We were excited to interview the renowned spiritual teacher Teal Swan for our Winter 2020/21 issue, on how we can navigate current circumstances. We previously published a sneak peek of the interview to our website, and today we are publishing the whole thing. Enjoy!
Awaken and Integrate
We interview Teal Swan
by Aisling Cronin
Interviewer: Paul Congdon
Teal Swan is a spiritual teacher and author who is widely known as The Spiritual Catalyst. Teal is renowned by spiritual seekers around the world for her popular video teachings on subjects like healing, human relationships, and raising the frequency of our minds and bodies.
She was a guest at one of our live gatherings back in 2016, and we were thrilled to have her back at Positive Nights recently, via a Zoom event. She had a wealth of information to share about how we can navigate current circumstances.
Paul:
So I believe you’ve written a new book recently, called ‘Hunger of the Pine’. Can you tell us more about that?
I decided last year that I was going to do a novel for the first time. It’s book number six, and it was an opportunity to do two things. Firstly, I wanted to showcase my writing ability. When you’re writing a self-help book, you’re basically using words to explain things. It’s not the same as descriptive writing. I wanted to put myself on the map as a writer, not just someone who writes books! The second thing was, I wanted to use the characters in my book to put people into the perspective of youth homelessness. That cause is very close to my heart.
Paul:
I would love to hear about your take on the current situation. Despite the challenges, a lot of people are using this time constructively: checking in with themselves, healing themselves, really being able to experience great breakthroughs … but then the restrictions clash against our free natures. How do you see it?
Teal:
I think the ability to find good in this situation is very dependent on the economic situation people find themselves in. I’m acutely aware that for us to even sit here, having this conversation, is a luxury. Human consciousness is building up to meet with its shadow. People don’t necessarily like to hear that, because they say, ‘if you’re focusing on that, you’re creating it’, but sometimes, a huge overhaul is required for people to wake up and begin to live in alignment with their best interests and the best interests of those around them.
Paul:
I remember during our live event a number of years ago, you made the point that we should make peace with our shadow. That’s where the gold is.
Teal:
Yes, that is what I’m hoping people will do! Anything you see out in the world that you don’t like … use that as an opportunity to see that thing inside yourself. Look at partisanship, for example. We see a lot of separation going on out in the world, and social media is feeding that in a huge way. When we think someone is shut down and not listening, it gives us an opportunity to understand where we are not listening. Where have we become locked down in our thinking and beliefs?
Let’s seek to understand those around us, rather than convert or control them.
We live in a consensus reality and we chose that consensus reality for a very specific reason. We wanted to create social awareness and integration.
Paul:
Let’s talk a bit about the Divine and the human aspects of ourselves. There used to be a sense in New Age circles, especially at the beginning, that people were trying to transcend the human and enter the Divine … and now, I’m seeing a lot more teachers say, no, you’re not going to get away with that so much anymore! Now, it’s very much about integrating the human and the Divine.
Teal:
It’s funny, because here on Earth, we tend to be very focused on how to escape – all of our attention is going out to the ethers – whereas in the non-physical realms, all of the attention is focused on us. This is where the juicy stuff is happening! This physical time-space reality is where non-physical energy is allowed to actualise, and allowed to become physically manifested. The owning of free will can lead to so many different creations in the physical. I don’t think people are regarding this in an artistic enough way. You are an art form that was created for a very specific reason. You have a purpose … and if you don’t carry out that purpose, it is kind of a tragedy.
When we experience negativity, we tend to tell ourselves all kinds of things about our physical existence – acting like it’s some kind of punishment that we need to endure, until we can be non-physical again. But that’s not the way the non-physical dimensions see us. They see our reality as an art piece. It’s like painting on a canvas. With every brush stroke, you see and know more about yourself.
It’s a very exciting thing to experience, especially when you’re consciously choosing to do so: meaning that you’re 100% committed to being physical. If you have non-physical awareness, that just enhances your ability to be more actualised here in the physical.
Post awakening, you have less of a resistance to everything, and more of an understanding of everything, and this decreases your pain.
Paul:
That is beautifully expressed, thank you. Moving on to talk about a recent video you made on cancel culture … do you have anything more to say on that subject today?
Teal:
In history, it’s been a necessary skill for us to settle conflicts with one another. In this era of modern technology, we don’t feel that so much anymore. It’s tempting, when someone does something or says something that conflicts with our worldview, to just get rid of them entirely. We don’t have the sense that achieving consensus is a necessity anymore. It’s kind of like the way online dating has affected relationships. Why try to make it work with one person, when we have many other prospects available?
Paul:
What is the best advice you can give to people at this time?
Teal:
The people who will fare best are those who are adaptable. Right now is not the time to be super-rooted in anything. It’s a time to be very, very adaptable, and diversify everything. It’s a time to look at areas where we feel powerless, and create more empowerment within those areas. Develop skills that will serve you.
