Who do we think we are?

Who do we think we are?

If we could suspend our limited subjectivity, if only for a moment, and see ourselves objectively - our species, co-species (and their right to existence), our planetary Home, our Moon, our place within the 'scheme' of things ... perhaps it'd be an easier question to answer.

As you read this, there are most likely sand tornadoes on Mars, lightening storms on Saturn, active volcanoes spewing their inner contents over the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, stars being formed in the farthest reaches of our galaxy, suns the size of our own condensed to 20Km across and spinning 30 times per second, black holes drawing in matter and sending it to who knows where.

Science currently tells us that our observable Universe, that is all the billions of stars in the billions of galaxies, make up only 4% of the Universe itself, with the other 96% being made of 'dark matter' and 'dark energy', both of which we cannot yet see nor measure, however must exist for the Universe to comply with some basic laws of physics!

If, as one sage observed, we are the eyes through which the Universe sees itself, is it not arrogant to assume that 13.7 billion years of Universal evolution was just for us? And yet without 'us' who or what is observing?

If not for us then what is the purpose of such an extraordinary creation? A construction of unimaginable size and complexity, from the space between galaxies to the space inside atoms, neither of which can we humanly comprehend.

Surely the paradox of human existence is simply that on the one hand we're an irrelevent species on a small spherical rock, orbiting one of 100 billion suns in our galaxy, in the outer suburbs of one of 100 billion (known) galaxies, yet all our spiritual teachings refer to our existence as being of Supreme interest, so much so that our human prime directive is the creation and support of life at almost any cost.

Maybe George Carlin was correct when he said that it doesn't matter whether we 'make' it as a species or not, as we may simply be another failed evolutionary cul-de-sac. The Earth, Moon, Sun, planets, galaxy and Universe will all go about their business irrespective of whether we annihilate ourselves or not. 

And if so, who will be the eyes through which the Universe sees itself?

Maybe we need to ask, 

"Who do we feel we are?"

"Who do we sense we are?"

"Who do we know we are?"

Maybe then we'll find our place in the 'scheme' of things!

EXPECTATION

In a recent experience I learned about the suffocation of expectation!

I and others wanted, needed, a certain outcome, so I did what most people do and set a level of expectation of someone else to deliver an outcome.

As the day unfolded I had this strange sense that the 'other' person who had volunteered themselves to organise the evening, had not done so. My frustration started to rise, my emotion with it, and the 'edge' we put on ourselves sharpened to a point of razor-like delivery.

Then, in a moment of clarity, I realised how much expectation I'd placed on the outcome, how this had built an energetic prison around my friend, and in doing so had suffocated any possibilty for an unfolding other than that which I had expected.

Spontaneity had no chance of expression in my reality.  A 'no win' situation.

What happened next?

Well, literally in the minutes after I had owned my expectation, understood its suffocating and blanketed delivery, decided to withdraw and 'let go' of any outcome or expectation, and own my frustration and grumpiness, a phone call happened, plans were made, the 'someone else' seemed to display characteristics of freedom, and the evening unfolded in what can truly be described as magical and spontaneous!

What did I learn?

That to create an environment of expectation on another (or even ourselves) creates an energetic matrix which confines and limits any possibility to only one: the outcome we expect!  And if this is not in keeping with anothers' unfoldment, then we do indeed create a prison of expectation which for the 'other' cannot be escaped.


By seeing this, owning this, withdrawing this, we remove the energetic shackles and allow for the unfoldment of possibility, sometimes a possibility beyond anything our limited self could possibility expect!

Wow.

Is it really that simple?

On this day, it was ... and it was wonderfully magical!

To Infinity & Beyond!

The Infinity symbol reminds me of Life ... a central overlap that we keep crossing, a knowing place where we may choose to rest and recouperate. 

For some it is the only place we know in Life, as we choose to remain within the confines of our limited Self.

A friend of mine today coined this place as "comfortably numb", a place where frightened Souls may choose to BE for a while - or a whole Lifetime.

In this central place, ignorance truly is bliss, or at least a perception of what we believe to be bliss, for true Bliss would never rest in this central place.  It is only to be found out on the edge.

However for some of us, this is also a rest-less place, a place where our yearning to be more than our belief systems tell us we are, cries out for, even demands, more expression.

As we gain self-awareness, expand our view of who we are and extend beyond our own 'safe' limitations, our rest-less-ness guides us along the outswing, another expedition into a greater unknown, simply to know more of 'what is', 'who is', 'I AM'.

The more we become self-aware the more capacity we have to increase our orbit away from the central place of "comfortably numb".  And as we do we expand our view of who we truly are, and therefore everyone else.

It's almost as if we set ourselves a trajectory that's wider and more encompassing of Life, like an asteroid that returns home to the Sun, only to depart on an even longer and lonelier journey, yet filled with trepidation, excitement, experience and learning.

On our way through the centre we may find and intersect with others on their own journey, if only for a brief moment, as other Souls pass within our orbit. Sometimes these journeys are concurrent and we have the privilege to share both the central and outward experiences. 

At other times these interactions are as brief as a heartbeat and yet their importance is no more or no less, as Time in this place, does not dictate the quality of the interaction.

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center"-  Kurt Vonnegut

Another Sage, offering sage advice!

Hang on for the white-knuckle ride of your Life ... it's the only one you have ... this time around, so may as well make it interesting and exciting as you can.

Oh, and try to stay away from "Comfortably Numb". It gets boring after a while!

Wise Words ...

A question posed to His Holiness, The Dalai Lama:

'What thing about humanity surprises you the most?' 




His answer was as follows:


"MAN, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money, then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health, and then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn't enjoy the present, and as a result he doesn't live in the present or the future, and he lives as if he's never going to die and then he dies having never really lived."

Tomato

In a recent film entitled "Schooling The World", a comment is made about how our western educational model has moved from being one of Wisdom to one of Knowledge, to now, one of Information (or even data?).

Why a tomato?

Well, data might tell me the chemical composition of the tomato, information might tell me its weight and colour.

Knowledge might tell me that a tomato is a fruit, as it contains seeds.

Wisdom, however, tells me not to put it in a fruit salad!

As we are bombarded with more and more information, from screens, iPods and other 'multifunction devices', how do we ensure that we stay 'connected' when so many modalities being presented to us take us away from the very fundamental connection we need to ensure our survival?

Wisdom, in any form, is wisdom and it can come from an Elder, a child, a tree, an animal. Perhaps the trick is not to forget what wisdom 'feels' like, when it is received, so that we may remember it in times of need.

And to do that, surely we must expose ourselves to as much wisdom as we can seek, when we can, and become conscious that the 'information age' is subverting our ability to listen.

The Door

As I've delved into those inner recesses of my beingness and following on from my previous Blog regarding Boundaries, I've discovered something very interesting when it comes to who stands at the boundary between our Inner and Outer worlds.

Without self awareness, we are blissfully unaware whether a boundary between these two worlds even exists. It never enters our thoughts to even think about it. Ignorance is surely bliss, until something in Life comes along and turns our world (inner & outer) upside down!

In my unaware past, I had an inner world in turmoil, funnily enough reflected in my outer world of turmoil.  As I started to discover how to engage with my inner world, I likened it to a classroom full of un-cared-for children, whose 'voices' would be a constant chatter in my mind, all seeking attention.  It was akin to walking into a classroom that hadn't ever been visited by an adult (me), with the windows blacked out and no rules of engagement.  Chaos!

Raise a blind, shine some light into the darkness and you might be surprised what you find.  And if you don't like what you see, then you might choose to change it, but one thing is certain: not doing anything will ensure status quo.

I decided to open a blind or two and as I started to get my 'room' of inner (and often dysfunctional) children into some sense of calmness by simply paying these aspects of my psyche some attention by really listening, the volume turned down, and I learned to choose what I thought about.  As Eckhart Tolle discusses in his books, I became an observer to my own thinking! Freedom at last!

After years of patience, resolution, realisation and transformation, my outer world continued to mirror my inner world, and I realised how could it be otherwise, for if 'someone else' was controlling the unfolding of my outer world, then who?  Or is it true that our outer world is directly manifested from our state of inner being, and that what we believe/think/say, 'is'?

Many gurus have given us this clue in so many different ways.

So I started thinking about the 'opening' that I'd discovered to my inner classroom, and realised that in fact it hadn't had a door at all, for all of my life.  I unknowingly allowed my disruptive, boundaryless and dysfunctional children to play in my outer world, often creating havoc, and allowed other's dysfunctional children to invade my classroom and turn it upside down.  There was no door, there was no one AT the door, and life was an interplay of me invading and being invaded.

Just like a parent, once I'd learned how to put functional boundaries in place, I could say 'no' to my inner world and therefore 'no' to 'space invaders' in my outer world, without feeling 'bad'.  I had to let go of 'popularity' which I sought from a deep lack of self worth, but that's another Blog!

I had in effect put a door on the doorway and a Peaceful Warrior on duty.

The effect is that my inner world is no longer left to run rampant, disrupting my life, and I can now choose when to let my inner kids out and have fun with my own children, and prevent those who wish to control and invade me out of fear, from doing so, keeping me safe.. And I can mostly do this with gentleness and firmness. The doorman has developed an awareness, just like a parent, of when it is and isn't safe to go out, and who is and isn't ok to 'play' with.

I wish I could express what a safe place life then becomes, as the Peaceful Warrior settles into his/her role of simply ensuring that no one gets hurt - on either side of the door.  Plus we learn that we can actually close the door for a while and decide on which side we wish to rest our attention.

Do I get it 'right' all the time?  No way!  However as long as my intention is to live a life of Peace and non-violence, then I create an inner landscape conducive to creating this in the world, as this is my mirror.

As Mahatma Ghandi stated, "Be the change you wish to see in the world".  He certainly was and his peaceful legacy is one that wrested his country from colonialism.

Firstly, try to locate your own threshold, secondly does it have a door, and finally, ask, "Is anyone is on duty?"  If not you have Inner Work to do!

PERFECT REFLECTION

If you had a little cash in your wallet or purse, but wanted to offer me more than you had, it wouldn't be possible.


Nothing profound here, simply a 'law' that you can't give what you don't have.

If you don't Love yourself, how can you give Love?

If you don't Respect yourself, how can you give Respect?

If you don't Honour yourself, how can you Honour others?

If you don't Value yourself, how can you give Self Worth to another?

If you judge yourself and not in Acceptance of all that you are, how can you Accept others without judgement?

We can't give what we don't have.

In the case of parenthood I experience many parents who don't have functional boundaries in place in their own inner world. How can we therefore create loving, safe, consistent and functional boundaries for our children? And I see this reflected every day in children who are unable to navigate their world, simply because no one was able to set the necessary boundaries for them, with Love.

The only way to redress this is to 'do the work' and by that I mean get help to understand where we are lacking in functional boundaries, and use the various modalities that are available to us, to put them in place for ourselves!

If you want to see where any issues may be lurking in your own unconsciousness, where you may not be respecting, loving, honouring, valuing or accepting yourself, observe your children if you have them, for as unfettered souls incarnating into a boundaryless existence, they will reflect with immediate and untainted clarity, exactly what they are searching for!

Children are truly a perfect reflection of their immediate environment. How could it be otherwise?