributing to the death of the planet, but I think goal-set for this because we are out of synch with the cosmos and the process by which we gain meaning in life and access our soul. I’ve been reading Worldshift 2012 : Making Green Business, New Politics, and Higher Consciousness Work Together by Ervin Laszlo. He states that ‘possessing material goods beyond what’s needed to ensure a decent quality of life is not a sign of achievement; on the contrary, it’s an indication of backward thinking’. I’m also reading The Wolf of Wall Street – about the infamous Wall St trader, Jordan Belfort, who went from multi-million dollar success to jail – to get the other side of the story. The Wolf achieved material wealth beyond most people’s wildest aspirations. He could spend several hundred thousand dollars on entertainment in a weekend. In a recent interview about his exploits, which famously included once earning 12 million dollars in a couple of minutes, he stated that money in itself was meaningless, he had to attach it to material possessions to try and find meaning. But it is obvious throughout his book that no amount of caviar, mansions, cars or luxury goods was enough to deliver him meaning or happiness. Laszlo proposes that ‘real wealth lies not in the possession of money, but in living a fulfilling life’. Of course we have all heard this many times over in many ways from many spiritual sources, but once a similar thread underscores the thinking of the cashed-up hedonists such as, The Wolf, who really do know about material wealth, I think its significant.

I believe real wealth lies in nurturing our etheric organs and their magical connection with the universe because this connects us to the journeying of our soul. The sleep of meaning reinforces my knowledge that this current incarnation is only one little identity amongst countless others, so in my daily life I can’t act as if it is all there is. We all have to die so I believe the most important thing is to stay connected to our true nature. In this context purely material gaols are never going to be enough for us because none of us are taking that stuff with us when we go, and deep down we all know this. We commonly say ‘I lost everything’ when we hit a financial crisis and lose our houses, cars or possessions, but no one says this on their deathbed – at the only truly appropriate time for such a comment. Why? Because at that stage we know what is important. If we catch onto that earlier in life it will make a difference. So, make the chi-cycle lifestyle a goal because as inner wealth increases, your perception of what you need externally shifts. This is exactly what needs to happen globally as well. I believe my soul purpose threads across all incarnations and the chi cycle connects me with this magical lineage.