July 4th is coming up soon, and there will be many celebrations, Bar-B-Qs, and parades. But for what, a United States that currently exists in name only?
Before the Declaration of Independence, this country’s forefathers struggled to unify the various colonial factions, allowing less-than-ideal incentives to all to achieve the much-sought-after unity. Those less-than-ideal incentives eventually led to a civil war, after which another unification was sought, reunification. Throughout our history, we have had to sacrifice bits of our unity for something exclusive so as to stay connected.
Unity has always been elusive because human egos often get in the way.
Unification is not a one-sided process. It demands inclusivity, a value that is crucial in maintaining unity. It is through embracing diversity and different perspectives that we can truly achieve a unified and harmonious society.
A philosophy or leadership or government that attempts to unify by denying that which disagrees with it is a false philosophy from a false god, no matter how religiously supported. It is a philosophy born of the individual or collective personality.
But even a false god must be included in a context of wholeness, aka unity.
God unfolds itself in the form of syzygy (paired opposites), e.g., day/night, male/female, liberal/conservative, and you and me.
God has also provided the “means” for bridging the pairs to unite them. It’s a way to transform the lower material into the higher and spiritual, i.e., the alchemist’s dream of turning lead into gold through the creation (discovery/development?) of the philosopher’s stone.
But that “means” is exclusively individual yet must include everything else. It requires dissolution before resolution. To find it, one needs to embrace the dark to see its light. Many books have been written on how to do this, and they are all genuine and useful, but the answer will come from outside their pages. It’s in plain sight but with many useless detritus covering it up.
King Alfred’s Old English Version of Augustine’s Soliloquies.
While walking the night I wrestled with my faults and tried to accept that the human part of me would never conquer them nor heal the damage they sometimes create. I tried a prayer of asking for help but no words would come that would calm the eternal internal struggle I experience when all is quiet about me while the within me boils. I conclude just to let it be. Though this is only partially satisfying, it was good enough.
After arriving home and sharing a few thoughts with my wife on something unrelated I sat down with my book about Nicholas Flammel, the 13th-century French notary, scribe, and Alchemist, who was describing a large tome that had recently come into his possession with odd symbols and language that changed his life as he poured over the book trying to understand its significance. He noted that several times the word Maranatha, a one-word prayer meaning, “Come, oh Lord” showed up throughout the book. It is an Aramaic phrase found only once in the Christian New Testament (1 Corinthians 16:22). As I personally discovered it’s a powerful one-word prayer. It’s amazing that it only shows up once.
But what could this word really mean I asked myself? And whence its power? A little research helped to answer this in part. When I looked it up I came across an article in Spirituality and Practice by the Rev. Benjamin Wyatt. He reasoned that Maranatha was a letting go of the world’s tragedies and losses, that our intractable faults were not in our control, and that we needed to release them to something bigger than ourselves. It also meant that we were often powerless to dry our tears or lead ourselves out of the tragedies of life and still our disquieted hearts.
These readings were not sought out but gave great solace simply by reminding me that I was not the only one with many faults and that they were part of the human condition. It also reminded me that I was not in control of the experiences of the world and that I needed to let go of the desire to control to something greater to sort it all out. Maranatha. And the heart was still, the quietest it had been for days.
This synchronicity of events always amazes me. Just when I think all is lost a series of events quiets the struggle, for a while at least, because my human side will be back, and the struggle will be renewed.
While reading about the lives of Gautama Buddha, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, St. John of the Cross, and Jesus of Nazareth I started to think about their shared experiences of the transcendent. All seemed to have had an experience of oneness, Buddha in a meditation under the Bodhi tree at the end of 49 days, for Rumi it wasn’t an immediate enlightening moment but a process that was a gradual awakening, and for Jesus it seemed to be one of those transcendent ah ha moments during his baptism by John. Saint John of the Cross described the experience as a moment of awakening, “The soul is moved and awakened from the sleep of natural vision to supernatural vision. Hence one very adequately uses the term awakening.”
“9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
–Mark 1:9-10
These reports by all of these notable religious leaders I was reading about are the essence of what I experienced during a meditation at a retreat some years back. It was an experience that then repeated itself in other forms and venues for several years afterward and had me knowing that there was a world much more connected and much greater in scope than I could ever have envisioned prior to the experienced epiphany.
At that time, I experienced a rapid expansion of my awareness of the environment which also took on a very bright and vivid coloration where I did not feel separate from as though an observer but part of, or more precisely a feeling of, “being” the everything. All judgments and critiques vanished and were replaced with a sense of ultimate belonging and acceptance. I was no longer a separate being with all the doubts and self-recriminations, and ego-desires that come with that separateness. When reaching out my hand I no longer had the feeling that I ended at the tip of my fingers but that I was everywhere and everywhere was me. There was also a feeling of great acceptance, belonging, and love. All this left me knowing that there is something much greater than myself and yet in myself of which I am a whole and not a part. *
I call these moments epiphanies, but they are also called mystical experiences, altered states, a transcendent state, or even peak experiences. Because of their transcendent quality many were labeled mystical i.e., divine in nature, but in my case they did not at the time feel divine. ** But for me these also brought with them the great joy, awe, and wonder of a peak experience. Some came through the practice of a meditation of several hours while others seemed to come out of nowhere and unexpectedly while walking down the street. I was, however, at the time involved in a number of personal trainings and studies that were psycho-emotional in nature and some incorporated several aspects of religious ritual. None were induced through any hallucinogenic drug. And they all presented themselves unbidden as if by magic and were totally unexpected.
“Real magic cannot be wielded through the everyday and is very difficult to experience if one is stuck on the idea of being a grown-up. Those who still honor the child within and in the affairs of others will find it much easier to pass through the door and find the magic and enchantment that lies beyond. It’s when you “let go” of your same-old, same-old way of being and drop into the chaos of uncontrolled play that the magical child returns. “
–From Psyche’s Dream: A Dragon’s Tale
Unlike the aforementioned spiritual leaders, the feeling associated with these ah ha moments or the lessons that they taught aren’t always with me and most often I don’t act as though the revelations given me through these moments is real or applicable to my everyday life, and I definitely haven’t risen up to lead people to the promised land, but the “knowing’ is there and often that is enough to continue to make a difference in my life. And this “knowing” has changed permanently my experience of reality and my relationship with it back through the past prior to the experiences and forward to the present.
I also cannot say that I am enlightened though the experiences were enlightening. A definition of being a true enlightened one includes a significant shift in reality so that one is not lost in reality or confused by it because everything is what it is. Though both mystical and enlightened experiences connect one with the ineffableness of God one is a transient experience, though easily recalled, while the other is more permanent in one’s nature and being.
I can say that over time I have lived my life more intentionally and more consciously than I did prior to the experiences. I also live it less selfishly and more aware of others needs and sensibilities, less ego bound and more inclusive (note that I use the word “less” rather than something more absolute like “always”).
I cannot tell anyone how to make these experiences happen other than to live life intentionally, be fully present observing everything, and accepting responsibility for what is presented and how you act on it but even those insights don’t guarantee anything. The experience feels like magic but not the magic of wands, ritual, and incantation. It’s the real magic of the everyday, in the smallest and least significant things and events and being open to them.
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ― Roald Dahl
*According to Pew Research 49% of people in the U.S. have reported having had a mystical experience defined as a “moment of sudden religious insight or awakening.” The NIH additionally defines it as a “self-reported experience of unity”.
**The four traits of a mystical experience are ineffability (too extreme to be expressed in words), noetic quality (the sense of revelation), transiency (lasting for a short time), passivity (acceptance of what happened). Some people with extreme mystical experience also report a very intense and bright light and sometimes an experience of nothingness.
Though this poem can be a metaphor for remaining in the present moment, a be-here-now piece of poetry, it is also a reminder that there is a portal between the myopic and distracted awareness we call the everyday world and the more profound and broader reality that exists all around and within. If we can learn to focus and be less distracted by the unreality of the ego and all its projections that put into a state of sleep, we can open the round door into the beauty of the real world, the world not subject to our ego.
Jesus spoke of this when he claimed that “the kingdom of God is within (or among) you” (Luke 17:21). Could he not have meant that the reality that is the actual world is all around us if we could but look and that the looking requires seeing beyond the narrow interpretations of our ego-filled minds?
In another story where two worlds touched, Alice found her portal (in Alice through the looking glass by Lewis Carroll) when she stepped through the looking glass and discovered her authentic self through the allegory of a symbolic world that mirrored her unconscious. Stepping back out, she hid behind the ever protective egoic mask that we humans wear when we don’t know who and what we are.
Rumi also speaks to me when I have succeeded in passing through the portal from egoistic reality to a spiritual reality centered outside the head and in the heart but then fall back through the door when the human reality pulls me back. All my life, it has been a constant wrestling match between awareness and unconsciousness where brief aha moments propel me through the door separating the two worlds and then kick me out when the ego pulls me back. His poem reminds me that I’ve fallen asleep once again, and it’s time to wake up.
February is often labeled the month of love and romance where many in the world celebrate what used to be called the feast of St. Valentine but for Christians so is March and April and according to Tennyson this is when, “In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love…!” but what is love I asked in this blog some time ago and then proceeded to add my thoughts to that complicated question.
A friend later told me that he didn’t think I’d gone far enough and reminded me of the Greek (old and new) concept of love. They used four words that each spoke to a different aspect of the meaning of love–Agape, Eros, Philia, and Storge. The first is unconditional love, true love. This is a love that is not subject to environment, or personal perception and is based on the commitment of a decision, not a reaction to how someone looks, behaves, or seems to behave based on our own projections. With Agape one is actively seeking the well-being of the other person, it is not self-directed, but other-directed.
There is Agape love the kind of love that Rumi, Gibran, and Jesus talk about. Agape has the power to rise above everything else as well as create a context for the next three examples of love, Eros, Philia and Storge. Treating someone with Agape is to create the kind of environment where romance and friendship can flourish.
Eros shows itself in the statement “I’m in love!” But Eros is a weak kind of love in that it evaporates with harsh words, or a relationship doesn’t meet one’s expectations. In short, Eros, unlike Agape, is subject to the vagaries of circumstance and environment. It is so fickle that it literally depends on perception. For example, as long as people are enjoying a romantic situation they experience Eros, but as soon as it ends due to some intervening circumstances, it quickly ends and is difficult to recapture. Even though it can be exhilarating, it can be easily destroyed. It’s usually the first kind of love to suffer after the relationship has hit the point of disillusionment, which all relationships must hit in order to grow deeper.
Philia is the love of friendship, community, country, party affiliation, family and loyalty, but it too is subject to the circumstances of life e.g. time, distance, hurtful actions, and harsh words can severely strain or end Philia love.
Storge refers to affection as with members of the extended family, or even colleagues , neighbors or what a teacher has for their students. Storge also represents acceptance or putting-up-with someone or thing that’s stressful, or annoying.
As you can see there are many types of and barriers to loving, but the greatest of the barriers in my opinion is “anger” and self-centeredness. What many of us do when we grow to anger because of some perceived rudeness or criticism toward us is we become hurt and defensive , aggressive or insular, we shut-out the offender, cutting off communication and therefore understanding beyond the hurt. Sometimes just sitting down with the alleged offender to find out what they meant can be helpful. But so too does releasing the ‘offender’ from any wrongdoing–this is called “forgiveness.” Contrary to popular opinion, “Forgiveness” is not for the offender, but the offended. It releases you from your anger thus removing the prime obstacle to loving.
It is as Buddha said, “Forgiveness doesn’t excuse their behavior. Forgiveness prevents their behavior from destroying your heart.”
Finding the lesson, or silver lining in the situation is always helpful and assists you in then reaching out.
Embracing anger and justifying it with your “rightness” and thus feeling justified in it, perpetuates it i.e. it reinforces the continued negative perceptions. It has been suggested by some sages that in order to change the world around you, change your perceptions of it.
Basically, real love is patient, kind, trusting and hopeful. It does not keep a record of “wrongs” and is never abandoned in favor of maintaining your individual “rightness”. The powerful ego-driven need to be right is often death to love and relationship.
In most arguments one can use the old phrase, “You can either be right, or be in relationship”, choose. Also one cannot be open to love or give it if they are filled up with themselves. Like any chemical reaction i.e., atomic bonding something needs to have space for electrons to relate and have parity in order to achieve bonding. When it’s all about you you’re full of only yourself and nothing is free to bond with another person or persons. Relationships and marriages seem to exist for you and I to learn about our selves and most especially to learn how to love ourselves. If we are are too filled up we can learn nothing and never experience the meaning of love. Relationships of all kinds are powerful seminars and workshops on the nature of the human soul and definitely not for the narcissist, faint of heart or the self-serving.
In this time of chaos and instability part of which has been caused by the machinations of certain less than stable players I thought I would talk about the Trickster in our dreams, our mythology and our everyday lives.
The Trickster in dreams* is an archetype of the unconscious mind meaning that it is a symbolic image that shows up across all cultures in some form or another and has roughly the same meaning whereas most symbols in dreams are very personal. He or she can visit our dreams as a clown, an animal e.g., coyote, raven, someone acting silly, or a fun-loving uncle or grandfather. In Lewis Carroll’s “Adventures of Alice in Wonderland” the White Rabbit played the role of trickster and in Uncle Remus Brer Rabbit tricked Brer Fox. Essentially these tricksters are those dream figures that break or stretch the rules or entice one to follow but with positive effect.
He/she come essentially in two forms the “loving positive” and the “malignant negative”.
But regardless of form both can be said to be wake-up calls to take action for good. Both can direct us toward the need for goodness, caring and love or to where the absence of goodness, caring and love lies both individually and corporately.
In our dreams as in our waking life the trickster makes us look foolish either by pointing out our errors or inappropriate actions or beliefs. Foolishness is often perceived as a wrong and the ego hates to be wrong. Even when it admits to being wrong it is being right about that.
The trickster image can also be about breaking the rules but with ultimate positive effects being at the center of the rule-breaking thus representing a self-lessness versus a self-centeredness. They can be reminding us to look before we leap, to lighten up, or to be playful as well as point out where we are acting like a fool or are being foolhardy. Often they are pointing out the need for change, a change in our way of being or a change in perspective.
In the mythos of the world such people as Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad played the role of the positive, self-less trickster whereas there are negative factions in present day politics that go out of their way to denigrate and demean people and do so for self-serving purposes.
In the Tarot, the fool or trickster is an alpha card representing the concept of all-potential, the beginning from which nothing proceeds into everything. He or she also represents bright flashes of insights. For the Buddhists the fool is likened to the beginner. But beware the fool or trickster can reflect our own shallowness and narrowness and doesn’t rise above its basal needs i.e., it can be self-centered, unfeeling, and cynical.
The trickster fool can also teach us detachment and simplicity so that we are not being run or influenced by having to look good.
Mathematically the fool or trickster is represented by zero the space between the positive and negative and in physics it can represent potentia– that place between idea and reality.
In short, the trickster can represent both our best and our worst our winning potential or potential for havoc and deception. It is both creator and destroyer but to shun its negative is to make us blind to failure making us less authentic. He or she shows up in our dreams to point out where we are failing ourselves and failing to grow into wholeness.
The Book of Dreams 