“The self-esteem of any nation
stems from the relationship of its group-soul to the soul of the land.” Caitlin
Matthews
One of the great challenges facing
us in modern American society is to move out of living in the shallows of our
psyches. Bouncing back and forth between our thoughts and feelings, many of us
don’t take time to plumb our depths and discover what is there. Beyond this,
shallow living can extend to our relationship with others and the world around
us. Our country has its own mythic being and consciousness which can only be
accessed in the depths as well.
“...in the inner recesses of the
human soul, where the facts of life mingle with the mysteries of eternity, myth
means ‘emergent truth.’”--Michael Meade
Our sensory systems and thinking capture
the world so compellingly that we become absorbed into the dream of everyday
life, losing the perspective that we are the witnesses, not the dream itself.
Where once the human race lived in the mythic dimension, what we might call
right-brain perception, we have mostly relegated this dimension to the
superfluous in Western society, in favor of the “facts” of sensory perception
and left-brain rationality. Perceiving the world from the mythic dimension is
to know that waking life is just as much a dream as sleeping life. The bridge
between these two types of dream is myth.
Everything in creation vibrates.
The vibrations begin at an extremely fine level, deep within the core of being
and emanate outward, taking on form and substance through the process of
manifestation. There exists a deep intentional meaning to each created form in
the universe, whether or not that form ever becomes physical. Things exist in
an inner sense before they exist outwardly, and their vibrations carry the
meaningful intent which defines the form that they take. A star starts as
formless “star” intent and meaning; a crystal or an abstract concept starts the
same way, each manifesting in the timeless present moment.
Michael Meade, storyteller
extraordinaire, uses the term “Old Mind” to refer to the ancient knowingness
that dwells within each of us as well as within the world. In his book The World Behind The World, he says, “In
the Age of Reason, the Old Mind seems too illogical and irrational; yet it is
the first way of being in the world. The ancient mind is logical in its own
ways. It is mythological, psychological, and ultimately cosmological....It’s
the old poetic mind, eternally threaded to the animated, animistic, altruistic
and ever abundant Soul of the World.”
Enlightenment is about the
infinite presence in everything, including you. There is comfort in thinking
that this presence is already within. Yet the presence is the one noticing the
thoughts. It is beyond the thinking. Coming into the experience of the presence
itself, within, around, transcending everything—and then living at least most
of the time in this awareness constitutes the definition of one “level” of
enlightenment.
One aspect of the freedom that
comes with enlightenment involves a sense of spaciousness. You may not often
have this feeling except in peak moments in nature, on vacation with nothing to
do but loaf at the beach with a good book, when a long-standing task is finally
completed, or when you just garnered some great achievement or advancement. But
spaciousness is a feeling that can become much more commonplace.
Enlightenment means to make
light—not only in the sense of radiance, but in the sense of weight: lifting
off the burden as well as becoming more luminous. This happens whenever you
realize that you are more than your thoughts, feelings and sensations in the
present moment. It can only happen in the present moment, because what are the
past and future to you? They are nothing more than thoughts in the present
moment, aren’t they? They may be thoughts charged with emotion, but that is
all. This is an immensely freeing realization.
Have you ever felt discouraged
when reading or listening to awakened teachers talk about cosmic states of
connection? Have you ever felt that although they may have had massive
spontaneous enlightenments that left them transformed for life, this experience
didn’t happen to you, and now you are slogging along through the muck of your
own life, wishing you had the same clarity, bliss and empowerment that they
have?
Most seekers that I know are not
like Eckhart Tolle or Byron Katie, who experienced major, permanent awakenings
after enormous, suicidal suffering. Neither are we like Anandamayi Ma, “The
Bliss-Permeated Mother,” who never left the awakened state from birth. Most
don’t live in monasteries or ashrams either. We have everyday lives filled with
worldly responsibilities: the demands of jobs, bills, health, cars or bikes
that need fixing, relationships, education, getting enough exercise and sleep,
eating right, doing the dishes, remembering to do our affirmations and trying
to give ourselves permission somewhere in all of this to relax. Dealing with
all the complexities of our emotional states as we navigate our lives, we try
to juggle in some time for meditation in order to connect with the peace and
wisdom that we know is there somewhere within us, if only we could stop the
flood of memories, plans, worries, conversations and reminders that our mind
continuously pours forth.
Enlightenment is a slow process
for most people. We get insights here and there; we connect with states of knowing
that there is something within us that is beyond the madness of modern life,
only to lose it five minutes later when the phone rings and it’s someone from
the latest political campaign. We find ourselves striving, even though we’ve
been told that “it” is already in us, and striving is unnecessary—which thought
makes us feel wrong, like we blew it once again. Even though we know on one
level that we are being stuck in our “small-self” identification, we don’t
always find the way out of it to our infinite, ever-present Being.
If this describes you, relax—you
are like almost everyone else. There are simple things that can help. A first
step is to just stop hassling yourself. More than being merely unnecessary, it
actually hinders rather than helps your progress. Make a commitment to yourself
that you will become aware of when you do this every time, and stop. You don’t
have to change anything about what you are doing outwardly; just stop giving
yourself a hard time inwardly. In your commitment to yourself, start to say
“NO” to self-created stress and low self-esteem. You are the thinker, not your
thoughts; you can be in charge.
When I began to take charge of
actually releasing stuck places, I realized that 40 years of meditation hadn’t
gotten me past my suppressed emotional baggage, because that’s not what
meditation does. Meditation, although magnificent, is about finding the place
beyond; it doesn’t address releasing the limitations themselves. Making a
commitment to become aware of what you’re doing to yourself emotionally through
intention and attention will make a huge difference if you apply
yourself with sincerity. Stay tuned for more.
For more information, visit my Seminars
page and my Professional Services page, call (831) 212-2168 or email andrea@awakeability.com
In March of 2007, I was privileged
to attend a conference at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara
California, entitled “Nature and Human Nature.” The opening keynote speaker,
Steven Aizenstat, President of the Institute, told the story of his involvement
with the Earth Charter, which moved many of the participants to tears of joy.
Because of their enormous power (granted to them by law) and
the historical support of government, corporations’ control of our lives is
unfortunately one of the most grievous and entrenched problems in the efforts
to culturally change our relationship with nature. Economics, so
dominated in America by the value of the unrestrained marketplace, and so
dominated in the world by the huge multi-national corporations, has
nevertheless made progress with such organizations as the International Society for Ecological Economics, ISEE.
