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by Baal Kadmon (Author)
Chod means to "Sever." It is a method of cutting through the ego so to speak. In the simplest of terms, it is a practice that allows you to release yourself from the negative effect of ego. When I say negative effects, I mean pretty much anything you may have an attachment to that is causing you pain in your life OR perhaps you are avoiding. Often we are the source of our own pain due to unhealthy or repetitive thoughts that are driving us to lead lives mired in pain. This can display itself as an addiction, a phobia or any other kind of impulsive behavior or thought that is literally driving you crazy. Often these psychological patterns can stem from childhood traumas or more likely the suppression and repression of the shadow side of the self. That part of ourselves that our hidden desires and repressed feelings reside. We often suppress these thoughts because they are either unacceptable or we simply want to deny that they are even there. Often, when suppressed, they cause us to lash out in a variety of ways that destroy our relationships and even ourselves. This, in time, becomes an attachment and we start to define ourselves by these very behaviors. An addict will identify themselves as addict before anything else, a person with certain dysfunctions may completely identify with it to the point that they do not realize that they have become obsessed with it. People use their dysfunction as badges and will base their entire self on these dysfunctions. In this book, we will not only discuss the History of Chod and what it is. We will delve deeper into what the Shadow is and how it can drive our desires and our negative patterns in our lives. We will also discuss how we can identify residual unresolved shadow effects after a Chod practice. I like to call those hidden machinations the "hungry ghosts of the mind." And, of course, we will learn how to use Chod in a way that will make it accessible to all.
