We are in a continuous state of birth-and-death. The aspect of ourselves that we call our physical body has about 1/4th of its cells being born, 1/4th dying, and about 1/2 in middle age. As such we are birth-and-death. No need to fear death. You are death. More accurately, you are birth-and-death.
This is the state of the phoenix, always dying and being reborn, forever birthing into dying and dying into birthing.
Phoenix consciousness follows the practice of no clinging. No trying to hang on to and revive what has already passed. No hanging on to a description of oneself, to what might have been or should have been. No trying to force oneself into some rigidified mold handed down from the past by oneself, by society, or by the culture.
In not clinging to pre-established form, one opens awareness to the wisdom of the living universe. This has been called cosmic consciousness and mystical consciousness. I prefer to call it Awareness.
(In martial arts, a similar consciousness state is called zanshin. Also see Michael Murphy's The Future of the Body.)
All those folk we homo saps have set up (and it is a set up) as saints and holy and spiritual masters and sons of god are, in terms of the evolution of human consciousness, forerunners of what is to come and is happening now. Each of them spoke of Awareness and were often killed by those of hedgehog consciousness for doing so.
The second birth often spoken of in the spiritual domain is the birth from hedgehog consciousness to Awareness. Jesus said: "You must be born again." Buddha spoke of "going beyond." Lao Tzu said: "There is no need to run outside for better seeing, nor to peer from a window. Rather abide at the center of your being."
Phoenix consciousness. Perpetually arising out of the ashes of what has gone, into the fire and light of Awareness of the living universe and its wisdom.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
hedgehog consciousness
Hedgehog consciousness is a separative consciousness. In theistic terms, hedgehog consciousness seeks God out there, a deity to be worshiped, feared, begged, persuaded.
Hedgehog consciousness requires that the cosmos be populated with characters, each with a persona (mask), each with a persona-l interest in the persona of the hedgehog. If that personal interest is not felt, the hedgehog becomes depressed, remorseful, rebellious, and propitiatory. Thus, hedgehog consciousness feels its separative self to be the center of the universe (similar to the pride of Lucifer with his thunderous "I will" sit on God's throne). When called on this, it either admits it or collapses into a pride-wounded denial.
Hedgehog consciousness is tricky. It will agree with everything written above, denouncing all hedgehogs everywhere, and go on being a hedgehog, proclaiming itself to be enlightened and perhaps even starting The Church of the Eternal Hedgehog.
In non-theistic terms, hedgehog consciousness sets up a membrane, however thin, between "self" and "all else." Hedgehog consciousness insists upon an identity, wrapping itself in a cocoon of self-description. Hedgehog consciousness regards itself as identical to its I.D.
(In a small protest against having to show my I.D., I once carried a signed note from my mother saying that I am who I say I am. When I produced it, it was never enough.)
From one point of view, hedgehog consciousness is amusing. From another, it is a painful dwelling place. One Zen master called a student who was fully stuck in such consciousness a "poor hole-dwelling devil." Nothing funny about being that.
Hedgehog consciousness requires that the cosmos be populated with characters, each with a persona (mask), each with a persona-l interest in the persona of the hedgehog. If that personal interest is not felt, the hedgehog becomes depressed, remorseful, rebellious, and propitiatory. Thus, hedgehog consciousness feels its separative self to be the center of the universe (similar to the pride of Lucifer with his thunderous "I will" sit on God's throne). When called on this, it either admits it or collapses into a pride-wounded denial.
Hedgehog consciousness is tricky. It will agree with everything written above, denouncing all hedgehogs everywhere, and go on being a hedgehog, proclaiming itself to be enlightened and perhaps even starting The Church of the Eternal Hedgehog.
In non-theistic terms, hedgehog consciousness sets up a membrane, however thin, between "self" and "all else." Hedgehog consciousness insists upon an identity, wrapping itself in a cocoon of self-description. Hedgehog consciousness regards itself as identical to its I.D.
(In a small protest against having to show my I.D., I once carried a signed note from my mother saying that I am who I say I am. When I produced it, it was never enough.)
From one point of view, hedgehog consciousness is amusing. From another, it is a painful dwelling place. One Zen master called a student who was fully stuck in such consciousness a "poor hole-dwelling devil." Nothing funny about being that.
Friday, February 26, 2010
religiosity as a too-tight womb
In the previous distinction between religiosity and spirituality, a move is made beyond a focus on the fundamentalist mindset found within all religions to include rigid thought structures found within all human consciousness states. In other words, religiosity can be found in both religious and secular realms.
Religiosity is an initial stage in the development of human consciousness. We are born with a "pure" consciousness state, "trailing clouds of glory" as Wordsworth puts it. We learn quickly to adopt a thought structure either similar to or in reaction against the prevailing thought community into which we are born. This thought structure tends to harden. We make it our profession to see the world as this way and no other way. We become professors of our thought structure, missionaries of our mind. We become hedgehogs.
In alchemical language (alchemy was a precursor to "modern" chemistry and can be seen as rich in symbology of the human psyche), at that stage of consciousness we are dragons. Dragon refers to the psyche of a person abiding in an external world. The purpose of psychological alchemy is to allow the dragon to transform.
Many of us humans are still in the embryonic stages of consciousness, by whatever animal name or metaphor. Many others are opening beyond religiosity to spirituality, to awareness of cosmic citizenry. This requires being born out of our borne-ness, to open to the unborn, to be willing to go out of our minds.
The alternative is to remain stillborn.
Religiosity is an initial stage in the development of human consciousness. We are born with a "pure" consciousness state, "trailing clouds of glory" as Wordsworth puts it. We learn quickly to adopt a thought structure either similar to or in reaction against the prevailing thought community into which we are born. This thought structure tends to harden. We make it our profession to see the world as this way and no other way. We become professors of our thought structure, missionaries of our mind. We become hedgehogs.
In alchemical language (alchemy was a precursor to "modern" chemistry and can be seen as rich in symbology of the human psyche), at that stage of consciousness we are dragons. Dragon refers to the psyche of a person abiding in an external world. The purpose of psychological alchemy is to allow the dragon to transform.
Many of us humans are still in the embryonic stages of consciousness, by whatever animal name or metaphor. Many others are opening beyond religiosity to spirituality, to awareness of cosmic citizenry. This requires being born out of our borne-ness, to open to the unborn, to be willing to go out of our minds.
The alternative is to remain stillborn.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
religiosity and spirituality
In continuing this hedgehog-phoenix discussion, it is important to make a distinction between religiosity and spirituality.
Religiosity (re-lege) means to swear allegiance (al-lege) to the same viewpoint (lege-acy) over and over again. Religiosity can take place within any thought structure, whether that thought structure be deemed "religious" or "secular."
Religiosity is not confined to adherents of traditional religions. Anti- or non-religion folk also have their religiosity. Religiosity is equivalent to getting on a pogo stick and jumping up and down on that sucker for your entire life, no questions asked. One's head is frozen in a thought form and if it is felt to be attacked, one bristles.
Spirituality means to move with and as spirit, the lifeforce that courses through and brings into existence all of life. Spire-it (spire refers to breath) has to do with in-spire-ation, with as-spire-ation, and though we may shrink from its power and transformational capability, with ex-spire-ation.
In-spire-ation means we allow room for the lifeforce to enter, to move within. For this we need to practice great capaciousness.
As-spire-ation means we look to swim upstream to the source of this spire-ation. We aspire to be like the source of the lifeforce, the model for all creativity.
Ex-spire-ation means we continually let go of what we think we know and of who we think we are. We stand naked in the universe, humble and open. We breathe out (ex-spire) lovingkindness to all.
I will use these terms (religiosity and spirituality) in forthcoming posts concerning hedgehog and phoenix consciousness states.
Religiosity (re-lege) means to swear allegiance (al-lege) to the same viewpoint (lege-acy) over and over again. Religiosity can take place within any thought structure, whether that thought structure be deemed "religious" or "secular."
Religiosity is not confined to adherents of traditional religions. Anti- or non-religion folk also have their religiosity. Religiosity is equivalent to getting on a pogo stick and jumping up and down on that sucker for your entire life, no questions asked. One's head is frozen in a thought form and if it is felt to be attacked, one bristles.
Spirituality means to move with and as spirit, the lifeforce that courses through and brings into existence all of life. Spire-it (spire refers to breath) has to do with in-spire-ation, with as-spire-ation, and though we may shrink from its power and transformational capability, with ex-spire-ation.
In-spire-ation means we allow room for the lifeforce to enter, to move within. For this we need to practice great capaciousness.
As-spire-ation means we look to swim upstream to the source of this spire-ation. We aspire to be like the source of the lifeforce, the model for all creativity.
Ex-spire-ation means we continually let go of what we think we know and of who we think we are. We stand naked in the universe, humble and open. We breathe out (ex-spire) lovingkindness to all.
I will use these terms (religiosity and spirituality) in forthcoming posts concerning hedgehog and phoenix consciousness states.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
the hedgehog and the phoenix
Forty years ago, my research on the relationship between religious fundamentalist beliefs and peak experiences [Breed, G.,& Fagan, J. (1972). Religious dogmatism and peak experiences: a test of Maslow’s hypothesis. Psychological Reports, 31, 866] showed that folk with high fundamentalist beliefs were less likely to have peak, oceanic, or mystical experiences. Stating it another way, folk having mystical or peak experiences were less likely to be religious fundamentalists.
My later research showed that people with concrete conceptual systems were more likely to go against the evidence of their senses and yield to group pressure to accept a false conclusion than were people with abstract (open) conceptual systems.
Today I call these differences in human consciousness: the hedgehog and the phoenix. The hedgehog, when challenged, rolls itself into a tight ball with extended bristles. The phoenix, when challenged, lets its old self burn into ashes and rises anew. A huge difference in style.
My later research showed that people with concrete conceptual systems were more likely to go against the evidence of their senses and yield to group pressure to accept a false conclusion than were people with abstract (open) conceptual systems.
Today I call these differences in human consciousness: the hedgehog and the phoenix. The hedgehog, when challenged, rolls itself into a tight ball with extended bristles. The phoenix, when challenged, lets its old self burn into ashes and rises anew. A huge difference in style.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
opening to true power
A voice spoke as if it were my own:
You have yet to claim your full powers.
I thought: I must do something about this.
Immediately from deep within the vision came
of the wilderness encounter of Jesus and the Adversary.
Three powers were offered to Jesus
He rejected each in turn, saying he would listen only to the voice at his core, the voice of God, of his Source, the Godhead, the Tao, the Wellspring, Allah, Wakantanka, the One Whom No Name Captures.
Jesus listened to the true power. So may I. So may we all.
You have yet to claim your full powers.
I thought: I must do something about this.
Immediately from deep within the vision came
of the wilderness encounter of Jesus and the Adversary.
Three powers were offered to Jesus
- The power of alchemical transformation. "Command that these stones be made bread."
- The power over death. "Throw yourself off this temple pinnacle and no harm will come to you."
- The power of ownership. "All this shall be yours if you fall down and worship me."
He rejected each in turn, saying he would listen only to the voice at his core, the voice of God, of his Source, the Godhead, the Tao, the Wellspring, Allah, Wakantanka, the One Whom No Name Captures.
Jesus listened to the true power. So may I. So may we all.
Monday, February 22, 2010
quivering mass
I see all religions as speaking of
an energetic interflow amongst all living.
If each of us had the temerity, the nerve
to take on the consciousness of each religion's founder,
we would know that this is so.
Each of us is as vast as billions of universes,
but we contract our awareness and go through the day
like a small mass of emotional jello looking for its whipped cream.
an energetic interflow amongst all living.
If each of us had the temerity, the nerve
to take on the consciousness of each religion's founder,
we would know that this is so.
Each of us is as vast as billions of universes,
but we contract our awareness and go through the day
like a small mass of emotional jello looking for its whipped cream.
robbing ourselves of energy
Though the word "sin" has accumulated undesirable baggage,
sin means separation.
When we regard anything as energetically separate from ourselves,
we are no longer scintillating but sinning.
We have chopped the universe into fragments.
We are no longer at peace but in pieces.
We do this by deflation (seeing ourselves as less than)
and by inflation (seeing ourselves as more than).
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
When we fall for the illusion of separation,
we cheat ourselves of radiant energy.
sin means separation.
When we regard anything as energetically separate from ourselves,
we are no longer scintillating but sinning.
We have chopped the universe into fragments.
We are no longer at peace but in pieces.
We do this by deflation (seeing ourselves as less than)
and by inflation (seeing ourselves as more than).
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
When we fall for the illusion of separation,
we cheat ourselves of radiant energy.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
moving on up
Four aspects of a human that govern behavior are the head, the heart, the hara (center of balance), and the genitals. A nation is no different.
A nation that wars is responding with male genitalia. A huge phallus is erected, admired, polished and sent to other countries to "keep the peace" with its rapine threat. Or to flail about smashing and destroying. This is often portrayed as an act of love, of concern, of caring.
Maybe we could get by (by "we" I mean all humans on the planet) with continued phallic escalation in the past, with dominance belonging to the ones with the largest erections, but no more. Though we differ in so many ways, we are all members of the Navel Tribe. We are one species on a small planet. Our lives are interconnected and interconnecting.
As a species, we need to move up the chakra ladder a rung, to center ourselves in our hara rather than our phallus (which is not gender specific, by the way).
A nation that wars is responding with male genitalia. A huge phallus is erected, admired, polished and sent to other countries to "keep the peace" with its rapine threat. Or to flail about smashing and destroying. This is often portrayed as an act of love, of concern, of caring.
Maybe we could get by (by "we" I mean all humans on the planet) with continued phallic escalation in the past, with dominance belonging to the ones with the largest erections, but no more. Though we differ in so many ways, we are all members of the Navel Tribe. We are one species on a small planet. Our lives are interconnected and interconnecting.
As a species, we need to move up the chakra ladder a rung, to center ourselves in our hara rather than our phallus (which is not gender specific, by the way).
Friday, February 19, 2010
nondual intuition
I look to understand
what calls me into existence.
Direct understanding.
No intermediary.
An energy exists.
Beyond the sensible.
Beyond the rational.
The Paraclete, the Christ-ians call it.
The Buddha-ists say Prajna.
The Sufi refer to Malakut, the sphere of the Soul.
The Cosmic Angel.
One understands the Cosmic Angel, that vast alive
aware energy permeating the universe and calling it into being,
through nondual intuition. Splitness does not work.
Not two. Not two. Not even one.
Grace has no boundaries, no separation.
Grace and knowledge are the same.
Prajnaparamita.
Direct knowing.
what calls me into existence.
Direct understanding.
No intermediary.
An energy exists.
Beyond the sensible.
Beyond the rational.
The Paraclete, the Christ-ians call it.
The Buddha-ists say Prajna.
The Sufi refer to Malakut, the sphere of the Soul.
The Cosmic Angel.
One understands the Cosmic Angel, that vast alive
aware energy permeating the universe and calling it into being,
through nondual intuition. Splitness does not work.
Not two. Not two. Not even one.
Grace has no boundaries, no separation.
Grace and knowledge are the same.
Prajnaparamita.
Direct knowing.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
housing development
Every time I say a word I lay a plank of thought.
Some have built whole houses with their thought planks,
touting them as safe dwelling places. Many enter and reside.
Heretics are always wanting to add a new wing or redecorate.
When dwelling in silence, no human construction is in sight.
Some have built whole houses with their thought planks,
touting them as safe dwelling places. Many enter and reside.
Heretics are always wanting to add a new wing or redecorate.
When dwelling in silence, no human construction is in sight.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
the angel of the cosmos
"Be sensible," they say.
"Come to your senses."
Why should I restrict awareness
to these nerve endings, glorious as they are,
mere temps in the Office of Eternal Splendor?
"Think about it! Think about what you are doing!"
Well, okay. I am. I do. Think about it.
You know what no one says?
"Open to the Intuition
that calls you into being,
to the Vast Awareness."
But It says
and I listen
and I take It by the hand,
this Cosmic Angel, and am lifted into realms supernal.
"Come to your senses."
Why should I restrict awareness
to these nerve endings, glorious as they are,
mere temps in the Office of Eternal Splendor?
"Think about it! Think about what you are doing!"
Well, okay. I am. I do. Think about it.
You know what no one says?
"Open to the Intuition
that calls you into being,
to the Vast Awareness."
But It says
and I listen
and I take It by the hand,
this Cosmic Angel, and am lifted into realms supernal.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
giving jesus the runaround
Why must we keep eternally circling,
crucifying ourselves and eating our flesh,
self-admirers needing redemption
from an echoing self-gazing hell?
Why must we keep eternally circling?
Crucifying Jesus and eating his flesh?
Haven't we had enough yet?
Isn't he totally digested?
Why have we made the cross a pogo stick
upon which we eternally bounce?
Impaled. Released. Impaled. Released.
It's all the nonchristians too! An epidemic!
Perpetual motion machines of condemnation and salvation.
Why, I swear! Jesus needs to come back
and chase us with a chain saw!
But I bet we'd run around in circles.
crucifying ourselves and eating our flesh,
self-admirers needing redemption
from an echoing self-gazing hell?
Why must we keep eternally circling?
Crucifying Jesus and eating his flesh?
Haven't we had enough yet?
Isn't he totally digested?
Why have we made the cross a pogo stick
upon which we eternally bounce?
Impaled. Released. Impaled. Released.
It's all the nonchristians too! An epidemic!
Perpetual motion machines of condemnation and salvation.
Why, I swear! Jesus needs to come back
and chase us with a chain saw!
But I bet we'd run around in circles.
Monday, February 15, 2010
release
That aspect of ourselves we call ego is attachment.
Attachment to our image.
Attachment to our habits.
Attachment to our attachments.
The ego is a fearsome beast and very clever.
I invite it to sit down beside me.
It rests upon the carpet like a panting tiger.
I breathe in and out.
I breathe in lovingkindness.
I breathe out all attachment.
I release, let go.
Breathing in lovingkindness.
Breathing out lovingkindness.
No attachment. No deals. Just here.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
soup
Each of us lives the life we have signed on to.
We look to make the best soup out of the ingredients at hand.
Regardless of our gender, we are broth-ers.
Don't stew about it. Keep a bubbling boiling 'til tender.
Give yourself away to the hungry.
Don't fear.
The soup we are eternally replenishes.
We look to make the best soup out of the ingredients at hand.
Regardless of our gender, we are broth-ers.
Don't stew about it. Keep a bubbling boiling 'til tender.
Give yourself away to the hungry.
Don't fear.
The soup we are eternally replenishes.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
spheres of influence
The way to change the world is not through politics.
The way to change the world is through one's sphere of influence.
We radiate energy outward in all directions.
The quality and power of that energy varies
with whether we are centering or not,
and what center we have chosen.
Doubt radiates doubt, fills the universe with doubt.
Fear and anger do the same.
Mindful Aware Compassion fills the universe with that big MAC.
The radiance of our energy transforms the world.
Each of us is a sphere of influence.
Every sphere of influence has a center,
a vibratory quality, and an area of influence.
We center in our heads, our hearts, our groins.
We center in wanting what we do not have
and not wanting what we do.
We center in lovingkindness and compassion.
We choose our center every moment.
This is a practice. We practice centering.
As our center goes, so goes the world.
We are spheres of influence.
The quality of our influence vibrates outward in all directions
from our chosen center. This influence occurs whether or not
we are in the direct presence of others. We are influencing
the quality and character of the world all the time.
The world is one big energy system
and we are its transformers.
The way to change the world is through one's sphere of influence.
We radiate energy outward in all directions.
The quality and power of that energy varies
with whether we are centering or not,
and what center we have chosen.
Doubt radiates doubt, fills the universe with doubt.
Fear and anger do the same.
Mindful Aware Compassion fills the universe with that big MAC.
The radiance of our energy transforms the world.
Each of us is a sphere of influence.
Every sphere of influence has a center,
a vibratory quality, and an area of influence.
We center in our heads, our hearts, our groins.
We center in wanting what we do not have
and not wanting what we do.
We center in lovingkindness and compassion.
We choose our center every moment.
This is a practice. We practice centering.
As our center goes, so goes the world.
We are spheres of influence.
The quality of our influence vibrates outward in all directions
from our chosen center. This influence occurs whether or not
we are in the direct presence of others. We are influencing
the quality and character of the world all the time.
The world is one big energy system
and we are its transformers.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
infusion
We have different bodies.
We have a desire body, flaming and hot;
a cognitive body, cool and detached;
an imaginative body, colorful and rambunctious;
a social body, influential and interwoven;
a spiritual body, yakking with the saints.
And more.
We in-habit these bodies,
as comfortable as old shoes.
The physical body is the bookmark in space and time,
keeping our place here in the middle of the story
of this Aeon of Strife and Discontent.
We give it an infusion of compassion.
We do this with our heart body,
the body with strong connection
to the heart-thrum of our Source.
We have a desire body, flaming and hot;
a cognitive body, cool and detached;
an imaginative body, colorful and rambunctious;
a social body, influential and interwoven;
a spiritual body, yakking with the saints.
And more.
We in-habit these bodies,
as comfortable as old shoes.
The physical body is the bookmark in space and time,
keeping our place here in the middle of the story
of this Aeon of Strife and Discontent.
We give it an infusion of compassion.
We do this with our heart body,
the body with strong connection
to the heart-thrum of our Source.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
On this morn's walkabout I saw
Jesus with a snowball on his head
-- I love that Jesus --
He is always up to something
world shaper
I must be careful how I speak.
When I open this mouth and thrum these vocal chords,
whole universes sing themselves into existence.
I must be careful what I think.
I can damn the world to hell in a nanosecond
or bliss it into some fairyland nirvana.
Howling winds of arctic windswept plains.
Haunting breeze of lush equatorial jungle.
This mind contains vast realms yet unseen.
We are all mad inventors sitting inside the labyrinth
of our cavernous minds, conjuring up some lumination.
Lighting a path we create as we go.
When I open this mouth and thrum these vocal chords,
whole universes sing themselves into existence.
I must be careful what I think.
I can damn the world to hell in a nanosecond
or bliss it into some fairyland nirvana.
Howling winds of arctic windswept plains.
Haunting breeze of lush equatorial jungle.
This mind contains vast realms yet unseen.
We are all mad inventors sitting inside the labyrinth
of our cavernous minds, conjuring up some lumination.
Lighting a path we create as we go.
Monday, February 8, 2010
rise and shine!
And the knowledgeable will be radiant
like the bright expanse of sky (Tanakh)
And they that be wise shall shine
as the brightness of the firmament (King James)
The enlightened will shine
like the Zohar of the sky (Zohar)
The above three renditions of Daniel 12: 3 point to one truth:
Rise and shine!
When we come up out of
the gloop of self-concern,
when we stop staring at our feet
and lift up our eyes
to "the bright expanse of sky,"
we become radiant.
To rise is wise.
When we rise, we shine.
Even our corpse-suckles get happy.
like the bright expanse of sky (Tanakh)
And they that be wise shall shine
as the brightness of the firmament (King James)
The enlightened will shine
like the Zohar of the sky (Zohar)
The above three renditions of Daniel 12: 3 point to one truth:
Rise and shine!
When we come up out of
the gloop of self-concern,
when we stop staring at our feet
and lift up our eyes
to "the bright expanse of sky,"
we become radiant.
To rise is wise.
When we rise, we shine.
Even our corpse-suckles get happy.
Friday, February 5, 2010
shaman warrior way
Putting legs on the Christian fish symbol is like putting legs on the Tao symbol. (I understand the whole Darwinian evolution stance, but speak not of that here.) If one looks closely, the fish and tao symbols are remarkably alike: a curved line representing heaven and all "light" qualities, another curved line representing earth and all "dark" qualities. To put legs on either or both is to assert human dominance in the universe -- a ploy that has always failed since it is a lie.
In previous Warrior of Spirit gatherings, folk had little trouble with lovingkindness, with centering, with opening, with mindfulness, and so on. Great difficulty arose with surrender. Surrender is perceived as cowardice, as failure. We are supposed to stand atop the mountain peak with lightning striking all around and thunder out with upraised fist: I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL!
Malarkey. True up to a certain point and within certain realms (like deciding to get out of bed everyday and face the music or choosing which of the 80 brands of toilet paper to buy) but total malarkey when it comes to the cosmos.
Surrender is the most heroic act one can perform. It is the shaman warrior way -- to let go and be rendered, torn apart, trusting that one will be put back together, though in new, strange, and unaccustomed ways. A painful process in which the character one has built over the years and placed on the stage to speak its lines is dis-membered, its parts flung to infinity, only the beating heart remaining.
And that heart is enough. The universe, the life force of our Source, the Wellspring, fashions a new body out of and around that heart. We are born anew with new eyes, new awareness, new understanding.
New country-western song: "Don't put no legs on my tao sign"
In previous Warrior of Spirit gatherings, folk had little trouble with lovingkindness, with centering, with opening, with mindfulness, and so on. Great difficulty arose with surrender. Surrender is perceived as cowardice, as failure. We are supposed to stand atop the mountain peak with lightning striking all around and thunder out with upraised fist: I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL!
Malarkey. True up to a certain point and within certain realms (like deciding to get out of bed everyday and face the music or choosing which of the 80 brands of toilet paper to buy) but total malarkey when it comes to the cosmos.
Surrender is the most heroic act one can perform. It is the shaman warrior way -- to let go and be rendered, torn apart, trusting that one will be put back together, though in new, strange, and unaccustomed ways. A painful process in which the character one has built over the years and placed on the stage to speak its lines is dis-membered, its parts flung to infinity, only the beating heart remaining.
And that heart is enough. The universe, the life force of our Source, the Wellspring, fashions a new body out of and around that heart. We are born anew with new eyes, new awareness, new understanding.
New country-western song: "Don't put no legs on my tao sign"
Thursday, February 4, 2010
juice
Words have juice.
Example. Irruption.
Irruption.
The tearing of the fabric of reality.
Disclosure of what lurks beneath.
Larks rise straight into the air, singing.
No longer lurking.
The lark beneath no longer lurking.
Irruption.
Life is a lark.
A lurk no longer.
Irruption.
Can you feel it?
Can you feel your lurk larking?
Example. Irruption.
Irruption.
The tearing of the fabric of reality.
Disclosure of what lurks beneath.
Larks rise straight into the air, singing.
No longer lurking.
The lark beneath no longer lurking.
Irruption.
Life is a lark.
A lurk no longer.
Irruption.
Can you feel it?
Can you feel your lurk larking?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
writing the bones
I hear from time to time that many don't understand what I am saying in my postings -- one implication being that I should use more common terms, another being that I should flesh out my bare bones writings with explanations and references and footnotes, maybe slow it down a little and start with A before I hit X, Y, and Z.
Not interested.
Another thing I hear is that I am "preaching to the choir." Probably so, but all I know is I get up in the morning and write what comes. Conversion of the masses and obtaining large followers swaying in time to a common beat is not my goal. If I wanted to do that, I'd get some backup singers (three lovely jazzy women) and a band and hop on the T and V. Get me an electric blue suit and have my beard trimmed.
Not interested.
Just want to write the bones.
Not interested.
Another thing I hear is that I am "preaching to the choir." Probably so, but all I know is I get up in the morning and write what comes. Conversion of the masses and obtaining large followers swaying in time to a common beat is not my goal. If I wanted to do that, I'd get some backup singers (three lovely jazzy women) and a band and hop on the T and V. Get me an electric blue suit and have my beard trimmed.
Not interested.
Just want to write the bones.
in the know
Early on (18th century), science put emphasis on what was looked at and ignored what was doing the looking. Even later, when psychology, attempting to emulate the "hard-core" sciences through emphasis on statistics and probability (both based on crop yields under different treatment conditions) and behavioral measures, began to investigate humans, the "psyche" in psyche-ology was ignored, even disparaged and ridiculed as a notion.
If it couldn't be measured, it didn't exist.
This rabid pursuit of the various scientific hounds after their respective foxes, like any compulsive behavior, spun totally out of control, producing both desirable and undesirable fox meat.
Meanwhile, the psyche was relegated to a few (shudder!) unscientific psychologists and to the smoldering ash heap of religion, now seen as the dogmatic domain of the unlearned, carrion eaters of scientific refuse.
Both "sides" lost out. As Carl Jung put it: "Faith lacked experience and science missed out the soul."
As a mystic trained in the scientific method, having won both spiritual and scientific spurs through grace and grit, I found a common denominator -- that which does the looking. The way I found it was through a third method, the method of the martial arts. One does not practice the martial arts for long before recognizing and cultivating the life force (ki, chi, prana, mana, spirit).
The energies of the universe pour through us, embody as us, call us into being within each nanosecond: the timeless irrupting into time.
Our job as humans seems to be to disrupt it, to ignore it, to ride it for pleasure or for profit. Few of us seem to open to BEING it.
As for me, I laugh and giggle at the paradoxical humor and the wonder of it all. In both mystic and scientific realms, as some old fool said somewhere: the universe that is embodying as us is exploring the universe that is embodying as us.
No need to get all serious and stuffy about it. Neither science nor religion know what they are doing. None of us do.
Brad Olson and I were yakking in front of a warm fire at Charly's yestermorn and thought we might do another one of our Brad-George open conversations entitled "What's It All About, Billy Bob?" Brad said we could say "I don't know" in many different ways (and at great and entertaining length). The mutual laughter of good friends is precious treasure: the life force manifesting in good and right relationship.
Ain't that what it's all about, Billy Bob?
If it couldn't be measured, it didn't exist.
This rabid pursuit of the various scientific hounds after their respective foxes, like any compulsive behavior, spun totally out of control, producing both desirable and undesirable fox meat.
Meanwhile, the psyche was relegated to a few (shudder!) unscientific psychologists and to the smoldering ash heap of religion, now seen as the dogmatic domain of the unlearned, carrion eaters of scientific refuse.
Both "sides" lost out. As Carl Jung put it: "Faith lacked experience and science missed out the soul."
As a mystic trained in the scientific method, having won both spiritual and scientific spurs through grace and grit, I found a common denominator -- that which does the looking. The way I found it was through a third method, the method of the martial arts. One does not practice the martial arts for long before recognizing and cultivating the life force (ki, chi, prana, mana, spirit).
The energies of the universe pour through us, embody as us, call us into being within each nanosecond: the timeless irrupting into time.
Our job as humans seems to be to disrupt it, to ignore it, to ride it for pleasure or for profit. Few of us seem to open to BEING it.
As for me, I laugh and giggle at the paradoxical humor and the wonder of it all. In both mystic and scientific realms, as some old fool said somewhere: the universe that is embodying as us is exploring the universe that is embodying as us.
No need to get all serious and stuffy about it. Neither science nor religion know what they are doing. None of us do.
Brad Olson and I were yakking in front of a warm fire at Charly's yestermorn and thought we might do another one of our Brad-George open conversations entitled "What's It All About, Billy Bob?" Brad said we could say "I don't know" in many different ways (and at great and entertaining length). The mutual laughter of good friends is precious treasure: the life force manifesting in good and right relationship.
Ain't that what it's all about, Billy Bob?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
the work
As I seek the philosopher's stone, the "incorrupt medicament,"
I find that, corrupt as I am, I am the medicine I seek.
And it is doing its work.
Gerhard Dorn was right: "See therefore that thou goest forth
such as thou desirest the work to be which thou seekest."
In order to find that which I seek,
I have to become that which I seek.
The seeking of something will invariably cause one to become that.
This is the work.
It is working.
I find that, corrupt as I am, I am the medicine I seek.
And it is doing its work.
Gerhard Dorn was right: "See therefore that thou goest forth
such as thou desirest the work to be which thou seekest."
In order to find that which I seek,
I have to become that which I seek.
The seeking of something will invariably cause one to become that.
This is the work.
It is working.
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