“The possibilities that exist between two people, or among a group of people, are a kind of alchemy. They are the most interesting thing in life.”
…
“When relationships are determined by manipulation, by the need for control, they may possess a dreary, bickering kind of drama, but they cease to be interesting. They are repetitious; the shock of human possibilities has ceased to reverberate through them.”
~ Adrienne Rich, poet and essayist (1929-2012)
![The Mirror, 1896. An exquisitely beautiful painting by Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee. [Image Courtesy of WikiMedia]](https://i0.wp.com/sophias-children.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/sir-francis-bernard-dicksee_the-mirror_1896.jpg?resize=300%2C236&ssl=1)
When something in particular stirs it up — like national elections or some particular polarizing controversy — it seems a mad frenzy, almost a sort of insanity.
In a way, it’s the collective shadow being reflected back to us in the collective mirror, coming from what Eckhart Tolle and many others would call the deeply unconscious.
The alchemical possibilities do exist, though, and it’s a beautiful thing to behold when we’re able to experience that more graceful, gracious, skillful relating directly.
If we’re horrified by the degraded, uncivil, and often outright hostile state of relating that we see around us — and many of us are — the shift to higher possibilities begins with us.
For more on the possibilities of relationship and graceful relating, visit (or revisit) these Sophia’s Children posts:
and…
• The Hidden Spirit of Relationship
Share your thoughts and insights on the greater possibilities via comments below or direct email — even talking amongst ourselves stirs the inspiration and strengthens the mojo of the ‘higher angels of our nature’.
Big Love,
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Lots of love,
Jamie
November 19, 2016 at 1:14 am
Yes, the mask of politeness (political correctness) has to often shielded us from understanding the true depths of the cognitive dissonance. I am actually seeing Trumps election as a kind of awakening to the sheer scale of the illusions we are laboring under. And it has to be such a dramatic and shocking shift in pitch, simply because people are so intellectually narcoleptic (mass-media black hypnoticians insert their trigger phrases “national security, race struggle,” click, “and now sleep” and even the most educated people fall under the spell. But simultaneously the old triggers are losing their momentum. Added to which people are so philosophically opiated by the concept of quick fix change from above at the expense of genuine self-sovereignty, yet simultaneously so many are awakened to the pitch shift. Such obvious disillusionment with all the political forces on offer are more a wholesale indictment of the depth of the shadow which has now been released. I foresee an extended period of deep turmoil as this repressed energy is processed, however, I also believe new and powerful forms of political engagement can arise from the rot. One thing is certain and this was very precisely predicted by the ending of the Mayan calendar, that the expiry date on the old mythos is up and the world is being made anew and traveling in uncharted waters.
November 21, 2016 at 5:43 pm
Thanks, Leeby. “Intellectually narcoleptic” — brilliant turn of phrase, my friend. Yes about sleeps, spells, ensorcelments, cog-dis, and then the shakeups that end up being spell-breaking, ensorcelment-freeing, and so on. We shall see what new greening grows from the rot, eh? Thanks for stopping by and sharing those wicked-fab notions of yours. xo and Big Love, Jamie
December 2, 2016 at 11:37 am
My pleasure. I have been through quite the spell breaking shake up myself. It’s often the ones that are closest to home that are the hardest to break. So I have been fighting the good fight within recently. Fighting to remain compassionate and peaceful. Two quotes have become mantras for me recently. This quote by Terrance Makenna: It’s like falling into the abyss and realizing its a feather bed.” And a Buddhist quote: How can we create the least amount of suffering for everyone involved?
December 2, 2016 at 6:12 pm
Oh yeah, the spell-breaking wave is rolling for sure (on this side of the planet, too!). Same with me, and seemingly even moreso in the last days, couple of weeks, etc.
Many thanks for sharing the two inspired bits of wisdom from McKenna and the Buddhist lens. I do love questions, and find the question mark much more alchemical or ‘shamanic’ in its potential than the period! 🙂
xo Love, Jamie
December 3, 2016 at 11:00 pm
Yeah, we need this shake up. On so many levels, their are parables for the necessity of this. I repeatedly turn to nature, volcanos, earthquakes, natural disasters and the like (living in Japan, they are never too far from the back of your mind) seeing them as energy redistribution events without which life, growth and evolution, would just not be possible. I see the same thing in consciousness. I heard this brilliant analogy by a Rabbi, using a lobster, and how the stimuli for their growth is discomfort. And if lobsters went to the doctor and got a pill every time they felt “uncomfortable” they wouldn’t know when its time to shed their shells, so they would never be able to grow. Speaking of natural wisdom. You might enjoy my recent post. Wether or not it’s relevant for your blog, I’m not sure. But for me anyway, it highlighted the importance of imagination and co-creativity as the interface between the self and natural wisdom.
Photo Essay: Conversations With the Tree People of Hangetsutouge | Shamagaia
https://sharmarama.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/photo-essay-conversations-with-the-tree-people-of-hangetsutouge/