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ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Connect!
Your life is all about connecting. You were born into a family or chosen by one. You have chosen friends and partners. You bore children or sired them. You have worked with people, paid some for services, gone to the doctor, bought groceries. Every thing you have done has contained an element of connection.
Do you love to walk in Nature? Aren’t you connecting with Mother Earth, with the plants and animals as you walk?
Do you go to a job? Eat in a restaurant? Go shopping? Get together with friends for lunch? Spend holidays with the family?
It’s always about connecting.
And how much time do you spend connecting with the inner you? Have you connected with your inner wisdom, your guides, your angels, your intuition? This is the most important connecting you can do.
When you connect with the inner you, you are tapping into your own power, your essence. When you have a strong connection to your inner wisdom, your guides, you gain clarity and confidence.
People today seem to be searching for connection but looking outside for a place to ‘plug in.’ The real connection that they are seeking isn’t outside; it resides inside. Are you one of the seekers of an outside connection or are you remembering to connect to the inner you?
You don’t need to have a great love interest to be connected. It isn’t having a great job or a best friend or a perfect family that will give you the feeling of connection that you seek. All of those connections might be nice, but the most important one is the one that reaches inside you, into the depths of your inner essence, and brings forth the passion, your purpose, your inner divinity and shares that with the outside world.
It is a tall order to make that inner connection and then to share what you find with the world. Your inner light shines so brightly that it can dazzle those who wish to stay in the dark. Your inner guidance will point you in the direction of manifesting your dreams. The inner gifts that you reveal when you reach inside might frighten you with their intensity.
Are you ready to connect?
There are many ways to do this connecting. Your inner light is always shining. If you feel disconnected it is merely a forgetting, not a true disconnection. Meditation, guided visualization, working with a counselor, journaling – all of these techniques will help you to make the connection.
Many of the clients I work with are seeking the wisdom that they cannot hear from their own guides. Often I speak what they think they have been hearing and the guides are using me to confirm the message. It is a matter of trusting what you hear.
Do you trust the inner guidance that you receive? This is the most important aspect to the connection.
If you receive guidance after you connect but you do not trust the message, you will continue to stay stuck where you are. And isn’t the point to move forward, to grow?
Trust me when I tell you that you will have the energy to grow, to move forward, when you are connected to that inner YOU. Your passion, your purpose, your inner wisdom – all are ready for you to connect.
Are YOU ready? Connect!
ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Connect! To Your Passion & Purpose
Rosemary’s “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Connect! To Your Passion & Purpose
MONDAY’S POEM: Facing Kalachakra
I have been preparing for the Kalachakra Initiation. As part of my preparation I have been doing some important, and overdue, shadow work. Kalachakra is helping with this. Today’s poem came out of some of this work.
Facing Kalachakra
Face me and burn in my
Blazing fire of purification.
Turn away and see the
Long shadow cast by my Light.
Kneel to your shadow stretching
Into the past, mistakes, wrong turns.
See that shadow shrinking
As ego gives way to surrender.
Prostrate fully along the ground
Offering shadow to Earth.
Rise in newness turning slowly
On unsteady legs just born.
Face me and learn the Truth
In my blazing fire of purity.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Change. Evolve. Change. Evolve. – Richard’s Commentary
We are spiraling toward something…do we know what that something is? Do we have a choice?
Rosemary uses the digital age of recording advances; 1.0, 2.0…she claims:
Each of us is ever evolving into the next version of ourselves – Me 2.0, Me 3.0, etc. Are you making conscious choices about your own evolutionary process or are you reacting to what is happening around you and evolving unconsciously into the next you?
Sometimes I wonder if each of us is truly evolving. Or are some of our fellows content to have things remain just as they are; content with the status quo? Are you evolving consciously or are you content to maintain your position and standing in life? Can you maintain it without changing?
I spent a good part of this past weekend immersed in Integral Theory, as best articulated by Ken Wilber. The specific topic of this Integral Life conference was “The Fourth Turning.” This “Turning” refers to the evolution of Buddhism. To summarize the background, there have been three “turnings” of Buddhism, or evolutions of the movement: there are three current forms or “schools”, namely the Theravada School, the Mahayana School and the Vajrayana School. The first school, or turning, is closely associated with the Buddhism originated by Gautama Buddha about 2600 years ago. About 200 AD the Mahayana School evolved out of and included original Buddhism. And in the 8th Century AD Vajrayana evolved out of and included Mahayana Buddhism.
Integral Life is proposing it is time for a “fourth turning” – a next generation of Buddhism; think of this as a progression from Buddhism 1.0 (Theravada) to Buddhism 2.0 (Mahayana) to Buddhism 3.0 Vajrayana to Buddhism 4.0! (A name or “yana” for this 4.0 was not offered!)
Here is the main point and argument: there has not been a real evolution in religion (any version, any sect, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Judaism, Hinduism…) for at least a thousand years. Perhaps it is time for an advance in spirituality.
I am not writing here to support or deny the specifics of what I heard at the “Fourth Turning Conference.” The specifics while interesting are not my point. The point is to support Rosemary’s premise:
The important aspect of humanity’s interaction with change is that we must be conscious of the choices we are making to bring about change, in ourselves and in the world around us.
Ken Wilber and company are making a conscious effort to define a New Spirituality, to embrace scientific, sociological and psychological advancements and to expand Consciousness and celebrate Humanity. They chose Buddhism because it has demonstrated an ability to evolve over its 2600-year history. And it already offers a high degree of advanced spiritual technology on which to build.
They are making conscious choices; they are looking forward and embracing the past; they are leveraging the advances in all areas of human technology to create a robust Spirituality to help carry humanity forward into its uncertain future.
I welcome and applaud this effort. Yes, we are spiraling toward something; and it can be of our choosing, if we choose to be involved!
ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Spring is for Change!
Rosemary’s “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Spring is for Change!
MONDAY’S POEM: Sunday Bright
I wrote this poem a number of years ago on a pretty Spring Sunday in Colorado. Yesterday was a pretty Sunday in Maryland. Rosemary and I spent much of the day with Ken Wilber and company watching the “Fourth Turning Conference” – what a treat, what light was brought to bear on the Integral approach to Buddhism, and how Integral Thought might be brought into practice to help expand awareness and evolve structures of consciousness.
From deep thought to bright day; life flows on and is good!
Sunday Bright
New day, new light
Celebrate the Sun’s Day.
New week, new right
Recognize the week’s way.
Travel on, write a song
Synchronize the rhythm long.
Make a wish, keep it real
Offer it as gods’ own grace.
Ask your heart, “how you feel?”
Step on out at your own pace.
Celebrate throughout the week
You know deep down of what we speak!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Will We Survive?
In Rosemary’s”Exploration” this week she speaks of change and evolution – a frequent theme for both of us. As we move deeper into spring, the season of growth, change, we approach the Grand Cross that has the astrologers buzzing. Everyone is talking about change. Will it bring growth or will it bring destruction? The choice, as always, is ours!
Will We Survive?
The great wheel turns
Through the black cosmos
Always returning to the
Beginning,
Surviving another ending.
The cycles repeat
Monotonously consistent;
Yet each repetition
Carries change,
Signaling adjustment.
We return again
To a place of origin;
One more karmic turn,
Wondering.
Have we changed enough?
Will we survive?
©2012 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Cycling – Richard’s Commentary
I find it interesting when Rosemary’s “explorations” line up nicely with mine. It was just a couple of weeks ago that I started publishing a “Friday Poem” from my collection I call “Rhythms and Cycles.” And here’s Rosemary’s post on “Cycling”!
But these aren’t really cycles, are they? In fact Rosemary’s second sentence in her post clarifies her meaning:
Life is a spiraling experience and, when we try to make it linear, going out in front of us in a straight line and looking behind us as if everything happened in a straight line, we diminish the importance of the cycles that we have experienced.
“Life is a spiraling experience.” There is a vector to all of this; it may not be linear but it is clearly going somewhere! At least I think it is despite some of the ridiculous efforts to spiral us backwards!
Rosemary and I took in the Annapolis Film Festival this past weekend. We saw several very fine films and very much enjoyed immersing ourselves in the film industry for a few days. One of the splendid films we saw was “Particle Fever”, a documentary about the building of and science behind the Large Hadron Collider, the largest machine and experiment ever built. Speaking of cycles this machine can whirl protons at one another around a 17-mile circular tunnel at speeds approaching that of light! It’s an amazing accomplishment that the Collider is revealing structures of matter as it existed just after the Big Bang. Watching the film I got a real sense of innovation, progress, discovery and jubilation as humans push through the boundaries of knowledge.
Cycling, spiraling through time to know. Isn’t this what we are here for?
And yet, there are those who want to end science, deny the truths we discover, debate facts with lies when it suits their political goals and supports their financial backers. It is with this in mind, the contrast between those who are spending their lives in the search for truth and those who deny the very benefit of science and our discoveries, that I wrote the following as it pertains to cycles:
Time flows on and everyone floats toward another milestone, whether it’s another birthday, another accomplishment on some schedule, another dream, either achieved or let go. Every moment is a milestone, every breath another passage. And we all flow together in these momentous passages, not just of time and the markers we use, but in consciousness as we develop, in spite of ourselves, the next layers of awareness, micron by micron.
This is the reality, even for the doubters and the protestors. Whether “they” (we) believe in progress or not, whether we believe in science or not, whether we choose to remain in darkness or awaken to the dawning light of ever evolving realization, the inexorable march of time, the entropy of the Universe, the unstoppable building will continue! It cannot be legislated against, it cannot be denied by the most eloquent and articulate oration, it cannot be hidden, no matter how tightly we close our eyes, and minds, to it. The conscious mind is driven. There is a compulsion about this drive for knowledge and expanded consciousness that seems to be built in to our framework, the architecture. The human mind is wired to seek, to understand, to challenge the common and create the new, that next layer of understanding. Let the naysayers bray as loudly as they will. They will continue to make asses of themselves. Their noise will be temporary just as the latest theories, scientific or otherwise, are temporary way-points along the long non-ending journey toward Truth.
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Cycling
We sometimes forget that we are constantly within a cycle within another cycle within yet another one. Life is a spiraling experience and, when we try to make it linear, going out in front of us in a straight line and looking behind us as if everything happened in a straight line, we diminish the importance of the cycles that we have experienced.
Think about the seasons of every year of your life. How many Springs, Summers, Autumns, Winters have you lived through? Each season of the calendar year brings a different energy, a different feeling to your life that year.
In Spring, life around us starts to blossom and grow. There is a newness, a freshness, to the garden and the birds and the amount of Sun’s light that we receive. The trees start to spread leaves for us. Everything is in ‘growth mode.’ We, too, are invited to grow, to reach for the sky, to blossom, to try something new in the Springtime.
By Summer, the Sun is at it’s peak and the crops are producing bounty for us to receive. The seeds you planted in your life in Spring are coming to fruition and you can watch your efforts grow.
Autumn brings the harvest, a time to reap what you have sown. Prepare for winter. Finish up projects. Gather what you need and bring it inside.
Winter brings, not only colder weather, but also a time to hibernate, not slumbering deeply like the bears, but going inside, doing the inner work, contemplating, planning, examining life.
And then comes another Spring! Rebirth, revitalization, resurrection, coming alive again!
And so the cycle begins again. But this time you have learned more, grown more, shaped your life so that you are seeing from a new perspective, a little bit greater in consciousness and understanding than last year’s.
There are many other cycles in your life. Infant/Child/Teenager/Adult/Senior. Neophyte/Apprentice/Master.
You might think that each of these represents a linear progression, a straight line through the stages, but you can be an Adult in one setting and a Child in another. [Have you ever seen a grown man go home and become like the little boy he was growing up?] You can Master one thing and be a neophyte in another.
The Moon Cycles affect us greatly because we are mostly water and, just as the Moon affects the tides of Earth’s bodies of waters, so the waters in us are affected. Do you pay attention to where the Moon is in her cycle? Did you know that the New Moon is a great time to begin something new, to invite new things/ideas/projects/partners into your life? And the Full Moon is a time of releasing, of letting go of that which no longer serves you.
When you are conscious of cycles like these in your life, you can work with the energies of the cycles to support and assist you as you grow.
What other cycles in your life can you think of? What would change if you became conscious of those cycles and planned how to use that energy instead of allowing yourself to be affected unconsciously?
If you live by the water you know that the tides will respond to the Moon, whether you are conscious or not! Decide today to live a Conscious Life and pay attention to the cycles you experience!
New Moon in Aries I Ching Divination
As I have been doing over the past few years I have cast an I Ching Gua – a six-line hexagram consisting of open, yin, lines and solid, yang, lines. I was particularly motivated to cast this gua to see where the Aries energies coming in with the spring equinox were going to lead, especially with the last gua for the Pisces New Moon which was all about “Keeping Still.” (Pisces New Moon Gua)
I was not disappointed and did cast an interesting hexagram. I’ve pictured it here on the right. It has two changing lines at the third position and the top; these two 9 lines are changing lines which means the solid line of 9 (odd numbered lines are yang lines and even numbered lines are yin lines) can change to 6 lines or yin lines. Master Alfred Huang, whose text, The Complete I Ching, I use, suggests consulting the lower of the two changing lines. This yields the “approached” gua, a new gua representing the movement of the energies through the month.
So, what does all this mean? The “initial” gua is named Gu which means “Remedying.” Master Huang equates this with “making a fresh start.” This is a great way to break out of the energy of “keeping still” from last month. This feels in right; it is time to begin, maybe even over again. We are two months into the Lunar New Year. For the year the gua I cast was “advance.” (New Year Gua) We got the year off to a fast paced start. A month later the gua advised to “keep still” – in other words pause, reflect, consider. Now here we are in Aries energy, spring is here and it’s time for a “fresh start.”
But there is a cautionary note in this gua, because the third line changes to a yin line. The interpretation here is to take small steps forward and not be overly impetuous. Aries energy can be fiery and highly energetic. This “new beginning” needs to be a thoughtful one.
King Wen’s decision for this gua advises “Before starting, three days. After starting, three days.” This is part of the cautionary emphasis in this gua; I believe care needs to be taken during this first week, up to the first quarter of the moon cycle.
The approached qua is Meng or “Childhood” pictured here with the changed line in place. The two trigrams (three-line diagrams) are Kan or Stream on the bottom and Gen or Mountain on top. The image here is of a spring flowing out from the base of a mountain. There is a freshness, a newness about this image. It is like the innocence of childhood; Master Huang uses the image of “uncarved jade” to describe the sense of this gua. The interpretation here is to carefully mold the child through an education process to bring out the original wisdom hidden in the child. This is a slow and deliberate process; again impetuosity needs to be tempered with deliberation.
In summary we move this month through the energy of a “fresh start” and cautious, studied steps forward. Study, do some research and act thoughtfully.
My astrologer friend, Gloria Hesseloff, offers this advice for the month: I particularly align with the idea that this is a time of preparation for a new beginning. This seems to echo the I Ching preacisely!
Men and The Goddess 