It makes sense to me that each and every one of us, always and everywhere, responds or reacts from within to the images, instincts and emotions of self/Self, others and otherness. (I differentiate between responding and reacting with the idea that responding comes from an internal Perception of choices and safety whereas reacting comes from an instinctual or conditioned internal Perception of being unsafe.) In other words, we all respond or react to others and otherness via the images, instincts and emotions of the ego-self and the deeper psychological Self (i.e., Internity). This is because all conscious and unconscious formulations of ego and Self are internally rooted in the Life of the collective yet from there branch-out to absorb, filter and behave in symbolic expressions of individual purpose and internal motivation. Therefore, all the images, instincts and emotions of "How I Am: Being Human" can only be accurately discovered, expressed, connected and made meaningful with this reality as the guiding concept: all behavior is purposeful and internally motivated.
Fully comprehending and practicing this immutable reality of behavior completely shifts the discovery of consciousness, the expression of challenges, the practice of choices and the meanings of change. In effect, the moment one refuses to explain behavior using the stimulus-response fantasy (blaming this or that person-place-thing from the recent or ancient past for "making me" do this or that behavior) one begins a more intentional experience of being alive. But please don't misunderstand me. I am not for a moment suggesting that one's past Relationships, Experiences or Perceptions can simply be ignored as if they didn't happen. On the contrary, I think the archetypes of the collective unconscious and the emotions of the personal unconscious will independently demand attention (in dreams, physical illness, psychosis, neurosis and every other symbolic outcome). Likewise, the powerful emotions and symbolic values/feelings and beliefs/thinking patterns of ego and persona cannot simply be cast aside, especially when there has been some level of trauma to one's fulfillment of the human needs. I am convinced, however, that the "nature via nurture" Potential of all these internal realities can only remain open to the natural images, instincts and emotions of Life's yearnings by nurturing an understanding of all behavior as purposeful and internally motivated.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Unity, Separation and Reunion
It seems to me that the "nature via nurture" of Internity is, in one way or another, formulated by conscious and unconscious sensations of unity, separation and reunion. I mean, all Potential is discovered through complex and continuous circumambulations of what it means to be individually ("the hero's journey") and collectively ("participation mystique") unified, separated and reunited. All Relationships are expressed via the internal joys and sorrows created by a sense of unity, separation and reunion (dependence-independence-interdependence-intradependence). All Experiences are imagined and stored as emotional memories, feelings/values and beliefs/thinking patterns (oppressing or freeing) and connected in every way to unity, separation and reunion. And all Perceptions are emotionally meaningful in terms of how they relate to unity, separation and reunion (fearful desperation creates the emotions of fight, flight, freeze or dissociate; and the fulfillment of desire creates the emotions of having, feeling, acting, loving, speaking and being heard, seeing and knowing). The factors and influences of genetics, family, "the interiorization of community," peers, education, environment, temperament and calling (whoever is telling the story) all become "How I Am" schemas that get played-out in the theater of unity, separation and reunion. Likewise, the purposeful behavior of "Being Human" - physiological health/survival needs, psychological health/safety needs, social health/belonging needs, mental health/fun and learning needs, emotional health/power needs and spiritual health/freedom needs - are all motivated by Internity's conscious and unconscious responses to unity, separation and reunion. It also seems that consciousness, challenges, choices and changes are all evoked by and then result in fluctuating awareness and truth of unity, separation and reunion. Additionally, the original, sexual, imaginative and mortal realities of personal and collective humankind are all part of the Life-Death-Rebirth mythologies that empower ideas of unity, separation and reunion. The Love and Grief of "How I Am: Being Human," therefore, both center and revolve around the possibilities of Life's "participation mystique" with the "nature via nurture" realizations of one's Internity. In effect, always and everywhere, sensations and formulations of Internity (conscious and unconscious), create purposeful and internally motivated behaviors in response to the safe or unsafe Potentials, Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions of unity, separation and reunion.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Psychological Remains
The idea and reality of psychological remains are both created by the inevitability of Death a well as the fact that all any of us leave behind are the Relationships we bring to Life. The sooner we all understand this idea and nurture this reality with intentional awareness the sooner we will all realize (make real) the natural discovery of Potential, expression of Relationship, connection to Experience and meaning of Perception. When one's time on this Earth is finished, no matter if it lasts for minutes or decades, he or she will leave behind psychological remains that have been affected by people from the collective and personal past and will then ripple outward to affect the lives of people in a future one will never know. In effect, the positive or negative behaviors toward self, others and otherness during this Life on this Earth is what creates the emotional Experience of an afterlife within the lives of others remaining on this Earth after one dies (regardless of any and all religious beliefs about an eternal afterlife)! It seems obvious, then, that fully comprehending the idea and reality of psychological remains must become the guiding force of one's consciousness, challenges, choices and changes toward all Relationships in this Life!!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Love and Grief
I think intentional Relationship with the natural calling of one's Internity is what makes Life meaningful. I also think this Relationship with calling is Experienced as a limitless combination of Love and Grief. Obviously, the word "combination" implies that Love and Grief are separate. But the reality is they are inseparable because they each create and define the other in a symbiotic union, like a lake and its shoreline. And long before one's individual beginning, onward into unknowable future generations, Love and Grief call us all to awaken the emotional consciousness necessary for a full participation with "Being Human."
The nurtured ego-consciousness of "How I Am" (i.e., the Potential factors and influences that form ego), also plays an essential role in awakening one's Internity of Love and Grief. Put simply, the ego's Perceptions and Experiences are made-up of the discoveries, expressions, connections and meanings formulated by the emotional feedback circle of Relationships. These integrations and complexes (positive and negative) then inform ego-consciousness and facilitate one's life-long interactions with the personal and collective unconscious. In this way Love and Grief are always in a dance with mythological calling, biological birth, the psychological birth of ego, the Experience of being alive (conscious and unconscious), biological death and one's psychological remains. This is why a healthy ego - the images, symbols, behaviors and emotions of individual consciousness - is so important to both the present moment and a Life well-lived. Essentially, the longings and fears that comprise every individual's ego are always and everywhere participating with the ancient collective callings of Love and Grief.
In a previous post I describe Love as conditional and active in the context of being partly an emotion that results in safe behavior but mostly a behavior that results in safe emotions. Under such circumstances, the intensities of Love grow in a trust for physical, psychological, social, mental, emotional and spiritual safety. So, wherever there is safe behavior and emotion (e.g., the self-disciplined kindnesses of home), the healthy identifications of ego that are necessary for the Love of self, others and otherness are made possible. The Perception of Grief, under these circumstances, is Experienced as a wave of longing and calling for the joyful Relationship that was created by safe behavior and emotion - Love! Such a loss and its intensely emotional memory of well-being and a Life well-lived will fill one's heart to the breaking point. But this fulfillment of Love then lives on with the power to open and transform Grief into a spirited awakening of discovered Potentials, expressed Relationships, connected Experiences and meaningful Perceptions.
Emotional Experiences that result in unsafe behavior, as well as behaviors that result in unsafe emotions, are nonetheless subject to the intensifications of Love and Grief. Under these circumstances, however, Grief comes not only from the ancient callings associated with losing people, but also from a sorrowful intuition that one failed to Experience the Potential of genuine Love in the first place - safe emotion and behavior. In my estimation, this intensely negative and intuitive ego-awareness is the result of physical, psychological, social, mental, emotional and spiritual Experiences found in domestic violence. Such unnatural and stressful angst then results in the wounded behavioral responses of withdrawal, manipulation, rebellion or compliance. In effect, if one's ego is nurtured via unsafe behaviors and emotions he or she is likely to Experience Internity and the natural longings associated with self, others and otherness as unpredictable, insignificant or even dangerous. Love and Grief, under these circumstances, become colored with the added intensities and complexities (conscious and unconscious) of shame. And I am convinced that anytime the heart's natural desire for emotionally safe Relationship is sabotaged by the nurtured shame and fear of violent Experience the resulting intensifications of Love and Grief cannot help but reveal and reflect some level of violence toward self, others and otherness.
It seems obvious that the chronic violence of Oppression, Addiction, Trauma, and Shame (the OATS we sow in united states of consciousness), are all founded on the obsessive belief that Love must include some level of unsafe behavior and emotion. Take for example our righteous insistence on equating the punishment of children with discipline. Such a blatant misunderstanding of the difference between punishment and discipline has no other outcome than unsafe behavior and emotion at some level of consciousness. And yet, after thousands of years righteously using "the rod" to prevent spoilage we sit in the Grief-stricken Hell of oppressed, addicted, traumatized and shameful self, others and otherness thinking we should have been using a bigger rod all along. But sowing such O.A.T.S. only creates emotions that result in unsafe behavior and behaviors that result in unsafe emotions! I think these historically rooted circumstances have vandalized the Internity of Love and Grief and are now being revealed and reflected everywhere one looks [e.g., the individual refusal of calling and general loss of imagination and creativity; the rejection of sacrifice and demand for instant gratification; the spiritually empty literalism of religions that are then forced by faith to refuse their historical companionship with science; the misreading of emotional desperation and consequent medication (self and prescribed) of its symptoms; the insatiable efforts to find fulfillment with nutritionally empty and sometimes utterly poisonous food and drink; the objectification and consequent pricing of self, others and otherness; the compartmentalization of education and its consequent removal from servicing the community's interior; the sexual and violent indoctrination of children as the accepted norm of socialization, economics and entertainment; the chronic diffusion of personal responsibility and its manipulations of freedom; the contrived resistances to adulthood, maturity and aging; and the systematic destruction of nature to support the whole dis-eased process; etc., ad nauseum].
I think all of this points to the fact that the human race can no longer fear and avoid Internity's Relationship with the symbiotic union of Love and Grief. The nature of human Life, which is Love and Grief, demands individually conscious choices to fully participate with the realities of mythological calling, biological birth, psychological birth, the Experience of being alive, biological death and one's psychological remains! We can no longer ego-maniacally avoid participation with Love, Grief or Internity! Therefore, it seems the challenge of our time is to change how we nurture the "How I Am" emotional ego-consciousness of Internity so we can then choose differently how to participate with the nature of Love, Grief and all Life. Penultimately, I think it's time that our personal and collective egos learn about protection, empathy, nurturance and sustenance through the safe actions and emotions of Love for self, others and otherness! Ultimately, if one safely awakens the natural qualities of Internity, I think he or she will hear the emotional callings of Love and Grief but then answer all Life with full consciousness and intentional participation in the challenges, choices and changes of "Being Human."
The nurtured ego-consciousness of "How I Am" (i.e., the Potential factors and influences that form ego), also plays an essential role in awakening one's Internity of Love and Grief. Put simply, the ego's Perceptions and Experiences are made-up of the discoveries, expressions, connections and meanings formulated by the emotional feedback circle of Relationships. These integrations and complexes (positive and negative) then inform ego-consciousness and facilitate one's life-long interactions with the personal and collective unconscious. In this way Love and Grief are always in a dance with mythological calling, biological birth, the psychological birth of ego, the Experience of being alive (conscious and unconscious), biological death and one's psychological remains. This is why a healthy ego - the images, symbols, behaviors and emotions of individual consciousness - is so important to both the present moment and a Life well-lived. Essentially, the longings and fears that comprise every individual's ego are always and everywhere participating with the ancient collective callings of Love and Grief.
In a previous post I describe Love as conditional and active in the context of being partly an emotion that results in safe behavior but mostly a behavior that results in safe emotions. Under such circumstances, the intensities of Love grow in a trust for physical, psychological, social, mental, emotional and spiritual safety. So, wherever there is safe behavior and emotion (e.g., the self-disciplined kindnesses of home), the healthy identifications of ego that are necessary for the Love of self, others and otherness are made possible. The Perception of Grief, under these circumstances, is Experienced as a wave of longing and calling for the joyful Relationship that was created by safe behavior and emotion - Love! Such a loss and its intensely emotional memory of well-being and a Life well-lived will fill one's heart to the breaking point. But this fulfillment of Love then lives on with the power to open and transform Grief into a spirited awakening of discovered Potentials, expressed Relationships, connected Experiences and meaningful Perceptions.
Emotional Experiences that result in unsafe behavior, as well as behaviors that result in unsafe emotions, are nonetheless subject to the intensifications of Love and Grief. Under these circumstances, however, Grief comes not only from the ancient callings associated with losing people, but also from a sorrowful intuition that one failed to Experience the Potential of genuine Love in the first place - safe emotion and behavior. In my estimation, this intensely negative and intuitive ego-awareness is the result of physical, psychological, social, mental, emotional and spiritual Experiences found in domestic violence. Such unnatural and stressful angst then results in the wounded behavioral responses of withdrawal, manipulation, rebellion or compliance. In effect, if one's ego is nurtured via unsafe behaviors and emotions he or she is likely to Experience Internity and the natural longings associated with self, others and otherness as unpredictable, insignificant or even dangerous. Love and Grief, under these circumstances, become colored with the added intensities and complexities (conscious and unconscious) of shame. And I am convinced that anytime the heart's natural desire for emotionally safe Relationship is sabotaged by the nurtured shame and fear of violent Experience the resulting intensifications of Love and Grief cannot help but reveal and reflect some level of violence toward self, others and otherness.
It seems obvious that the chronic violence of Oppression, Addiction, Trauma, and Shame (the OATS we sow in united states of consciousness), are all founded on the obsessive belief that Love must include some level of unsafe behavior and emotion. Take for example our righteous insistence on equating the punishment of children with discipline. Such a blatant misunderstanding of the difference between punishment and discipline has no other outcome than unsafe behavior and emotion at some level of consciousness. And yet, after thousands of years righteously using "the rod" to prevent spoilage we sit in the Grief-stricken Hell of oppressed, addicted, traumatized and shameful self, others and otherness thinking we should have been using a bigger rod all along. But sowing such O.A.T.S. only creates emotions that result in unsafe behavior and behaviors that result in unsafe emotions! I think these historically rooted circumstances have vandalized the Internity of Love and Grief and are now being revealed and reflected everywhere one looks [e.g., the individual refusal of calling and general loss of imagination and creativity; the rejection of sacrifice and demand for instant gratification; the spiritually empty literalism of religions that are then forced by faith to refuse their historical companionship with science; the misreading of emotional desperation and consequent medication (self and prescribed) of its symptoms; the insatiable efforts to find fulfillment with nutritionally empty and sometimes utterly poisonous food and drink; the objectification and consequent pricing of self, others and otherness; the compartmentalization of education and its consequent removal from servicing the community's interior; the sexual and violent indoctrination of children as the accepted norm of socialization, economics and entertainment; the chronic diffusion of personal responsibility and its manipulations of freedom; the contrived resistances to adulthood, maturity and aging; and the systematic destruction of nature to support the whole dis-eased process; etc., ad nauseum].
I think all of this points to the fact that the human race can no longer fear and avoid Internity's Relationship with the symbiotic union of Love and Grief. The nature of human Life, which is Love and Grief, demands individually conscious choices to fully participate with the realities of mythological calling, biological birth, psychological birth, the Experience of being alive, biological death and one's psychological remains! We can no longer ego-maniacally avoid participation with Love, Grief or Internity! Therefore, it seems the challenge of our time is to change how we nurture the "How I Am" emotional ego-consciousness of Internity so we can then choose differently how to participate with the nature of Love, Grief and all Life. Penultimately, I think it's time that our personal and collective egos learn about protection, empathy, nurturance and sustenance through the safe actions and emotions of Love for self, others and otherness! Ultimately, if one safely awakens the natural qualities of Internity, I think he or she will hear the emotional callings of Love and Grief but then answer all Life with full consciousness and intentional participation in the challenges, choices and changes of "Being Human."
Friday, March 2, 2012
The Psychology of Calling
I think it was James Hillman who said something along the lines of, "No one is born who isn't called first." No one. Which means everyone is born to express, and as an expression of, anima mundi - the world's soul. Which also means that everyone is born with purpose and meaning. Every one. But this soul, purpose and meaning, even though they are all part of individual Potential, neither belongs exclusively to the individual. This reality makes the individual and the collective Experience of being alive a complex Relationship between the Perceptions of ego and the worldly intentions of calling.
"How I Am" Potential in the context of otherness (i.e., ego), and the Potential of otherness in the context of "Being Human" (i.e., Self), are what define the psychology of calling. For example, a newborn's calling is a sensory and emotional Experience of Self that lasts for many years before he or she begins to consciously discover, express, connect to or make personal meaning with ego's formulations. But every newborn is having an immediate impact on the ego and calling - the Potentials, Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions - of at least two others (the parents) which then includes countless others (the family, the community, the state, nation and the world). Simultaneously, the sensory and emotional affect of others and otherness on the newborn influences the awakening of his or her ego. This makes it evident that throughout one's ego-Self Life it is vitally important to ask, "What's my calling?" yet, it's irresponsible to think "How I Am: Being Human" is separate from the soulful, purposeful and meaningful callings of others and otherness.
All otherness takes part in one's calling. Likewise, one's calling takes part in all otherness. And even though calling is part of the ancient past and the unknown future it's main quality is that it is always participating in the here and now. This psychology of calling intends to open ego's consciousness to new Potential, new Relationships, new ways of interpreting Experiences and new Perceptions of others and otherness. Most other psychological theories address the "developed" ego as the sole experiencer and creator of others and otherness - i.e. "reality." But "the ego is only one member of a commune" (Hillman) and so not going further into the connections of the human psyche with the world's soul cuts a person off from calling. Such a cutting-off limits discovery, expression, connection and meaning to the ego alone. This type of "nature versus nurture" situation, as anyone can plainly see, is a disaster for the individual, others and otherness. A "nature via nurture" psychology of calling, on the other hand, is always addressing the vital conduit between ego and calling, reinterpreting and reconnecting the immense Potential of Self with the immeasurable Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions of all others and otherness.
PS: I'm not going to go into it now but the complex Experience of grief is the most common way we all transform ego's discoveries, expressions, connections and meanings. Calling, after all, becomes highly intensified when the Potentials, Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions of those left behind are awakened by the ancient emotions encircling death.
"How I Am" Potential in the context of otherness (i.e., ego), and the Potential of otherness in the context of "Being Human" (i.e., Self), are what define the psychology of calling. For example, a newborn's calling is a sensory and emotional Experience of Self that lasts for many years before he or she begins to consciously discover, express, connect to or make personal meaning with ego's formulations. But every newborn is having an immediate impact on the ego and calling - the Potentials, Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions - of at least two others (the parents) which then includes countless others (the family, the community, the state, nation and the world). Simultaneously, the sensory and emotional affect of others and otherness on the newborn influences the awakening of his or her ego. This makes it evident that throughout one's ego-Self Life it is vitally important to ask, "What's my calling?" yet, it's irresponsible to think "How I Am: Being Human" is separate from the soulful, purposeful and meaningful callings of others and otherness.
All otherness takes part in one's calling. Likewise, one's calling takes part in all otherness. And even though calling is part of the ancient past and the unknown future it's main quality is that it is always participating in the here and now. This psychology of calling intends to open ego's consciousness to new Potential, new Relationships, new ways of interpreting Experiences and new Perceptions of others and otherness. Most other psychological theories address the "developed" ego as the sole experiencer and creator of others and otherness - i.e. "reality." But "the ego is only one member of a commune" (Hillman) and so not going further into the connections of the human psyche with the world's soul cuts a person off from calling. Such a cutting-off limits discovery, expression, connection and meaning to the ego alone. This type of "nature versus nurture" situation, as anyone can plainly see, is a disaster for the individual, others and otherness. A "nature via nurture" psychology of calling, on the other hand, is always addressing the vital conduit between ego and calling, reinterpreting and reconnecting the immense Potential of Self with the immeasurable Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions of all others and otherness.
PS: I'm not going to go into it now but the complex Experience of grief is the most common way we all transform ego's discoveries, expressions, connections and meanings. Calling, after all, becomes highly intensified when the Potentials, Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions of those left behind are awakened by the ancient emotions encircling death.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Love
Here I've been writing all this time about "How I Am: Being Human" and I haven't directly addressed the topic of Love. Then again, I've been talking about both the presence and absence of Love all along. I say this because I define Love as partly emotion that results in safe behavior but mostly I think Love is behavior that results in safe emotions.
What does this mean? It means that when one is Experiencing positive emotions it's easy to behave in a loving manner. But, more importantly, Love also means that when one is Experiencing negative emotions he or she still has the capacity to behave in ways that don't threaten the emotional safety of others. And considering the covert and overt violence of so many Experiences, along with the normalized responses of withdrawal, manipulation, rebellion and compliance in so many Relationships (e.g., self-family-community), it seems to me that the meaning of Love in this society (like so many of our heralded beliefs and values) has been desecrated by falsehoods.
The heart of the matter - Internity - is that all the energies of emotion (conscious and unconscious) are formed, conformed, deformed, informed, reformed and transformed in a constant behavioral Experience of and psychological Relationship with the powerful nurture and nature of Love! The Internity of Love's formulations then has the very human task of discovering, expressing, connecting and creating meaning for the spiritual conduit between ego and calling. This conduit is both informed by the Experiences of ego but also transformed by the Relationships of calling (and all otherness takes part in one's calling). The ease or dis-ease of this conduit, therefore, determines every individual's Perceptions, internal motivations and purposeful behaviors.
Love is conditional! This is why I think we all need to quit giving mere sing-song lip service to the abstractions of Love and instead take a good hard look at our own emotional behaviors of Love. To truly Love someone means to have ego's wild emotions with the result being safe behavior toward others nonetheless. To truly understand Love in the context of calling means that one behaves in ways where the emotions of others remain safe, which then simultaneously inform and transform one's own emotional reality. The nurtured behavioral Experiences of Love, after all, reveal to oneself and reflect to the world healthy or unhealthy emotional Relationships with the nature of Love's calling. This Perception, that Love is partly emotion resulting in safe behavior but mostly behavior resulting in safe emotions, makes all the difference in the world when it comes to the conditions of "How I Am: Being Human."
What does this mean? It means that when one is Experiencing positive emotions it's easy to behave in a loving manner. But, more importantly, Love also means that when one is Experiencing negative emotions he or she still has the capacity to behave in ways that don't threaten the emotional safety of others. And considering the covert and overt violence of so many Experiences, along with the normalized responses of withdrawal, manipulation, rebellion and compliance in so many Relationships (e.g., self-family-community), it seems to me that the meaning of Love in this society (like so many of our heralded beliefs and values) has been desecrated by falsehoods.
The heart of the matter - Internity - is that all the energies of emotion (conscious and unconscious) are formed, conformed, deformed, informed, reformed and transformed in a constant behavioral Experience of and psychological Relationship with the powerful nurture and nature of Love! The Internity of Love's formulations then has the very human task of discovering, expressing, connecting and creating meaning for the spiritual conduit between ego and calling. This conduit is both informed by the Experiences of ego but also transformed by the Relationships of calling (and all otherness takes part in one's calling). The ease or dis-ease of this conduit, therefore, determines every individual's Perceptions, internal motivations and purposeful behaviors.
Love is conditional! This is why I think we all need to quit giving mere sing-song lip service to the abstractions of Love and instead take a good hard look at our own emotional behaviors of Love. To truly Love someone means to have ego's wild emotions with the result being safe behavior toward others nonetheless. To truly understand Love in the context of calling means that one behaves in ways where the emotions of others remain safe, which then simultaneously inform and transform one's own emotional reality. The nurtured behavioral Experiences of Love, after all, reveal to oneself and reflect to the world healthy or unhealthy emotional Relationships with the nature of Love's calling. This Perception, that Love is partly emotion resulting in safe behavior but mostly behavior resulting in safe emotions, makes all the difference in the world when it comes to the conditions of "How I Am: Being Human."
Sunday, December 25, 2011
A Kundalini Christmas
It wasn't long after the whole Santa Claus thing unraveled that "How I Am: Being Human" began drifting away from the bindings of formal religion. It seems the power of Santa Claus and the literalism of Catholicism were totally dependent on the conditional and externalized concepts of "you better watch out" and "naughty or nice." Throughout my formative years it was a bit nerve-wracking to know that God was keeping score of every one of my childhood failings. And with Santa the stakes were even higher than eternal damnation - toys! Christmas time was a psychological wrestling match. ("In this corner, weighing in at fifty-five and a half pounds, the snotty-nosed trouble from the emotional rubble - John! And in this corner, weighing in at an incalculable amount because the laws of physics don't apply, the white-bearded tag-team of gyrations from the imagination - the transcendent, co-dependent enforcers of repentance - God and Santa Claus!!") In my childhood mind I figured the baby Jesus was a sort of kindred spirit because he also had to contend with the threatening surveillance of "you better watch out." I still wonder if Jesus had to deal with the childhood curiosities that result in "naughty or nice." Nowadays I understand it all as the physiological, psychological, social, mental, emotional and spiritual conditions of "How I Am: Being Human." But back then, the season of Santa Claus and unrelenting Catholicism both did a fine job of conditioning the inadequacies of my budding ego.
On the other hand, there was the comforting imagination and beauty of having a Christmas tree in the living-room. I remember turning off all the lights except for the tree, fitting perfectly into the too big rocking chair and listening to the music of the season. I still do this ritual today for no other reason than comfort, imagination and beauty. The personal meaning of that tree, with all its multi-colored lights and storied ornaments, has always been an unconditional conduit (unlike God and Santa) for the memories of my Christmas spirit.
It's obvious, then, that my annual task is to re-imagine the symbolism and reclaim the meaning of the whole story: the birth of the Christ child; the spirit of the season; the solstice and returning of light; and renewing enthusiasm for Life. And because words are symbols I always think it's valuable to examine their deeper meanings.
"Birth" originally meant to bear, to carry or conduct oneself, to take responsibility for one's life. The word "Christ" of course means anointed one. "Child" originally meant to descend, to climb down. And "infant" comes from Latin and means not able to speak. Solstice is a combination of words that mean the sun (sol) being still (stice). Spirit means breath and season originally meant to sow. Enthusiasm means to be possessed by a god and inspired (inspiritus).
I am enthusiastically writing these words today because of an unexpected image that came to me about a week ago. It happened in a Kundalini yoga session where we had been working on the third chakra, fire in the belly, the solar plexus, conviction and action. Our yoga instructor kept suggesting that we imagine the light and power of the sun growing within our bellies. I, however, was still mentally struggling with my inadequacies in accomplishing the physical aspect of the exercises. In other words, I was having "a bad yoga day" and my ego was refusing to be quiet. In fact, my ego was giving me a psychological whipping equalled only by those given by God and Santa. Needless to say my whining ego kept me from imagining anything but "getting-on with my certain to be lousy rest of the day."
On the other hand, there was the comforting imagination and beauty of having a Christmas tree in the living-room. I remember turning off all the lights except for the tree, fitting perfectly into the too big rocking chair and listening to the music of the season. I still do this ritual today for no other reason than comfort, imagination and beauty. The personal meaning of that tree, with all its multi-colored lights and storied ornaments, has always been an unconditional conduit (unlike God and Santa) for the memories of my Christmas spirit.
It's obvious, then, that my annual task is to re-imagine the symbolism and reclaim the meaning of the whole story: the birth of the Christ child; the spirit of the season; the solstice and returning of light; and renewing enthusiasm for Life. And because words are symbols I always think it's valuable to examine their deeper meanings.
"Birth" originally meant to bear, to carry or conduct oneself, to take responsibility for one's life. The word "Christ" of course means anointed one. "Child" originally meant to descend, to climb down. And "infant" comes from Latin and means not able to speak. Solstice is a combination of words that mean the sun (sol) being still (stice). Spirit means breath and season originally meant to sow. Enthusiasm means to be possessed by a god and inspired (inspiritus).
I am enthusiastically writing these words today because of an unexpected image that came to me about a week ago. It happened in a Kundalini yoga session where we had been working on the third chakra, fire in the belly, the solar plexus, conviction and action. Our yoga instructor kept suggesting that we imagine the light and power of the sun growing within our bellies. I, however, was still mentally struggling with my inadequacies in accomplishing the physical aspect of the exercises. In other words, I was having "a bad yoga day" and my ego was refusing to be quiet. In fact, my ego was giving me a psychological whipping equalled only by those given by God and Santa. Needless to say my whining ego kept me from imagining anything but "getting-on with my certain to be lousy rest of the day."
As always we finished the session with the stillness of "final relaxation." Then I sat in meditation. The others began singing the traditional "Long Time Sun" song to conclude the day's practice. I wasn't singing but my ego-whining began to quiet. With eyes closed I merely listened. "May the long time sun, shine upon you, all love surround you, and the pure light within you, guide your way on." In my mind's eye I unexpectedly beheld the image of a child standing in front of me. At first the child melded between looking like my daughter and my son when they were little. But then I recognized him as the short-haired round-faced kid I used to be. He reached-out (I reached out?) and took my aged face in his hands. He gazed at me as if he was studying some ancient truth that he already seemed to know better than anyone. Without words he seemed to be asking me to remember someone I had forgotten. I tried to smile at him but instead began to cry. He held my cheeks in his little hands, unafraid of my sorrow and inadequacies, looking intently but without any judgment at all. As the singing in the room came to its final phrases the belly in the little boy began to glow. He smiled and then tipped his head back as if he was experiencing pure joy. The glow in his belly spread from the red-orange of fire embers to a yellow-white as bright and sparkly as sunlight on rippling water. Soon all that was left of him were his hands on my face. Then they also became pure light and I filled my lungs and belly like it was the first breath of my Life.
For me (for many years now), the annual Christmas symbols contain an idea - the birth of the soul, the daimon, the genius. And I think we are all looking for a personally meaningful image to carry us beyond the conditionings and inadequacies of ego, especially at this time of year. After all, the symbols of Christmas, if read correctly, all point to how each one of us has descended into this world to bear the anointed responsibilities and privileges of being alive. To be enthusiastic in this effort we must all learn to sow the authentic and ageless soul found in the images and symbols of rebirth.
A good yoga teacher can help in this effort. I know I can't express how grateful I am for my yogi. She has guided me to consciousness of a deeply personal image that I think is powerful enough to wrestle with the likes of anyone, including God, Santa and my ego. For this gift I am forever grateful. Merry Christmas.
For me (for many years now), the annual Christmas symbols contain an idea - the birth of the soul, the daimon, the genius. And I think we are all looking for a personally meaningful image to carry us beyond the conditionings and inadequacies of ego, especially at this time of year. After all, the symbols of Christmas, if read correctly, all point to how each one of us has descended into this world to bear the anointed responsibilities and privileges of being alive. To be enthusiastic in this effort we must all learn to sow the authentic and ageless soul found in the images and symbols of rebirth.
A good yoga teacher can help in this effort. I know I can't express how grateful I am for my yogi. She has guided me to consciousness of a deeply personal image that I think is powerful enough to wrestle with the likes of anyone, including God, Santa and my ego. For this gift I am forever grateful. Merry Christmas.
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