Multidimensional Transformation and Spiritual Creativity

We are now receiving high dimensional frequencies of light and energy in the Earth and within human consciousness.  Many of these frequencies are emanating from the galactic center and are being transferred to us via a relay from the sun.

Some of these frequencies we would describe as “new” because humans have not had ready access to these bands within an earth incarnation for between 12,000 and 26,000 years. These multidimensional frequencies emanate from beyond our time and space physical dimension. 

Some of these frequencies move at the etheric, emotional, and mind levels which travel faster than all the spectrums of physical light.  The higher frequency domains, in which we now have a more open access through increased healing and more harmonious subtle energetic dimensions of spirit, soul, and body, exist at the level of the Spirit in the heart and are non-local.  Thus, these energies really do not travel.  They manifest according to the information and intent of consciousness according to coordinates in a universal field. 

We see the 3D effects of the galactic energies in the recent activity of the sun through many M class and a few X class solar flares.  They emit plasma and electromagnetic charged particles which affect the earth as they penetrate through areas of the earth’s weakening magnetic field.  One area in which we see these energies reflected at the physical level is in earthquakes, volcanoes, and volatile shifting weather patterns.

These subtle energies emerge from higher dimensions and are transduced into the physical dimension through torsion fields.  These vortex spin energies are stepped down from lighter to more dense frequencies as they traverse from dimension to dimension.  The dimensions extend in a continuum from first through sixth physical dimensions, to the seventh through twelfth wholly non-physical dimensions, and beyond to the purely spiritual dimensions.  Many of these energies are stepped down into the 3D physical from within the galactic center.  They in turn interact with the sun and are then transferred to the Earth.

The Divine and angelic hierarchy, along with the assistance of other intelligent extraterrestrial and interdimensional beings, coordinate the higher spiritual evolution with the timing of galactic cycles, Earth ascension, and the soul evolution of humanity.  We are currently at a major shift point where the information and energy is enabling a decision point to heal, transform, evolve, and ascend to a fifth dimensional unity consciousness on Earth.

During the past two months, there has been a major surge in high frequency energy.  This seems to correlate with the beginning of the ninth wave of the universal underworld according to Carl Johan Calleman’s understanding of the transformation of consciousness through the Mayan Calendar.  These energies are opening the potential for accelerated healing and transformation of human consciousness and the bioenergy field.  

We have the opportunity to shift the Earth human to the true self in Divine unity. This is the essence of the human soul in unity with God expressed in the spirit, soul, and body form.  We are now within an energetic opening where we have the potential to evolve the multidimensional human to a higher dimensional incarnate light being within an Earth incarnation.

In these times, it is important to keep our consciousness grounded to the Earth and continue to move steadily through the increasing waves of energy.  This will allow the deeper healing, transformation, and evolution of the spirit, soul, heart, mind, emotions, and body.  As we continue to anchor in and integrate the influx of light, information, consciousness, and energy, we evolve into our true self in Divine unity.

We are working to consciously manifest the essence of our infinite and eternal being through our incarnate consciousness on Earth.  This is the movement to the heart-centered unity consciousness of the fifth dimension.

As our solar system continues to move across the galactic center, humanity on earth is being given a greater access to high energy particles of light, information, and consciousness.

The influx of high energy is giving us the opportunity for accelerated healing and transformation.  It is an unprecedented time on earth to heal all lifetimes of karma, generational wounds, and polarity conditioning of fear, conflict, and separation.  Our current level of soul evolution within a physical incarnation can choose to transform, evolve, and ascend to a higher frequency physical incarnation of the light body in the fifth dimension.

This momentous elevation in human incarnate consciousness could not take place without the interaction of shifting energy throughout the galaxy and dimensions of the universe. These movements of light, information, consciousness, and energy are being coordinated by the Divine, the angelic spiritual hierarchy, and by the assistance of benevolent extraterrestrial and ultradimensional intelligent beings.

The base organization of human consciousness cannot go from a stability of third dimensional polarity to a fifth dimension unity consciousness without an upgrade of all fields of consciousness and subtle energy on earth.  Therefore, a transformation to a higher human consciousness of spirit, soul, and body will occur along with a new earth. 

Thus, we are at a point in the process of accelerated evolution where we can understand the knowledge of a shift to a fifth dimensional human within a new earth frequency.  What we do not yet know is the exact nature of the completed reality and its specific timing, as well as the mechanisms and unfolding process for its transformation.

Views on the nature of the shift and transformative movement vary from less elevated views of humanity’s future on earth to more elevated metaphysical existences in higher dimensional bodies.  Of the lesser elevated views of a current major human and earth shift, some believe that humanity is transitioning back to a golden age according to the cycles of the four ages–golden, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as the 26,000 year cycle of the precession of the equinoxes.  Walter Cruttenden’s theory of the cyclical action of a binary star would be an example of this view. 

Some believe that the current third dimensional earth will be able to host Divine humans experiencing and expressing the highest light and frequencies of God within the densest level of third dimensional form.  Here, we would be able to live the fullness of 9 or 12 dimensions within the 3D physical earth.  Barbara Hand Clow’s work of the “Alchemy of the Nine Dimensions” would be an example of this view. This viewpoint includes many variations of understanding humanity on earth as a kind of experiment to bring the highest of the infinite within the most dense frequency of matter. 

Others believe that the current earth will transcend into the fifth dimensional frequency range within this universe.  An example of this view is Carl Johan Calleman’s interpretation of the Mayan Calendar as a map of the evolution and transformation of consciousness to the no-time state of unity consciousness. Other examples within this view include Teilhard de Chardin’s noosphere, Sri Aurobindo’s supramental consciousness, Jose Arguelles’ galactic synchronization to synchronic time, and the emergence of the fourth density earth and human of the Ra material channeled through Carla Rueckert.

Along these lines of higher dimensions, still others believe the earth and humanity will be birthed into a different and/or new universe.  J.J. Hurtak’s “The Keys of Enoch” is an example within this view.  And yet another possibility is the birthing of a new 5D earth while the 3D earth remains in existence within the third dimension.  Human choice in healing and transformation will determine whether the soul’s incarnate existence will move to the new 5D earth, stay in 3D earth, or move into spirit world or other incarnate experience.  This view has been put forth by past life regressionist Dolores Cannon.

Adding to the uncertainty is the confusion over the mechanism and process of transition.  We seem to have an infinite number of combinations of catastrophe/cataclysm and less volatile transcendence to a golden age or higher dimension.  They range in extremes of both to endless combinations of possibilities in how they both occur at the same time.

When we factor in galactic cycles, earth changes, magnetic fields, the sun, astrology, other astronomical bodies such as a binary brown dwarf star, and the choice of human consciousness, the current conscious awareness of the human mind is not yet capable of putting together the knowledge of such a grand and complex system.  This is why we see many seekers, researchers, metaphysicians, scientists, and mystics at this time displaying a dramatic flux in trying to communicate what is happening and what will happen throughout the shift.

This is a time period to take in all various views and pieces of the puzzle, while staying focused on our personal transformation of consciousness and our unity with each other.  As we proceed to heal, transform, and evolve, the information that we need to know will be presented to us in Divine timing according to our personal mission at this point in our soul evolution.

Because the patterns of this type of earth and human consciousness ascension can be unlimited, it is important for us not to block out information, nor fall into excessive fear because we are not given the conscious ability to understand such a complexity at a given moment in time.

We are transforming to a new level of unity consciousness that is closer to our true self in Divine unity as the earth energy is transitioning to support the higher level of human life.  Because we are beings that want to know more than our current consciousness may be ready for, which is perfectly natural to our evolution of infinite growth, these times of accelerating change can be very challenging.  Therefore, we must work to keep our desire to know in balance.  As we continue to transform and open to further knowledge, the next stage of our understanding will unfold.  This will require greater degrees of an open mind, an ability to discern knowledge, and trust. 

May we fully choose to heal all karmic attachments and transform to the higher dimensions of the light body as we move beyond 3D polarization consciousness to the unity consciousness of the fifth dimension and beyond.

When we stay restricted to the polarity of the third dimension,  human beings experience the world through the cerebral intelligence of the ego consciousness.  The dualistic cerebral intelligence is the consciousness of our lower mind which functions at the third dimensional level through perpetual comparison, contrast, and separation.

Our whole being of the true self in Divine unity lives from a multidimensional consciousness, and only uses the dualistic cerebral consciousness for practical actions within the third dimension.  The heart consciousness emanates from the center of being.  The heart opens at 4D and 5D frequencies, and utilizes the higher mind in a direct apprehension of knowledge, wisdom, love, and harmony. 

The consciousness of the heart is a unitary consciousness.  Our awakening to heart consciousness restores our conscious awareness of the human true self as a multidimensional being.

In contrast, the primary organization of conscious awareness at the 3D duality frequencies of the cerebral mind actually separates the human being from its groundedness in Divine Being.  The limitation of the dualistic frequencies of the mind forces an almost complete focus on the external levels of matter.  This is the human fall into the frequency of the most dense level of physical matter.

In order to more fully open the heart center, we need to come back into the groundedness of our physical bodies with earth, solar, and galactic frequency.  We can more easily do this as we move beyond the fear, doubt, separation, conflict, and control of the polarity consciousness vibration.

By anchoring our soul and spirit firmly within the physical body, the heart has a strong foundation to emanate, organize, and communicate our multidimensional unity.  The heart is the center for all light, information, and energy through all dimensions.  The multidimensional heart includes an interior vortex through which we access all dimensions of our nonlocal infinite being while participating in physical incarnate form.

The heart is central in the consciousness of our multidimensional cosmic and celestial being.  We must anchor its unity consciousness in and throughout the body, and we must develop the receiving capacities of the higher mind in order to express our fullness in Divine unity.

This means that the unity of the heart uses the upper chakras of the throat, third eye, crown, and extended multidimensional chakras of the 8th through 12th.  These centers of information, consciousness, and energy are vital receiving capabilities of signals from the field of consciousness throughout the dimensions.  In these upper chakras, the higher mind works through the lower physical structures of the brain, endocrine, and nervous systems.  The channels of the upper chakras must be clear and developed in order to receive higher frequency information and energy from multidimensions.

The coordinating center of the heart enables the open higher chakra channels to process the information received from interdimensional communication.  Without the heart’s multidimensional unity, even open higher centers cannot process this information independently from the heart. 

The unity of the heart is our consciousness that we are awakening, evolving, transforming, and restoring.  The heart’s multidimensional unity, in full unity with the physical body and the higher mind, is the foundational expansion of our fifth dimensional and beyond light body.

The journey to the true self is to restore, evolve, and transform humanity to our multidimensional being within the Divine unity of infinite love and creativity.  Within this journey, the healing and transformation of consciousness is a dynamic process. 

In the current stage of third density consciousness, we have received conditioning through the negative energies of fear.  These energies restrict and inhibit the freedom of love and creativity of the true self in Divine unity.

The healing process is a journey of awareness, awakening, and remembering.  In order for the human being to evolve, transform, and ascend to the full potential of Spirit, soul, and body beings, the healing process requires a learning that is not linear.  However, this nonlinear healing journey takes place within an overall movement of stages within a dynamic process.

These stages of movement can be defined as knowledge, understanding, acceptance, and living.  The first stage of awareness is “knowledge.”  Through the awakening to knowledge, we learn very quickly that knowledge about an aspect of personality does not mean that we are able to live our truth.  This insight of having knowledge without experientially living our truth frames the understanding of healing and transformation as a dynamic process.

We can gain knowledge through intellect, intuition, emotion, and feeling.  The insights of knowledge is the first step in awareness.  However, with the gaining of knowledge, we do not yet have “understanding.”  We receive understanding as we take in knowledge and process it through multiple modes of awareness.  The knowledge then increases in clarity and integration within consciousness through the soul’s interaction with Divine energy.

The purpose of the “understanding” stage is to prepare us to be able to open to the critical change making stage of “acceptance.”  This is where learning takes place through Spirit, soul, unconscious mind, and into conscious awareness and the body.  The learning is forgiveness, letting go, and releasing karmic attachments to negative energy and conditioning.

Forgiveness releases the restrictions and limitations.  As a result, the influx of the true self of higher vibrating information and energy now has the infinite and eternal freedom to express through the action of “living” the true self in Divine unity.

As we continue our awakening and learning of the process of creative intention, we better understand how the ego attaches to the narrow cause and effect of the physical band of consciousness.  The ego consciousness is conditioned in the belief that physical results emerge from only physical causes. 

In truth, the real causation emanates from consciousness through the heart and mind dimensions.  Consciousness causes physical manifestation.  Thus, consciousness originates and the physical is the result.

When we first awaken to the power of intention to create in the physical world, we often react with amazement.  The first results of our actions of creative intention usually take the forms of little signs of guidance.  For example, the spontaneous opening of a book to a seemingly random page which gives us the answer to a question that we had asked without attachment, or events and people showing up that assist our journey.

Our discovery of the intentional nature of the true self is inspiring.  As we persist in the strengthening and expanding of our consciousness, our intention will manifest in our overall journey of health, relationships, abundance, and purpose of life.  However, the fear-based ego consciousness of the false self does not relinquish all at once.

As we are practicing intention, the satisfaction of a given result can also coincide with the ego’s sense of unease or questioning.  This sense of questioning the spiritual cause of a result arises when the ego finds that it had no part in the outcome.  The outcome manifested from our attention and intention through the mind in the heart.  We detach from the outcome because it “already is beyond time and space,” and with ease we trust in the infinite organizing intelligence to manifest the intention into physical form.

Along our transformative journey to an intentional consciousness, we need to become aware of any ego beliefs, thoughts, and emotions.  Our self-observation will improve our focus on intention, and ultimately detach from the no longer necessary fears and doubts of the ego.  In this way, we will continue to transform to the fullness of our true self consciousness of love and creative intention.

If we do not intend from thoughts at the level of the rational mind or from the nondual stage of mystical consciousness that can be experienced as nonintentional, then what is the consciousness of intention?

The human consciousness of the true self in Divine unity is fully intentional in the Spirit.  The infinite and eternal Divine Being of God is love, which in essence is creative.  Love and creativity are one.  The Divine Being is both perfect rest and infinite action.  Love, truth, beauty, life, light, and creative action is the singular ground of being.  Thus, our heart-centered consciousness of the true self in Divine unity is ultimately perfectly intentional and creative.

The essence of intention proceeds from an originating desire or idea that is imaged as an action, feeling, or experience to be manifested into form.  The result that is initiated by an image in the formless dimension beyond time and space is translated by the Divine into the experience of form in the created universe.  How do we create thoughts or feel without the duality that is attachment and separation of the rational mind, emotion, and senses?

We can only perfectly intend from the highest dimension of the heart in the Spirit expressing through the mind and body.  Within the nonlocality and nonduality of this dimension, we can prototype an originating desire or image.  We can understand our ability to initiate intention as our participation in the Divine idea and nature.  The true consciousness of intention arises from our highest capabilities of imaging desire without thinking or creating images from the rational or intuitive mind.  Sri Aurobindo describes this level as the Supramental consciousness.

When we are detached from all outcomes and doubt within the eternal now beyond time and space, we approach the Divine human consciousness that is free to image and thus create in a whole new way.  In the dimension of awareness where there is no contingency, the Divine mind can freely flow through our being from the infinite into time, space, and matter of the physical dimension.  Creation emanates from the entirely new without any dependence on past results.  Thomas Troward describes this as “principle preceeds precedent.”

Creative intention proceeds from our unitary participation in God.  Troward relates this dynamic essence as the “Spirit’s self-contemplation.”  Sri Aurobindo understands this as the “exclusive concentration of the Absolute.”  Jesus reveals this truth in saying, “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown in the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.  So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:23-24). 

This is our intentional Divine human consciousness.  At this level of consciousness, we are one with God without boundaries, and free to create in that love from the oneness of infinite being to the multiple experience in the physical dimension of the universe.  Jesus says, “See, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).  Therefore, in the consciousness of the true self that is beyond images and concepts, we can image and feel in a new way through the Spirit.

In the last post, I discussed how our healing journey of trauma releases the Divine energy of intention. Now, I will describe the importance of the practice of turning our attention to the interior of our heart.

We look within to access the higher frequencies of the Divine light that is beyond thinking, words, images, and concepts. By consciously stilling the lower frequencies of the body and mind, we open to the heart consciousness of Divine light that is beyond time and space. This is the practice of meditative awareness.

In a new vision of mystical transformation and creative intention, we transform to the heart-based consciousness of the true self through the depth healing of trauma and the creative action of intention. This path incorporates simultaneous healing of trauma and the meditative practice of opening to the infinite light of consciousness.

This way integrates the mystical traditions and the more recent transformative traditions that place more attention on the intentional creativity of the true self. The way emanates from the core of intention while recognizing the need for the depth healing of the wounded consciousness and the practice of opening to the Divine energy of the transcendent heart consciousness. In order to truly intend from the heart, we are always reducing trauma within our multidimensional being and increasing the light of consciousness in Divine unity.

As we transform ever closer to the true self in Divine unity, we are able to use the mind from within the heart to intend from beyond time and space. When the mind operates from the heart consciousness, it can form thought beyond the duality of the thinking consciousness of the mind. Therefore, intention proceeds by the prototypes of thought forms only when within the observing consciousness of the heart.

Our heart dimension is a nonlocal and nondual unity conciousness of infinite being, communion, and creativity. Because we have been conditioned to operate from primarily the sensory and rational bands of consciousness, the consistent practice of meditative awareness is needed to shift our awareness to the heart in Divine unity.

Our true self in Divine unity is a heart-based consciousness. This dimension of our being is nondual, nonlocal, and beyond time and space. Our true self of the heart is assisted by the mind to express our consciousness within the world. When unencumbered by the fear-based conditioning, this is the human level of being, that uses intention to create from the goodness, peace, and joy of the self in Divine unity.

In the physical world of time and space, we also live from a dimension of consciousness that experiences parts of reality through our sensory system and reason. While this level of awareness is intrinsic to our earthly journey, by itself it is a very narrow band of consciousness. The conditioning and programming of our fear-based consciousness and culture restricts our consciousness to an ego identity to sensory and rational mind levels of awareness.

As we heal and transform to the heart-based consciousness of the true self, the impediments restricting us to an identity with a narrow band of consciousness are released. However, transforming to a unitary consciousness does not necessarily shift the totality of consciousness outside the physical sensory and rational band.

In our multidimensional being, sensory and reasoning consciousness exists simultaneously with the infinite and eternal heart-based consciousness. The transcendent consciousness of the true self is beyond time and space, but it is also immanently present within time and space. Within this consciousness, sense and reason can be experienced, but they are no longer identified with the self. The consciousness of the true self is now understood to be infinite, peaceful, creative, joyful, and nondual. Now, the narrow band of sense and reason is not misidentified as the whole of conscious awareness.

Because of the experience of the multidimensional nature of our heart-based consciousness, we can have a clear awareness of current reality in sense and reason and not be indentified with it. This multidimensional nature of our consciousness is at the heart of our ability of creative intention. We can live from the pure consciousness of our intentions beyond time and space (in the now of already present) while we have a clear awareness of appearances without identifying with them.

The conditioning of the fear-based consciousness and culture results in an ego consciousness of conflict and separation. This ego consciousness is encoded in the earliest years of life in the physical body through the energy and information of prior generations, the consciousness of the family system, and the overall culture.

Because of the nature of our early awareness of the world and our true being of relationship and connection, the mind cannot prevent the identification with sensory, emotional, and intellectual attachments that form the restricting ego consciousness of separation. As a result we forget our heart-based consciousness that is our true self of multidimensional unity. Because we are no longer aware of our unity consciousness, we develop a feeling of lack which the ego consciousness is a defensive adaptation.

The ego attempts to fill this feeling of something missing from the outside-in. Unfortunately, by its very nature the ego is doomed to continue to receive separation and disunity. To the awareness of the fear-based ego, it is caught in a paradox in which it cannot see.

When the ego tries to fill the negative feeling by seeking to cause relationships and material possessions to feel unity, it is actually reinforcing its feeling of separation. Its very efforts to try to control the outside world in order to feel connected is an expression of its fear and conflict. In order to awaken to our true unity, we need to enter the heart within. Our heart-based consciousness in Divine unity is our wholeness. From this awareness, we can intend, create, and allow relationships from a world in which we are already connected.

The blindness of the ego consciousness perceives the seeking of unity within as an isolation or alienation from the connection and unity we desire. In truth, when we seek unity from without, we experience separation from others, and when we open to our unity within, we experience unity with others. The difference is that the ego consciousness feels fearful, negative, and empty, whereas the true self heart-based consciousness feels peace, joy, and love.

We must experience our unity consciousness in order to be effective creators of our destiny in the world. If we continue to live from the ego consciousness that feels lack, then that is what we will see reflected in our world and reinforced in our awareness and feeling.

The transformative journey of transcending the ego consciousness to realize the heart-based consciousness and being is a process of awakening to our true self in Divine unity. Our true self works from wholeness and love to create abundance, further healing, and mutually self-giving relationships. The path of transforming is growing awareness through becoming aware of the thoughts, emotions, and actions of the ego. This awareness is cultivated through meditation, self-observation, and practice in the activities and relationships of daily life. As we awaken, remember, and shift to our unitary consciousness of the heart, we understand and experience that our desire and longing for real unity only arises from our awareness and feeling from within our consciousness and being.

Along the journey of healing and transformation, we reach a point where we become aware that our ego personality has been, and continues to be, an ever-present lens of our experience in the world. While we may have intellectually understood the fear-based ego or felt its restriction for some time, we now see through and feel the totality of its illusion.

Because we have identified with the false illusion of lack, the ego consciousness becomes a reality of experience in the physical dimension. Even though we came into this world open to our true being of the consciousness of the heart, we became conditioned by the current fear-based consciousness and culture. All of the fear, control, conflict, and separation that is experienced from the family and our cultural environment is downloaded into our consciousness.

Because our early childhood consciousness cannot disindentify with the outside conditioning, we forget who we are–a multidimensional being of wholeness. Within our true self of the heart-based consciousness there is no lack. Our experience is love, intention, and creativity. We live from the abundance of the inside in unity, peace, partnership, participation, and cooperation. We are fully connected to everything because there is nothing missing that must be filled up by controlling the outside world.

When we are ready to see the totality of the false consciousness of the ego, we have reached a point where we accept that the ego consciousness does not work in our life. This is a stage where our consciousness begins to come home to the heart. The true self in unity with Divine energy is embraced within the heart through the Spirit. The ego’s attachment to control by seeking approval, acceptance, and validation from others no longer satisfies.

During our life in the ego consciousness, many of the strategies of the ego have remained unconscious. Part of the false fear-based consciousness conditions us to be unaware of the ego’s misguided attempts to fill a perceived lack. At the core of the fear-based consciousness is a darkness of separation and isolation. It is the absence of unity, love, and creativity. The ego forms its most intense strategies to avoid the experience of this dark emptiness. Here, we find our greatest fears and addictive behaviors. If these defenses become fully uncontrolled, the experience of life can be debilitating. Therefore, another part of the ego is a defensive adaptation to the core fear-based wound. Here, the ego takes the underlying true desires of the heart and filters them through its need to fill its identity from the outside acceptance of others. Because we feel that we are expressing the true intentions of our heart, the ego’s ways of subtle attachment to approval are some of our deepest blindspots. The ego controls from all directions–on one side it controls through self-centered narcissism in pursuing one’s objectives, or on the other side it can control by being compliant to the ego needs of others.

When we can see that our ego consciousness is always in operation, even when it recedes to the background during moments of authentic love, we are ready to begin relinquishing its need. We now strongly desire to live from the heart-based consciousness all the time, not from just sporadic moments when our heart opens. The ego’s defenses no longer work for us. We understand them for what they are–a misguided attempt for love and acceptance. We recognize that the ways of the ego consciousness will not bring what we are looking for. Our true being of love, acceptance, and support has always been within our heart in unity with the Divine. From this awareness our heart is expressed through our mind and body, and through our intention and creativity into our experience of the world.

Once we understand the ego’s all encompassing ways of being in the world, we can let it go with compassion and love. If we are still fighting it and judging it for its negativity, we are still using it. When we see through the fullness of the fear and false self of the ego, our heart-based consciousness can now view its misguided attempts with compassion. As our conciousness transforms to love the whole self, the role of the ego will fade. The ego’s fear-based conflict of control and judgment is no longer necessary. It ways of struggling for love, acceptance, approval, and achievement are not needed–and most of all our use of the ego to struggle against itself dissolves. It is healed by the awakening of the heart-based consciousness of love, intention, and creativity. From the unity of the heart-based consciousness, we are free to intend and create in the love of our true being of infinite potential and connection.