 |
|
Right now, what we have here on Earth is a situation where many of us are going crazy over ideas, and killing each other over them. It doesn't matter whether the ideas are religious, political, or scientific. It can be any sort of idea. Somewhere along the way there has been a loss of perspective, balance, and sanity. So how do we all restore peace and harmony, and along with those, our collective sanity? How do we interact with one another in peace? Over the ages, great Masters and Teachers have told us of a Cosmic Harmony. They have said that the whole Universe is one vast Harmony. Some have spoken of the Harmony of the Spheres. Others have spoken of the Harmony that can be found all around us in Nature. Alright; So how is it that this Cosmic Harmony can be found within us in our everyday life here on Earth? Vast generalities are one thing, but how do we embody them? By "Embodying" them! By getting out of our crazy-making mind-chatter, and learning to listen to our own body's Intuition. This may sound too simple. This may not make sense to some. Yet all we need do is to look around us at the violence and chaos to see what can happen when we don't live our lives from the center of our being. Focusing is one of the tools that can enable us to rediscover who we really are. It is not the only tool. Yet it is a very effective one. I have links to Focusing and Focusers on my site that can tell you more about it. (And I did mean what I said about it's being a tool. Focusing isn't a religion; you don't have to be "converted" to it.) When we are living at peace with ourselves, our presence radiates Peace outward in all directions. We can listen to others without being threatened by them, or by what they represent. We no longer have to compare ourselves with them to see if we are better or worse than they are. We have our own place in the scheme of things. We have our own link to Source. Again, this all sounds very grand! Yet, just how do we "listen" to ourselves and others? The physical act of listening is so taken for granted that it stands in the way of enlightenment! Simply because our physical ears hear the words (or in the case of hearing-impaired, "see" the signing) coming out of our own mouths or another's mouth, does Too often, our own and/or other's defensiveness blocks true communication. We start raising our voices, crossing our arms over our chests, and using other body language to indicate we are no longer truly "listening". Our blood pressures rise, and finally we resort to being the neighborhood bully (or hiring him), or reaching for the nearest nuclear arsenal if we are political terrorist wannabees. We needn't look very far to see that nations act out of balance too. Peace negotiations break down (because none of the parties know how to "listen") and then it's War. Active-Listening is another tool at our disposal. (I just made that phrase into a hyperlink that leads to it, if you want to find out more about it.) Again, it is not a religion, nor is it the only tool. And yet, using it and other methods, people of different races and religions; belief-systems, and scientific theories, can truly open the way to an expanded awareness of one another. And through that expanded awareness can arise true Peace. Another tool of Enlightenment is detachment in order to gain a new perspective. Detachment can take place from within, and also literally from without in physical distancing from an object. (As was the case with astronauts who were shown a whole new view of Earth). Detachment can be an incredible tool of consciousness-expansion, as astronauts in outer space have shown in some of their quotes. One of the quotes that most moved me was by the Saudi-Arabian astronaut Sultan Salman Al-Saud. At the Opening Ceremony of the First Congress of the Association of Space Explorers he remarked: "The first day or so we all pointed to our countries.The third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth." Alright, then- to continue on the theme of harmony and enlightenment, starting within ourselves, and spreading out to include others. I have mentioned Focusing, and Active-Listening, and Detachment. Now I want to talk about a couple of other simple things. These things are all things I have had to learn for myself (and am still learning!). The first of these two is taking personal responsibility and Not Blaming Others. Blaming Others is an excuse to avoid the consciousness expansion that comes when we are at peace with ourselves, and "At Cause". As long as we think we can blame others, we don't have to look at the part we play in things. In my own life, I went around blaming others until I came to the point where it no longer worked for me. All it was doing was making me bitter, and angry, and not at peace with myself. As long as I blamed others, I wasn't growing inside. I had to have a whole new approach to life! Put very simply: "If I am at Peace with myself, I have no need to make you wrong." The second of these two is learning a new way to look at Power: what it really is, and how much of it there really is, and where it truly comes from. The prevalent view of Power is that it is limited. With this view, only one of us can have all of the cookies, and you'd better not be the one! This is a fear-based approach to power. We have been taught to think that Power and Authority come from the Outside, and that there is only so much of it to go around. Plus, this limited-concept of Power holds the view that power is only there to force, coerce, compel, bend and break others to our will and our way of doing things. There is another way of looking at Power, and it is this: that true Power is unlimited, and comes from within. There is enough within us to Empower ourselves fully. It radiates from within us, outward in all directions, forever. It comes from the Stillness within us, and it returns to the Stillness. This is the sort of Power that influences through its very essence. It is a healing, nurturing, balancing power. Rather than robbing others of their own power, it reaches out and extends towards all. It is a Power that knows of Abundance and Love without end, because it springs from the Source of all things. We can enjoy the Light of others, because our own is always with us. Certain esoteric schools hold that there are Seven Rays influencing and governing us. This may be so; at any rate, it is interesting to contemplate. These Seven Rays are:
The Fourth Ray has also been called The Ray of Harmony through Conflict. To this title I would add another word, changing it to read "The Ray of Harmony through Conflict Resolution". Rather than trying to create a false peace by denying or ignoring conflict and friction, this is a Ray of Process that holds all opposing forces together until the enlightenment necessary to live in peace comes into being. It was Pythagoras who taught of a way to view two conflicting ideas. He considered the two opposing forces to be the base of an equilateral triangle. The third point of the triangle contained both forces in a more encompassing Reality. And here we give a simplistic example. (Love these simplistic examples!) Let's say that there is one Religion that says we only breathe in. Any people caught breathing out will have to go directly to Hell (do not pass Go!). Oddly enough, another Religion just happens to be co-existing at the same time which believes that we only breathe out. And any person caught breathing in will have to go directly to Hell. Obviously these two Religions are not going to be happy campers with each other. They are going to argue with each other until they are blue in the face and, well, out-of-breath altogether. Pythagoras would have us put the In-Breathers on one end of the triangle's base (let's call it the left side), and the Out-breathers on the other end, the right. At the top point, he would put the greater Reality that includes the two opposites. Let's call the Apex "Breathing in and out". So let's take a hard, cold and clinical look at this solution. This so-called "Breathing In and Out". It sounds good, but is it something that we all have in common? Can we all live with it? At this point, a timid mouse speaks out. "Can we all live without it?" 
Certainly all of us can continue to try to live without practicing Conflict Resolution. We can continue to go on not listening to ourselves and others, and then have to deal with all the illnesses and genocides that spring from a Life Out of Balance. We can go on living a fear-based life, clinging to our limited concepts, and to our precious ego's opinion of itself. We have that option, don't we. Home |
|
|
