Formulations

     I'm fascinated by the human capacity (particularly my own) to absorb and comprehend images that are both positively inspiring and hopelessly negative.  From our first sensations to our last breath we all play host to images in a continuous flow of projections and introjections.  And even though the images are primarily outward, the deeper realities they reveal are inward.  In the words of Joseph Campbell, "When your mind is simply trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image."  My blog post just prior to this one talked about a meditation practice where all the images one comes upon are never to be attached to but instead are to be read as formulations of the ego-self, the deeper Self and the apparent intentions of Life.  Such a meditation practice contradicts our stimulus-response conditionings but, paradoxically, it's those very same conditionings that hold clues to absorbing and comprehending images with enlightened purpose.
     I'm also intrigued by cultural symbols.  I've learned, however, to see symbols as representational gateways to truth, not as holders of truth.  Symbols are functions of mythology and as such are meant to be looked beyond because they reference the mysterious unknown that is within and beyond each one of us.  Too often, however, our desperate egos get trapped in the literalism of symbols.  This trap almost always becomes manipulative of self and others.  We then interpret Life through that system of literal beliefs, thereby making all other symbols and beliefs oppositional.  Granted, the function of ego is to differentiate the Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions (the projections and introjections) of family and cultural symbolism.  But without ritually awakening to the deeper Potential beyond the symbols (the original function of Myth) we become stuck in differences.  Under such circumstances, I think it's accurate to say that all the violence in the world is the result of our inability to move beyond the rigid beliefs we attach to symbols.  These dogmatic attachments then keep us all separated from the spiritual and scientific truth of Universal connectedness.  In effect, the righteous fervor of "my symbol contains the one truth" completely denies truth.  I think this level of denial is symbolic of personally desperate and culturally disastrous formulations of emotion.
     The emotional formulations, "within you and without you" (thank you George Harrison), then interact with the personal and impersonal Potentials of Life.  Biological birth, psychological birth, the experience of being alive, biological death and one's psychological remains all tell a story of one's emotional formulations.  The discoveries, expressions, connections and created meaning are all symbolic signposts on a path (sometimes a hero path) to and from one's Calling.  The sense of having, feeling, acting loving, speaking/being heard, seeing and knowing are all projections and introjections of emotional ego development.  Ultimately, ego formulations reveal either fearful and ignorant diffusions of responsibility or the safety and freedom of total responsibility for one's Internity.  Either way, it seems that Life is pushing us all to have ego-formulations for the sole purpose of facing challenges, making choices and creating changes - "within you and without you" - toward a deeper awareness of Self-consciousness.  In effect, the apparent intentions of the collective Life seem to be teaching that living one's personal Life with anything less than focused intention on genuine Potential will result in emotional chaos.
     Finally, with a mindful focus on genuine Potential, my future posts will talk more specifically about understanding the energies of "How I Am."  Every element in the diagram of my May 18th post symbolically reveals and reflects personal and impersonal formulations.  My effort will be to systematically show how these formulations of image, symbol, energy and emotion are original, sexual, imaginative and mortal Creations that always and everywhere mirror the fluctuating truths of "Being Human."