Moving On
Right after meditating in the later afternoon of January 13, 2007, the realization came to me that there were possibly even more chapters for these writings than the one just added and I was consciously aware of up to that moment. So, I/we started another new one. Later, when I asked my body organism, via the pendulum, if this was what it meant when it said it wanted to move on, it indicated a medium yes, Then, when I asked it if this new chapter was part of it, with more to come, there was a large affirmation.
Since I was thinking about what I had been consciously aware of, it seemed to be a good time to talk about consciousness. For decades, I had read in spiritual materials that what we humans are basically is consciousness. That perspective had never felt right-on to me, but I didn’t have another way to think that did feel right. I hadn’t been able to connect my Essential I experiences with those definitions of “consciousness.” Then one day in August 2006, while reading a book in which the concept of consciousness was being used, all of a sudden it was as if energies flowed together and what arose made perfect sense to me. I think consciousness is awareness amidst a context of beliefs in an experiential mode, that is, what I’m conscious of as an experiencer. Hence, consciousness is part of the realm of spirit-beingness, forms and experiences with forms. Pure awareness, without thoughts or forms, is the essence of who/what I Am—pure awareness amidst an environment of vibrant stillness and creative potential. Then the two can be blended into conscious awareness.
This also seemed to be a good time to address another topic. Where is God, with all the horrors of the past and those that are currently taking place? At present, the best answer I am aware of is that a portion of God is within each of us as spirit-being humans who use our divine-given powers of choice and energy generation through various thoughts, beliefs, emotions, intents, attitudes, and focuses. Together, I think we humans co-create the horrors.
And yet another question has come forth. What is national security in a broader sense? Does it include vibrant oceans, clean fresh water, clean air, and healthy soils?
In simultaneous and interrelatedness terms, the recent scheduling of the Frontline four hour broadcast on PBS during two consecutive Wednesdays about current-day China, had connections with Time magazine’s January 22, 2007, cover story about the rise of China’s power. In mid November 2006, Tom Friedman, the New York Times columnist, wrote that he believes when the history of this era is written, the most significant trend historians will cite is the rise of China and India. Then others are proposing this may be China’s century. My perspective is that what any of us are tuning into regarding the future are probabilities, because there are so many dynamics and variables in play.
All this international attention correlated really well with “our” decision to see some video materials I had taped from earlier months about Mexico and Burma (Myanmar). That decision started “us” putting together a global update. It included finding the September 2005 National Geographic magazine’s issue about Africa I had set aside to read at an appropriate time, which obviously was now, adding to it the recent Time magazine report about Somalia. To them I also included global materials from those I was rereading from my now-culled October 2004-to-the-present pile.
By the time I had completed the National Geographic September 2005 Africa issue, I was telling myself that if I were using DCBA perspectives, overall I’d probably be seeing what has been and is happening in various places on the African continent as almost hopeless, even though there are also bright spots. I had experienced similar thoughts about events in Iraq and elsewhere. Nonetheless, I continue to choose to see each and every one of us as multidimensional spirit-beings with basic identities that are beyond cultural definitions, including the vaster powers for change I believe each of us has—and that’s the reality picture I/we are personally energizing!
I think one of the results of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has been to bring more global awareness to everyone in the United States. There’s no way for we as a culture to easily go on to the next thing, as we are so prone to do, because the reality of Iraq amidst our daily lives keeps coming forth, front and center. Also, with the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to workers in other countries, there has been more global awareness and interest. On a wall in the hallway that goes from the garage past our personal rooms to the kitchen, Jim and I have put up a large map of the world that I look at frequently. I highly recommend having one available for family members to use.
On January 15, 2007, winter weather seemed to finally arrive, with lower temperatures, snow, and wind. The day before I had inwardly heard that everything could be easy for “us” now, and during dreams the previous night the message had been reinforcement—to really enjoy the opportunities I/we had in the immediate and spacious present. This was a contrast to much of how I had done projects in the past, where even though I enjoyed and appreciated them, I usually stretched me and my body organism to our limits and beyond, to accomplish as much as we could each day, and then take a rest when our goals were completed. I sensed that taking our life a moment and day at a time, while fully savoring it all, is also part of my body’s idea in the present of moving on.
Using this new design in addition to the other changes we had been making, I was again seeing our life stretching forth, where each day was a fresh opportunity and adventure. One result of implementing this way of being and thinking was that my overall body organism—mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical—noticeably eased up even more. A part of past ways of doing things had been to create some muscular tension and shorten our breath, to get as much done as possible. “We” agreed that this new design was wonderful! For starters I let go of wanting our manuscript to be small in size, with less to edit and fewer resource materials to recheck for accuracies. I just shrugged my/our shoulders and easily said,“Oh well, by opening everything up totally, it can become even more what is in the highest good of all being everywhere, which of course includes Jim and his body organism and me and mine … So, off we go.”
While lifting weights one morning in mid January, a muscle in our right shoulder was strained, with some pain from certain movements afterward. When that event happened, well-established patterns of divine Trust, which included seeing my body organism as a messenger along with looking for opportunities in all situations, immediately appeared. Hence, via the pendulum, I asked my body if, instead of cleaning house the next day, it wanted to listen to a three hour audio tape of spiritual emphases we’d purchased many months ago, that was part of the contents of our three baskets of accumulated materials. It vigorously said yes. It also wanted another book that was amidst the three baskets, to be looked at that day, and then added to the three books already sitting on the desk.
I could see “we” sure were opening things up as this started another process in the immediate present of updating “us” about what some current-day spiritual leaders were saying. The new focus was in addition to the geographical updates we were already doing, and what else was in motion. I told myself that since I saw living life as an art, here were daily opportunities to weave it all together, because there were many more active strands in motion simultaneously now that I/we were consciously aware of and choosing from, as contrasted with previous times.
With great Appreciation for others' contributions, when I went into a current-day spiritual update I experienced each author of various expanded and expanding perspectives taking many of the ingredients that are available in the mutual psyche I believe we all share, and crafting a personal worldview they then expressed. Nevertheless, most of them didn’t acknowledge the immense flexibility and vast creative options that I believe are available to each of us as individualized portions of divinity. I also think not enough weight and value is usually being given to what I believe has been our past/present mutual spirit-being experiment.
Furthermore, as a portion of their spiritual belief constructions, there were still some aspects amongst what I heard and read of what I think of as One Truth. My perspective is that we can be inspired by others and adapt others ’ designs in ways that blend well with the rest of our patterns, while maintaining our own uniqueness, originality, potency, freedom of choice, and “I Amness.” In a vaster sense, I think it’s really up to each individual to take responsibility for the contents of his or her psyche … and what works for one person, may not work well-enough for other people.
When listening to an NPR news report the morning of January 18, 2007, I heard that Art Buchwald at age 81 had passed on the previous evening at his home. I/we smiled warmly at a spunky fellow spirit-being.
Our dreams the night preceding the new moon day on January 19th included three vivid and dynamic ones. The first one I easily interpreted as telling me that many other “humans” were also realizing themselves as spirit-beings and making new choices from that position and perspective. This was very clear when I contemplated the dream contextually, with what “we” were making significant at the time, when we were seeing DCBA global disasters in so many places! My dream translation became the central focus for our new moon ceremony the next day: “Open It All Up, Even More."
The message of the second dream was to see all of life even more consistently and extensively with the eyes of an artist. That too was included in our new moon ceremony as an emphasis for the forthcoming moon month. The message of the third dream was to keep focusing even more upon joy and fun, which also became incorporated in our new moon ceremony on January 19th.
Since certain movements in “our” right arm were causing pain, we shifted the bulk of “doing” activities over to the left side, arm, and hand. Soon, during the second day of the moon cycle, when doing the weekly washing an awareness of childhood either/or and dualistic programming came forth—the repeated message in my family was that you are either right handed or left handed, and to try to use both of them with dexterity could really screw things up. Furthermore, I would be subject to my father’s taunting, put in the guise of humor, if I didn ’t follow this rule. Then, in the spacious and immediate present, with Understanding and ease, me and my body organism let all those patterns and any associations attached to them over the years move on! They were part of a much vaster complex of childhood designs I had already released long ago. (Here is another piece of the content of my body organism’s desire to move on—shifting more “doing” activity over to my left arm and hand.)
The January 29, 2007, issue of Time magazine was a special mind and body edition, wherein they described some of the most up-to-date, scientific perspectives of who we are as humans. Their picture is that we are our brains, and when using functional MRI scans, every aspect of consciousness can be tied to the brain. The brain is said to be the seat of the mind, thoughts, and one’s sense of existence; consciousness is an emergent property.
The Time material seemed to be a bookend to how this chapter started, with talking about consciousness and conscious awareness. It was also another example of simultaneousness and interrelatedness because I had already word-processed the consciousness materials just before receiving the magazine on January 20, 2007.
In one section the Time writers described experiments with depressed people and Buddhist monks, showing that the conscious act of thinking about their thoughts in a particular way could rearrange the brain. “Neuroplasticity” is the concept used to describe the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout Life, that is, the brain can be rewired.
What I read in Time magazine certainly is a worldview I’m familiar with—that consciousness is a manifestation of the physical brain—and at the same time, my perspective is that our Western world technology and scientific thought processes have been developed from within the DCBA reality, using its basic assumptions. As a contrast, my current-day worldview has a different starting point—of being an invisible Essential I amidst overall divinity who experiences conscious awareness as a spirit-being, in relationship with a body organism in this system of reality.
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