Archive
What’s Your Umbrella? – Richard’s Commentary
My “umbrella” has always been work. When I was in the corporate world I worked hard. I traveled a lot. I had responsibilities. I shouldered them well. As I look back on those 40 years I realize that I was often running away from the lessons, the real part of life I needed to learn.
Oh, sure, I needed to earn a living, keep the family secure, move ahead, up the corporate ladder – that’s what we do, right? But at what expense? How many of us escape into our work with these very rational motivations and miss why we are here in the first place, miss our real purpose?
I am retired now, still working hard, enjoying the work a great deal more and, yes, sometimes I still continue to use work as my umbrella. Why? Rosemary hits on one of the reasons:
All you have is NOW. The lessons don’t go away. The Universe wants you to have that success, satisfaction and fulfillment and puts lessons on your path so that you can clear the blocks and achieve your dreams. Why delay that?
It’s usually fear. But the rewards of doing the work, of learning the lessons, are so much greater than the pain of getting there that it’s worth it to start now.
Yes, it’s usually fear. I wrote about this in a post just last Friday, the 13th when I commented on the blocks we face:
I think the main one is fear – fear of letting go completely and relaxing into full awareness.
I believe my main purpose in this life is to become fully aware, to become enlightened. This is not an ego thing; I believe this is the main purpose of every human on the planet. I, at least on some unconscious level, have known this for a long time. And I have escaped from this, from the lessons that would bring me closer to enlightenment, and worked on all the other things humans do: job, family, earning corporate merits, duty, …
But the Universe wants me to have that “success, satisfaction and fulfillment…” The Universe wants us to become enlightened! The lessons are all there, strewn in our path to bring us into the light.
The ego doesn’t get this. The ego would rather escape into work and feed itself with the rewards of a job well done. So the Universe continues to offer the lessons. And I am beginning to listen. Sometimes the lessons are loud; we can only miss them if we continue to distract ourselves with our umbrellas. Sometimes the lessons are whispers. I’m learning to listen more closely.
I’m following the advice I wrote for myself in the June 13 post (link). And I am ready to “happily dance in the rain!”
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Love and Life Purpose
This message is from The Divine Feminine as they continue instructing us on our role in the evolution of human consciousness.
“Dear Ones,
The most important energy that can be activated on Planet Earth to counteract negativity is the opening of the heart centers of individuals. Each person who opens their heart to shine the light of Love energy into the Planet will have more power than anything else they can do.
Fear shuts down heart energy because the human response to fear is to erect an armor that protects the heart from harm. Even the fear of physical harm starts with protecting the heart. Allowing yourself to feel fear for long periods of time or allowing fear to grow and deepen moves your energy away from the heart energy of Love.
Love conquers fear. Love of self protects one from the negative effects of fear. Love for self engenders Love for others and protects one from fear.
Finding one’s tribe of like-minded loving individuals also protects one from the effects of fear, for there truly is strength in numbers. Around the world you are seeing groups of individuals coming together to rise up against fear by saying, ‘No more!’
Their choice, however, is often to express the energy of violence rather than the energy of Love. This does not advance the evolution of human consciousness.
Many who are stuck in old consciousness see violence as the only choice in response to fear. They also choose violence as the agent of change when they wish to enlist the support of groups who are susceptible to the power of fear. Spreading the concepts of ‘hatred’ and ‘otherness’ powerfully instills fears in those who resonate at the lower vibrational frequencies.
What you will see in coming days are deepening clashes between the powers of Love and the powers of Greed.
Political parties have devolved from representing the people to representing greed. There is little room for caring and Love in the politics of nations around the world. Even those nations that are grounded in deep spirituality are succumbing to the energies of Greed-Fear-Violence.
The work of the enlightened ones and all spiritual students who wish to support the evolution of human consciousness is to spread the high vibration energy of Love into the energy grid of the Planet. This energy attracts assistance from other realms to amplify the energy on Earth.
The energy of Love must first be felt for self. This is not abstract; it is very specific and demands that each person is to love all elements of self at this present moment, including any challenges or circumstances in life. From this Love can spread a love of others exactly as they are in this present moment. Then the Love energy can be sent into Earth’s energy grid.
Love of self includes love of and expression of each individual’s Soul Purpose for this incarnation, for that is how the Universe’s Plan for humanity can work out.
One problem at this time is the vast number of people who are not focusing their energy on living their purpose. This is the first step toward saving humanity from possible destruction. Each individual is responsible for discerning their Soul Purpose and manifesting that in the world.
Many people are waiting for some external force to ‘fix things’ in their life. This stagnant, waiting energy creates a void to fill that invites in those who would dominate with ‘power over’ energy. The protection from this ‘power over’ one is to become empowered within oneself.
Personal empowerment starts with self-love and acceptance that couples with a focusing of energy on living one’s Soul Purpose. As more humans embrace this and become empowered, the Light in the world will increase and will spread to counteract greed and violence.
Until the day when those who are sleeping wake up, however, each individual must take responsibility for their own life. When you are living your purpose, others will be inspired by your life to discover and to live their purpose.
And so it is.”
PS: Soul Purpose – a key to living a life of conscious evolution and empowerment! Do you know your Soul Purpose? That information is encoded in your hands, specifically your fingerprints. Through Scientific Hand Analysis your Purpose and many other “blueprints” for your life can be revealed! Learn More Here
Monday’s Poem: Evolution of Enlightenment?
On Saturday I listened in on the “Guru and Pandit” continuing series of discussions between Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilber. As always it is a treat to hear these two expound on their evolving thought with respect to Spirituality and Integral Philosophy. But I was struck by one area of exploration during their latest offering about the evolution of human knowledge and, more generally the evolution of consciousness vis-à-vis Enlightenment. And I’m still pondering the question about whether Enlightenment is relative, therefore evolving, or absolute and therefore a touching on the Ground of all Being, the Absolute, unchanging, fully evolved Truth. This exploration motivated my poem for the week:
Evolution of Enlightenment?
Some would say
We know more today
Than the Buddha did
When he awakened.
Human consciousness
Is evolving, yes?
We are reaching higher stages
Of development.
But what is enlightenment?
Realization of Absolute Truth,
The fully formed, never changing
Ground of Being?
Awakening to the never changing,
Formlessness cannot change.
Buddha is fully evolved.
Question answered; problem solved.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Men and Emotional Health
The recent videos by Rosemary and our commentaries have been about health and balance. Balance is achieved by bringing all four of our bodies, Spiritual, Mental, Emotional and Physical into both a healthy state and into balance across them.
Examining Emotional Health and Balance I have presented how Taoist Chinese sages work with emotions by transforming them into virtues. I have previously addressed Anger and its counterpart virtue, Creativity (Resourcefulness). And I have looked at Anxiety and how it might be transformed into Connection and Joy. Today I address two additional emotions: Fear and Worry.
Working with Fear is to transform it to Wisdom. Fear is probably the most primitive, instinctual emotion, therefore most deeply seated. It is an emotion of the ego and the ego’s job is survival. Fear triggers the fight or flight response, the reptilian brain component designed to keep us alive. Through inner work it is important to transform Fear into Wisdom and Empowerment. We move from the primitive, instinctual response to an Enlightened response. Frank Herbert, author of the Dune science fiction series, wrote that “fear is the mind-killer.” Exactly! When faced with survival it is easy for the mind to shut down and move into automatic response mode.
The trick here is to catch our reaction to an event or an object which triggers fear, to pause and breathe into the fear, and then to examine if this thing or occurrence is truly something to fear. These days we rarely encounter saber-toothed tigers to which the flight/fear response is appropriate!
There is a Korean Koan practice that helps me in these potentially fearsome situations. The practice is very simple: pause and ask “What is this?” Go inside to find an answer. And then ask the question again, this time of the first answer that comes to mind. Continue the practice until the questioning comes to a satisfying conclusion. This is a way to transform Fear to Wisdom.
Worry is often a wasted expenditure of emotional energy. I prefer to transform it to Centeredness. Next to Anger, Worry may be the next biggest emotion Western Men have to deal with. While Anxiety is about our place in society, Worry is more about our place in the Cosmos. Who are we; why are we here; what is life all about anyway; and is there any purpose to any of this, to my life? And these questions extend to health, security, and general lack of well-being. To counter Worry it is good to go into our stories for insight into this emotion. How has Worry affected us, influenced our decisions, guided our choices? How does Worry feel on the inside? What color does it have?
Worry transforms to Centeredness and Ecology. When we sink into our own Inner Space, our Wisdom, we become grounded and wholly present. We connect here with the All, the Universe. And from this deep place of wisdom we begin to understand our connectedness to everything and everyone; this is different from the transformation of Anxiety to Connection which is more about our human connections. This is broader and deeper. And the result is a deep appreciation of everything, all of creation, including ourselves! Within this context there is no room for Worry. We are part of something so much bigger. And we begin to see where we fit in the overall Ecology of the Cosmos. We see ourselves at the microcosmic level fitting neatly into the overall picture of the Macrocosm. There is great peace here and the beginning of balance.
Wisdom and Centeredness. These seem so much more appropriate responses than Fear and Worry! Try them on. Pause and ask: “What is this?” Breathe and move inside; find your Center. Everything in the Universe radiates outward from that Center. You are a key piece in that Universe!
PS: for my next post I will examine one more emotion that men need to pay particular attention to: Grief. Stay tuned!
Men Learning to Nurture
It was a fine weekend. We got Rosemary off to LA safely where she is busy with a business coaching intensive. Meanwhile I stayed home to take care of business! I got to play with numbers from 2009, getting ready for tax time! What a joy…I finally gave up on QuickBooks after getting myself into trouble and turned it all over to our book-keeper this afternoon! Phew, that’s a load off!
We had a very nice Sundays at The Center Celebration yesterday with a great turn-out. It must have been the spring-like weather here in Colorado Springs; people seemed to be out everywhere! While Rosemary is away our friend and colleague, Finbarr Ross, offered the message and meditation at our Celebration. And his words were thoughtful and meaningful! One of his concepts especially stayed with me and I’m still giving it thought.
He began with “we are in the time of the woman.” I definitely subscribe to that; this is exactly what is motivating this blog! We are moving through a time of feminine energy ascendancy to begin to right the balance we are so desperate for now. He concluded that women need to show men the nurturing way. And this is the thought I continue to work with today.
I agree that men need to move toward a more nurturing approach to life. What I’m struggling with is placing the burden of showing men how to nurture on women. Is it their job to teach us this kinder, gentler way of life? As children we were all nurtured in some form by our parents, guardians, some of whom were likely women; many of the fortunate among us were nurtured by loving mothers. And as boys we had friendships with girls in school, teachers, aunts and girl cousins. Did we not learn anything from these associations, many of them loving?
Yet, we were not taught to be nurturing; there was no curriculum, no catechism of stories and myths of men nurturing and caring for others. Quite the opposite. So, while we may have seen many wonderful examples of nurturing, we were not encouraged to emulate those models.
But what can women do now to change this? If men are not taught and men have no motivation to become nurturing creatures, is there something to be done? At the close of yesterday’s Celebration we listened to a lovely piece of music by Catherine Wilson on her album, Seeds of Light; the song: The Answer Lies Within. I believe the answer to how men may become more nurturing lies within the hearts of men themselves. Yes, women can show the way, they can encourage us toward a gentler path, they can demonstrate compassion, they can lead by modeling. Men need to look inside, we need to search for better answers, and as the song goes: “The answer lies within, my friend.”
I have been fortunate through much of my adult life to look within. It was years ago I learned that in my astrology chart my North Node of the Moon is in the sign of Cancer. I don’t want to get technical here, but the North Node points to growth and potential; it points to your lessons. Now it happens that Rosemary is a double Cancer; both her ascendant and moon are in Cancer. Do you think it is coincidental that we have been together for nearly 30 years? And I sure hope I’m learning some of those lessons! Cancer is the sign of caring, of homemaking, of, yes, nurturing! Is it Rosemary’s job to teach me how to be a Cancer? No, it’s my job to learn how.
I have another pointer to my case. Rosemary and I are students of the Enneagram, a model of personality types (I’ve seen it labeled as a psychospiritual typology). Again, I don’t want to get technical here, but I am a type 1, “the perfectionist” – I like everything to work or I will try to fix it so it does work. Rosemary is a type 2, “the helper” – she sees people in need and wants to “nurture” them! Once again my lessons are in my face!
But it’s up to me to see them, to learn them. My nurturing self is inside of me. And with all the modeling, teaching, way-showing in the world at my disposal it is still up to me to find that nurturer with myself.
That nurture is the Divine Feminine energy working within me. Can you find it within yourself?
The Heart of Darkness
It is an unusually dark and gloomy day in Colorado. We are so use to the bright sunshine here and high skies. There is occasional light snow falling which lightens the day; the white is a beautiful contrast to the dreariness, the black clouds threatening more snow!
Light and dark – The Taoists used this contrast as a metaphor for the dichotomy of masculine and feminine energies. The Tai Chi symbol, a central representation of Taoism, highlights this contrast but also presents the balance between them and the dynamics of the energies: note the black feminine “fish” as it spirals around the white masculine “fish” as if chasing his tail. Also note the bit of feminine black in the white “fish”, its “eye”, and the white masculine “eye” of the feminine “fish.” It is a powerful image and tells us much about the ancient wisdom of Lao Tzu and his fellow sages. They fully appreciated and respected the feminine principle. Perhaps this is best explained in the first chapter of Lao Tzu’s “Taotejing.” This translation is by Red Pine:
The way that becomes a way is not the immortal way
The name that becomes a name is not the immortal name
The maiden of heaven and earth has no name
The mother of all things has a name
Thus in innocence we see the beginning
In passion we see the end
Two different names
For one and the same
The one we call dark
The dark beyond dark
The door to all beginnings.
I love this image of the dark door, full of mystery and the unknown. Yet, it seem soft and warm, welcoming. It is that feminine energy which moves us to sink into ourselves and become one with all. It is that doorway which humanity is called to move through. We are on an exquisite threshold. Are we brave enough to enter through to a new dawn?
Light and dark. I have found so much of value in China Galland’s book, Longing for Darkness. I quote a passage here which speaks so passionately and so eloquently about this darkness:
“…longing for darkness is a deeply felt human need that cuts across, goes beyond, and at the same time includes issues of ethnicity. This is a multivalent darkness. This is the darkness of ancient wisdom, of people of color, of space, of the womb, of the earth, of the unknown, of sorrow, of unconsciousness, of the darkness beyond the light, of matter, of the descent, of the body, of the shadow of the Most High.
“Like light, darkness has a wide range of symbolic meanings. The color black can signify the stage just before enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism–imminence; space; burning; the final stage of the soul’s journey to beatitude in a Sufi tradition; wisdom; fertility in Old Europe; purity in a Turkish tradition; mourning in the West; and the first step in the medieval alchemical process, the nigredo.”
Beautiful! Nothing to be afraid of there but something to embrace. The Taoists embraced the Feminine energy; so much of LaoTzu’s magnificent work is about the Dark Feminine. It is time for all of us to remember the importance of the dark. It is time for us to step through the “door to all beginnings.”
Men and The Goddess 