With the passing of each day, it seems more and more vital not to get caught up in the swirling vortex and mass-hallucination of what’s gone — and what is going — horribly wrong.
Recently I noticed what seemed a disturbing trend towards a type of resignation, nihilism even, including among some of my much-respected elder teachers and mentors. I admit, I found that a little alarming.
However compelling the temptation or case for despair, fatigue, depression, and/or resignation — and it is compelling — to get sucked whole-sale into the muck and mire only serves to add to the collective fear, anxiety, and ‘ancestral dread’ that’s already a type of poison-stew.
That’s not to say we want to stick our proverbial heads in the sand, doing the la-la-la-it’s-all-love-and-light spiritual bypass or spiritual lobotomy ‘denial thing’, either.
It’s a ratio thing — we want to look unflinchingly, take stock, and then ensure that we put most of our attention and energy on what we’d rather see more of, in whatever way aligns with our own gifts, dharma, and purpose.
The alternative to perpetual angst or stubborn denial is to cultivate and embody a vision-vibration of what’s possible, beautiful, Life-affirming, and Earth-friendly — and not only when and where that’s been the case in our deep history and ancestral memory, but how our ancestors might have been wiser and more aligned with Life than we are now.
We want to reach deep into our gifts and our ancestral memory and pull forward helpful knowledge that we’ve long-forgotten.
In other words, we’re remembering how to alchemize the poison into medicine.
The idea is this:
When we activate our ‘higher brain’ capacity (vs. the default ‘old brain’ limbic tyranny), and cultivate both mindful choice and the wisdom available from deep, ancestral memory (analeptic memory), we are a lot more calm, creative, intuitive, insightful, and resourceful, amongst other more desirable states.
‘Word’ is that which vibrates – literally what we think, speak, and feel, predominantly.
The basic rule is this: Everything is energy.
The question is this: What is the quality of that energy (and thus focus and Word) at any given time?
As in martial arts traditions, that which we focus on and give our energy to is strengthened. Energy follows focused attention.
In this way, our ‘word’ is magical, acting like ‘strange attractors’ around which matter organizes itself.
Needless to say, our attention, focus, and thus energy have been kidnapped and co-opted by forces that have something other than our wellbeing in mind, so the first part of reclaiming that creative energy-power is to shake off the conditioning and energy parasites that create or perpetuate psychic-energetic (and ultimately physical) poison.
That can start with a simple choice as we begin each day.
Along the way of my ancestral-traditions and energy alchemy (a.k.a. ‘shamanic’) training, several of my teachers reminded us that if we don’t begin each day with an intentional choice of what energies and Spirit helpers we want to call in and align with, we’ll find ourselves calibrating to the predominant thought-stream of the masses.
And what do you think that default cultural thought-stream is?
If you guessed that angst, fear, and ‘ancestral dread’ thing, you’d be correct.
Similarly, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, not long before her death, also emphasized the ‘deep practice’ of minding one’s word, energy, and focus. When asked if she’d attend an anti-war rally, she said, “No, but when you hold a pro-peace rally I’ll be there.”
Seems like a simple thing, doesn’t it?
It is — one of those simply powerful things.
That’s all in a day’s work for the awakening, ever more mindful energy alchemist.
It’s ongoing practice, too, to wake up to toxic conditioning, clear out the clutter, be intentional with our focus and the quality of energy we align with each day, and alchemize poison into medicine.
That’s why we work with archetypes, myth-stories, and symbols.
As we delve more deeply into those empowered stories and age-old symbols, we begin to activate the sleeping (or ensorceled) facets of our Divine gifts and whole-hearted potential, and find renewed mojo, vision, inspiration, and purpose.
That’s also why we devote ourselves to those spiritual practices (though they can be secular, too) that have been shown and are now known to benefit mind, body, and spirit — including facilitating that shift from limbic-brain-tyranny to ‘new brain’ empathy, compassion, calm, resourcefulness, insight … that list goes on.
On this path, we’re energy alchemists and become a type of vibrational medicine through our very being.
It’s a powerful choice, and thus empowering, to see what is — for better and worse — and to choose again and again to orient towards that which is beautiful, joyful, well, harmonious, loving, healing, encouraging, in right-relationship, and benefiting all beings.
And don’t forget the spirit of playfulness and joy – the Trickster and Wild Woman can be divine allies in times such as these, showing us how to combine playfulness with revelation and wise action.
As Gandhi said when asked if he had a sense of humor, “If I didn’t have a sense of humor, I would have committed suicide a long time ago.” Pretty funny for a serious guy.
So, as of this moment, we can cultivate our energy focus, intention, and word-power in our morning and evening rituals, and in small ways throughout the day.
While seemingly humble, this paying attention and choosing differently is a powerful contribution and service. And it’s a little something to play with in our co-creative adventure with Life.
When we do this, we use a magic that we forgot we had all along.
Big Love,
May 17, 2014 at 2:10 am
I think a sense of humor goes a long way, as does playing with life. With these things in tact we are naturally ‘above the rhetoric’ ! Choice is the key word here; we must choose words that empower and evoke growth, not those that negate and bring upon destruction :).