The Way Ahead Newsletter: No. 7
Dear Friends,
We are nearing the end of July 2012, and well into the second half of the year. Things are still changing, and yet many of us are still waiting for that 'big thing' to occur. What we may not fully appreciate is that the 'big event' is unfolding all around us, all of the time. Also, not only is the world changing but so is human consciousness - this is the 'bigger picture'. How we perceive our connections to the world around us (and the larger cosmos) is shifting. Thus we are seeing the limitations of the old paradigm thinking, and the social systems that manifest this way of linear thinking. The old thinking served us well in the past, as part of the energies of that stage of evolutionary growth. Now that we are shifting into a new patterning there is much re-shuffling going on. So we must also be prepared to re-arrange our patterns of thinking and behaviour - and to trust our innate inner selves. We should trust our
interior world, which is the subject of this month's 'Reflections'.
REFLECTIONS
Interiorizing the World– moving toward unity consciousness
There is a famous story that tells of a great emperor who once called the greatest artists of his time together to create the ultimate throne room. He prepared two rooms, divided by a curtain. On one side sat the greatest artisans of China while on the other were the best creators from Greece.
The Chinese, with their extraordinary technique and skill, created an elaborate and ornate room befitting the emperor. In the other room, the Greeks polished a room full of mirrors, from floor to ceiling. Once the rooms were done, the emperor got a peek into them.
The Chinese room was done in rich brocade, gold and finery. On the other hand, the room prepared by the Greek artists was so well polished that it reflected everything in the other room, yet with more brilliance and energetic shine – whilst at the same time remaining completely empty.
Our external world can be said to be like the elaborate throne room, full of gaudy items that fill and stuff our vision and overload the senses. Our interior world, however, is the refined room of mirrors that reflects the world to us from a place of uncluttered ‘emptiness’.
The reality of our lives is centered around how we absorb the world - take it into us, inside us – and transform its energy before we project it out of us again. We can be as alchemical vessels, transmuting the coarser energy of the world through us into the finer. In this way we can participate in co-creating new worlds and new realities.
To
interiorize the world is an act of the imaginal. This is not our imagination – the fantasies, escapist thoughts, etc that dance in our heads – but focused and conscious intentions that come from directed thought. A person’s own imaginal world – the internal visionary perspective – can be a powerful transmutational energy for participating in the world. The imaginal world is not make-believe: it is a perception of reality perceived inwardly. The reality of the ‘invisible interior’ can work with us as an important contribution to the world. Perhaps the true alchemy is being able to successfully
interiorize the world whilst simultaneously living full and balanced lives within the world.
By bringing our focused conscious interior gaze into our lives we can transcend beyond the illusion of banality. Many people recognize the lack of significant meaning in the social environments that constitute the world(s) we inhabit. The noise of distracting events, news, gimmicky sell, and gadgetry galore stuffs us as turkeys for the cooking. We are in danger of being cooked within the stew of a world accelerating into the absurd. We need to take a step back. We owe it to ourselves to make moments for stepping out and to integrate and connect with our sense of self - we deserve it. By integrating our lives – our outer and inner worlds – we can also integrate our modes of consciousness, and a greater perception can be brought forth from this coherence and unifying consciousness. When our imaginal world actively participates in how
we see the world around us, things begin to shift. The world responds to how we interact with it. By developing a grounded and balanced interior ‘imaginal world’ a person is better placed for stepping out into the manifested exterior world.
A person must become as a crucible – able to act as a synthesis – between an energetic and vibrant cosmos and a matter-reality of action and consequence. By becoming a crucible (by definition able to withstand high temperatures!), a person can act upon the world by actively participating within the sense of reality-making. This ultimately serves to create meaning and significance in everything we do – even the small seemingly mundane things.
In acknowledging and understanding that the inherent interconnectedness, and thus patterns of coherence, between our interior gaze and that which we gaze upon forms a unified whole we catalyze unity consciousness. Through this we have the capacity to transmute what our ‘realities’ mean to us; and thus how we wish to deal with them. By working on ourselves, our interior world, we are able to also transform the world external to us, as in truth there is no separation: each a mirror that reflects back the other.
In order to ‘change the world’, we must first become change agents within ourselves. We must aspire to a conscious participation with the constructive forces of the world. Human consciousness is already integrated with every aspect of our reality-matrix. All forces and energies are susceptible to the presence of human consciousness. If there is a separation then it is human-made – a consequence of human thinking – and thus askew. It is this inner sense of something being askew, or out of place, that makes us feel a lack in our lives – whether it be a loss of meaning or sense of dislocation. Humanity is naturally integrative, and does not consciously seek to separate. Unity consciousness is a conscious awareness of this; and of bringing our imaginal worlds into constructive play within our daily lives. It is as simple and as hard as that.
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Until next month.... please visit
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LATEST NEWS
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Some News of Interest
A 'Saying' to Share
‘God provides the food, men provide the cooks’
A Tale to Finish
The Price of Discouragement
Once the word spread that the devil was pulling out of his business and was arranging to sell-off all his tools of the trade to the highest bidder. The night of the sale all the tools were arranged for the bidders to view. What a motley crew it was! There were sinister tools of hatred, jealousy, envy, malice, treachery, plus all the other elements of evil. Yet besides these there also was an instrument that seemed harmless, a wedge-shaped instrument that appeared worn out, shabby, and yet was priced so much higher than all others. Someone asked the devil what was the name of such a poor-looking instrument.
‘Discouragement’ answered the Devil.
‘And why is the price so high for such a non-malicious sounding instrument? asked the bidder.
‘Because,’ spoke the Devil, ‘this instrument is more useful to me than any other. I can enter the consciousness of a human being when all other ways fail me and once inside through the discouragement of that person I can do whatever I please. The instrument is worn out because I use it almost everywhere and as very few people know about this I can continue to successfully achieve my goals.’
And as the price of discouragement was so very, very high even today it remains a tool in the property of the Devil.
