Aaaaah the drama of it all.
I recently found myself trapped in a room with an injured new ager. Now I'm not talking about someone who watched 'The Secret' a couple of times, but the real deal. Budhha heads (the new age fruit bowl) adorning every surface, a morning circle of the house with Tibetan bells and arcane chanting to scare away the evil spirits (amazing how easy it is to scare away evil spirits these days), twice weekly smudging to cleanse the house of 'negative vibes', prayer flags hanging across every opening lest dark entities seek admittance in the middle of the night - you get the picture.
So anyway, it seems that during a terribly meaningful new age social event someone knocked a wine glass over, causing it to shatter and impale this persons foot. To the average person this falls into the 'shit happens, deal with it' category of life experience. But to the dedicated new ager this is a highly symbolic event involving deep messages about 'lack of support', spiritual interventions to get the person to 'slow down' and unhealed childhood wounding. Quick someone call a clairvoyant. Of course such an event requires intense discussion with a large range of friends and any poor sucker who hasn't managed to escape the persons immediate orbit with sufficient speed.
Now it seems that this person is in need of a pair of crutches for a little while, which for most people would involve a quick trip to the emergency department of the local hospital to loan a pair. Not so easy for the new age mind though. There are many dangers inherent to such an adventure, a myriad of social implications about supporting the 'system', the psychic risk of entering such an unenlightened institution, the potential for other peoples negativity to attach itself to the unwary traveler and of course the fact that it might cost a small amount of money. All of this must of course, be weighed and considered in a conversation that takes at least an hour, eventually requiring an elaborate escapade involving at least 4 people (the injured person plus three others to provide psychic protection in their time of disability).
GOOD GOD. Will you people PLEASE get a life.
Half the planet is starving to death and most of the rest live under the burden of poverty, oppression, tyranny and debilitating disease and your making a spiritual saga out of a minor injury. This is the travesty of western privilege and narcissism taken to the very extreme. People who's lives are so empty of anything truly meaningful that they have to construct an endless drama in which everyday mundane occurrences are imbued with universe shaking importance. Apparently the great creator, with the responsibility of endless life forms on endless planets circling endless stars in an endless universe is taking time out to give deep meaningful 'messages' to a bunch of spoilt, unemployed, self indulgent children who can't find anything useful to do with their lives.
With all the suffering in the words, all the people who are truly in need of a helping hand, all the causes and injustices that could do with some real attention and energy - the best these people can find to do is to gaze endlessly into the reflection of their own spiritual ego. I guess I should be more compassionate and understanding, but I hate to think of all that 'good energy' going to feed something so irrelevant when it could be feeding starving children.
People ask me why I'm so anti new age. I'm not really. Anything that connects people to something greater than themselves or inspires them to a more loving and engaged life is OK in my book. However I have little patience for things that simply give people the licence to live useless, small and self focussed lives. Life is a gift that requires us to be engaged and participating if it is to have any meaning. It is our interaction with the 'whole', with life itself that make it worth doing. Or in other words, the meaning of life is life.
The true tragedy of our new age friends injury is that it can create for them such a sense of tragedy and drama. For someone who was engaged in a life worth living, this would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience - easily overcome and soon forgotten. Certainly not something that requires hours of discussion about what it really 'means'. I can't imagine that Nelson Mandela ever spent much time cogitating over a stubbed toe or sprained wrist.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Divine Humanity
If there is one theme, one assertion that lies at the core of all my postings, it is this. That there is no separation between the world of Humanity and the world of God. No duality, no veils to be lifted, no qualitative difference at all. To be Human is to be Divine.
Further I would say that until a person has come to this knowing, all spiritual pursuits are vain idolatry and wasted time. Mostly they are actually attempts to obfuscate the truth by creating a false perception of separation. This is done with sincere intent, in that the spiritual seeker is truly caught in the belief that their humanity is somehow inferior to divine reality, but nonetheless it is a false path. The 'Course in Miracles' refers to such pursuits as delaying tactics, designed to put off the day when we look into the mirror and see the Son of God looking back at us.
Which leads to the question of why we would do this? Why would we hide from ourselves the magnificent truth of who we really are, while we suffer under terrible delusions of inadequacy, isolation and worthlessness? The answer is simple. This is in fact the purpose of the Ego, to create a wholly believable perception of separateness. Without this perception, this identity of limitation, we could not truly exist in human form and participate in the adventure of creation. If we were not able to forget that we are in fact the child of God, with all of God's power and abilities, we could not reconcile our perception to the experience of limitation that is human life. It would be like going to see a movie while constantly repeating to ourselves that it isn't real - there would be no point and no enjoyment in going. In the same way that we must be able to suspend disbelief and engage in the experience of the movie to enjoy it, we must be able to forget the true scope of our self to enjoy the game of life.
Of course, this begs the the question of why do any of this in the first place. Well, why not? Imagine that you are the son of God - omnipotent, omniscient, invulnerable and endlessly creative. Limitless power, limitless love, and limitless oneness. After a time wouldn't you begin to wonder what it was like NOT to be all this? What it is like to know limitation, vulnerability, struggle and striving? Well, we did - and here we are. Of course to HAVE the experience of diversity instead of oneness you have to create a whole lot of different forms to occupy - the body. To KNOW this experience you have to create a way of perceiving yourself as limited to the individual forms you are occupying. Thus you create the Ego, whose primary program is to make sure that you do not realise that you are not merely the form you occupy.
Yet, like all good games, it eventually must come to an end. In the final reel we always wake to the fact of who we are, and it is this sense of a deeper knowing that first leads us into the spiritual path. The problem is that in our attempts to deepen our experience we can be led onto a great many dead ends. Many eastern religions, and the major western ones, teach the path of renunciation. The theory is that by detaching from the world and our humanity we remove the distractions that keep us from the awareness of our God nature. It works too, if you are willing to spend the next thirty years siting in a cave on a mountain.
It's also completely unnecessary. The game is designed to arrive at this conclusion without any extra effort required. As we mature our experience naturally and simply deepens until we arrive at the knowing of our true nature. This path is known by many names, some being the 'Tantric' Path or the 'path of life' . It's not really a 'path' at all, because all it requires of us is that we embrace and surrender to our humanity. At the point where we have become truly integrated with our humanity we discover the divinity of our experience. The truth is that every event that ever happens to us is guiding us towards our eventual and unavoidable awakening - all we need do is trust life. Easier said than done, I know.
That is, unless this natural process of maturation is interrupted or retarded - usually by our attempts to detach from or resist our humanity and our natural life experience. Oh well, it wouldn't be much of a game if it didn't present some challenges.
Further I would say that until a person has come to this knowing, all spiritual pursuits are vain idolatry and wasted time. Mostly they are actually attempts to obfuscate the truth by creating a false perception of separation. This is done with sincere intent, in that the spiritual seeker is truly caught in the belief that their humanity is somehow inferior to divine reality, but nonetheless it is a false path. The 'Course in Miracles' refers to such pursuits as delaying tactics, designed to put off the day when we look into the mirror and see the Son of God looking back at us.
Which leads to the question of why we would do this? Why would we hide from ourselves the magnificent truth of who we really are, while we suffer under terrible delusions of inadequacy, isolation and worthlessness? The answer is simple. This is in fact the purpose of the Ego, to create a wholly believable perception of separateness. Without this perception, this identity of limitation, we could not truly exist in human form and participate in the adventure of creation. If we were not able to forget that we are in fact the child of God, with all of God's power and abilities, we could not reconcile our perception to the experience of limitation that is human life. It would be like going to see a movie while constantly repeating to ourselves that it isn't real - there would be no point and no enjoyment in going. In the same way that we must be able to suspend disbelief and engage in the experience of the movie to enjoy it, we must be able to forget the true scope of our self to enjoy the game of life.
Of course, this begs the the question of why do any of this in the first place. Well, why not? Imagine that you are the son of God - omnipotent, omniscient, invulnerable and endlessly creative. Limitless power, limitless love, and limitless oneness. After a time wouldn't you begin to wonder what it was like NOT to be all this? What it is like to know limitation, vulnerability, struggle and striving? Well, we did - and here we are. Of course to HAVE the experience of diversity instead of oneness you have to create a whole lot of different forms to occupy - the body. To KNOW this experience you have to create a way of perceiving yourself as limited to the individual forms you are occupying. Thus you create the Ego, whose primary program is to make sure that you do not realise that you are not merely the form you occupy.
Yet, like all good games, it eventually must come to an end. In the final reel we always wake to the fact of who we are, and it is this sense of a deeper knowing that first leads us into the spiritual path. The problem is that in our attempts to deepen our experience we can be led onto a great many dead ends. Many eastern religions, and the major western ones, teach the path of renunciation. The theory is that by detaching from the world and our humanity we remove the distractions that keep us from the awareness of our God nature. It works too, if you are willing to spend the next thirty years siting in a cave on a mountain.
It's also completely unnecessary. The game is designed to arrive at this conclusion without any extra effort required. As we mature our experience naturally and simply deepens until we arrive at the knowing of our true nature. This path is known by many names, some being the 'Tantric' Path or the 'path of life' . It's not really a 'path' at all, because all it requires of us is that we embrace and surrender to our humanity. At the point where we have become truly integrated with our humanity we discover the divinity of our experience. The truth is that every event that ever happens to us is guiding us towards our eventual and unavoidable awakening - all we need do is trust life. Easier said than done, I know.
That is, unless this natural process of maturation is interrupted or retarded - usually by our attempts to detach from or resist our humanity and our natural life experience. Oh well, it wouldn't be much of a game if it didn't present some challenges.
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