The chief feature is part of your overleaf chart or soul profile.

The chief feature is the main stumbling block of your life. It is a block in perceptions, as well as a block in your connection with others and to your innermost self, your essence. It is also one of the main contributors to suffering and not experiencing joy. The chief feature is sometimes called your "dragon", and of course has a relationship with what is known in spiritual circles as the " ego", or even "pain body". It affects your attitude most strongly.

In everyone's childhood, there are experiences which feel unsafe or that seem to convey that the universe is an unsafe, unloving, hostile environment. The chief feature arises as a protection mechanism, often learned from others by watching how they protect themselves. The existance has nothing to do with fault, original sin, spiritual advancement, or many other judgements about it. As children, we are bare to the world, requiring aid and absorbing many layers of information about the world, relationships, and your identity. Having a chief feature is a natural consequence of this process of growing up.

In fact, the chief feature is one of the primary sources of evolution that exists on the physical plane. If there were no blocks in perception, then you would rarely be surprised, always be connected to yourself, and thus rarely make mistakes that in fact help you towards making a deeper connection to your Self. Thus the chief feature is not ultimately an enemy. Without exception, any attempts to make the chief feature or your "ego" the energy, something to eliminate, is also the work of the chief feature. Without blocks to awareness, there is only Love, and that includes love of your blocks as well.

Channeling on the Chief Feature

Here is channeling from Polaris (who includes Michael) that addresses the chief feature.

We would first like to state that the nature of channeling is of course imprecise.  We convey energy to the channel who uses their experience and perception to translate this to words.  Channeling to text, as you can see in this medium, is restrictive as it does not convey much of the information that we convey to those who ask to communicate with us directly.  In the case of chief features, this distinction is important.  It is hard to convey the sense of perfection we perceive in this structure, nor is it easy to convey the sense of love that the creation of the chief feature is part of.

We say this because in saying that the chief feature is the "chief obstacle", it is easy to treat it like something to overcome.  From our perspective, it is truly not an enemy of any kind, because there is nothing that is not you.  This includes your perception of separation; it is part of you.  Seeing your chief feature as something that limits you is valid, but at the same time, the more you experience love - in the sense of agape - for your own creation, the more power you have to choose anew in every moment.  If you choose to look at something as an enemy, you are of course choosing at some level to not accept, or love, that part of you.

We hope this will give you some context in this information about chief features.

As we implied above, the chief feature is based at its core of the perception of separation.  This applies to all chief features.  It is somewhat analogous to what is popularly known as the "ego".  As we have mentioned before, there can be layers upon layers built upon this perception of separation, and the resulting structure is what is called the chief feature.  While the manifestation of each chief feature looks externally very different from this underlying perception of separation, without this perception the structure would be non-existent.

Origins of the chief feature

Blocks in perception of course happen all through childhood, but generally happen incrementally. At birth, you are attached to a physical body, but much of your awareness is elsewhere and less limited. As you get older, you will try on the energy of various blocks, until after childhood you have picked a favorite, or multiple favorites. The word “Chief Feature” was originally used by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, and it was used in a critical way to describe how people’s fears, ego, and blocks took over them until it was most of what you saw. Because the original Michael channeling group had a large number of members from a Gurdjieff background, this terminology stuck. However, there is no association with Gurdjieff and the flavor of the definition is distinctly different between the two systems.

Structure

There are seven chief features. Like musical notes in a scale, there can be great differences between two people who have the same chief feature, but also similarities. Keep in mind this is part of a system of self-understanding, not a rigid classification scheme. Chief features are all built around a basic fear, which is another way of saying a block. However, it is not the fear that is the cause of the chief feature. The chief feature operates because of the protection believed necessary from that fear. It is, in essence, the fear of fear; the belief that you cannot survive if you surrender and experience the fear and what is underlying the fear. The structure is built upon that foundation.

List of Chief Features

Self Deprecation

Self Depreciation: This is built upon the fear of inadequacy. One common tendency with those with self-depreciation tend to protect themselves from the experience of feeling inadequate by lowering expectations drastically. You can see how this is based on a weak foundation: Inadequacy is something you cannot avoid; there will always be something you don’t have training for.

Self Destruction

Self Destruction: This is built upon the fear of loss of control. Those with self destruction tend to compulsively seek control in a reactionary, self-destructive manner of wherever their fear is focused: their body, the space around them, their emotions, and their relationships are some examples. One stereotypical example might be someone who seeks to control their emotions by starving themselves or by mutilating their body. Unless addressed, this can grow exponentially bigger and can end in death.

Please follow this link to see a more detailed channeling on Self Destruction

Martyrdom

Martyrdom: This is built upon the fear of worthlessness. The typical expression is to try and prove worth by sacrificing themselves. Within this fear of worthlessness, there is the dual forces of blame and a burden of overwhelming responsibility. Martyrs feels responsible for things out of their control and have difficulty with appropriate boundaries of self, and so can either blame because of this unfairness, or offer themselves in sacrifice to appease the inevitable consequence they feel will come.

Please follow this link to see a more detailed channeling on Martyrdom

Stubbornness

Stubbornness: Built upon the fear of change. This often arises from childhoods where constant change was experienced without reasonable preparation or explanation. In order to prevent the experience of fear based on change, the person with stubbornness tends to clamp down and resist movement, whether it be physical, verbal, or emotional. Decisions are made and stuck to, no matter what new information comes.

Greed

Greed: Built upon the fear of not having enough. This chief feature creates an energy vortex that can never be filled. Greed tends to be fixated on certain things, such as money, respect, or approval. Whatever it is fixated on, there will never be enough of it. No amount will fill the void.

Please follow this link to see a more detailed channeling on Greed

Arrogance

Arrogance: Arrogance is built upon the fear of vulnerability. Vulnerability is painful to them and would expose a deep lack of esteem. There is thus a focus on image, something “better” that others can see instead of themselves. It is a pairing with self-depreciation; arrogance is more outward focused.

Please follow this link to see a more detailed channeling on Arrogance

Impatience

Impatience: Impatience is based upon the fear of missing out and the lack of control of time. Those with impatience do not feel they are complete as they are, so will thrust outward for experiences that they feel they need to have. But like all chief features, there is never enough; there is always something they are missing.

We are in progress of channeling details of each of these from a new perspective.  Please look at the following and check in regularly.

• Self Destruction
• Martyrdom
• Greed
• Arrogance

Conclusion

Chief features are pervasive and take much time to see clearly. Almost no one can clearly see their chief feature by themselves – this is because chief features are blocks in perception, and so most actively block perceptions of that block. Being in a community or small group where there is understanding of that process, and an openness to hear and look within can greatly help reduce the effect of the chief feature.

Chief features are the subject of Jose Stephens’ book, “Transforming your Dragons”.