“The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our ego and live in another’s world” Plato.
“Her body tensed and quivered as she felt wave after wave surge through it. I should probably have told her about the new electric fence” Farmers writing romance novels. I’ll let that last line sink in for a few seconds. This is just an example of how much we make assumptions on the spur of the moment. And how all too often we are surprised when what we thought was going to come next doesn’t match our expectations. The duck/rabbit image is one of the most famous in philosophy, and it highlights a curious phenomenon called “aspect perception.” The philosopher Wittgenstein argued that objects often do not simply appear to our senses, but are “seen as” something. They arrive meaningfully in our understanding. What we think is absolute reality is merely our brains interpretation of the information it receives. When we simply accept subconscious conditioning, we accept interpretations given to us.
I stated in the last posts (and many times throughout this blog) we cannot become sustainable without healing the human condition. Just imagine in our current worldview that we did reach technologically sustainability. Without healing ourselves we will just keep on killing and traumatizing each other ‘sustainably’ (cartoon). If we heal human trauma, even with todays technologies (and they will only get better over time), we will have a planet that is more livable for life in general, and be able to adapt more easily to global changes. We would live lives of peace, joy, compassion, gratitude and Love, and live more harmoniously with the planet as well.
Whenever I talk with people, I rarely hear about their lives being wonderful. They may have wonderful moments in them, but for the most part wherever I go, what I hear is a story of stress from living the Materialistic-consumer nightmare. How much of your creative energy is devoted to dealing with stress and related negative emotions? Even those people I know that claim to be successful, express how stressful that success has become. Even if you have a blessed life, you will still go through periods of darkness and trauma – life can be hard at times. but it is how you rebound and deal with stress that makes life blessed or a burden. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t have a dark side and traumas of some kind. I know a lot of people with unresolved traumas, which still reside in the deep recesses of their mind. And I know quite a few who healed themselves and elevated their spirits. These people are a joy to be around.
When I was growing up, people rarely talked about their emotions except when they were intense (e.g, grief, horror, etc.). As a young boy and an empath, I found it especially hard. Girls could express their emotions, but I had to suppress them. I spent years healing myself. What is important here is to note that emotions all have an energetic frequency that affects us physically. And if unresolved, sit within the body for decades creating health issues. Add to that all the environmental stresses and toxins and you don’t have to wonder why despite our medical technological advances, we are living through a time of unparalleled global health problems.
Back to emotions and consciousness. Sir David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., was an internationally renowned spiritual teacher, psychiatrist, physician, researcher, and lecturer, and he developed the theory of consciousness (see Map of Consciousness) in which emotions were found to factor energetically from low level (survival and trauma) up to high level (self-actualizing). Hawkins laid out the entire spectrum of consciousness, from the lower levels of Shame, Guilt, Apathy, Fear, Anger, and Pride; to transitional middling levels of Courage, Acceptance, and Reason; all the way up to the more expanded levels of Love, Ecstasy, Peace, and Enlightenment. These “higher” energy fields are a carrier wave of immense life energy.
We are living in a time where whole societies have a collective darkness from millennia of unresolved trauma – it passes from generation to generation unabated. The higher levels were once open for those individuals who were able to reach beyond the traumas and heal themselves. For the first time, humanity as a whole, is now able to choose a higher energy path for itself. “Hate has talked so loudly for so long. Greed has talked so loudly for so long. Liars have talked so loudly for so long. Love has got to stop whispering” Marianne Williamson. You can follow this path individually as many did in the past, but imagine the majority of humanity now following this path of enlightened self-actualization.
“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about” Wayne Dyer. I have talked about the spiritual path many times (e.g. Creating Sustainable Community Part 10 {December 2022}). One of the main problems in getting people to think about spirituality has always been the supposition it is about religion – it can be but more often is not – it is about connection to something beyond individualism. It’s about reaching that higher consciousness.
“The practice of spirituality involved discovering that which transcends the body, as well as learning how to become attached to that transcendent reality as the truth, rather than remaining attached to the physical body and its desires and impulses, as well as to one’s emotions throughout the ups and downs of human existence” Muata Ashby.
We need a new ecological, Earth-Centered worldview if we are to survive and thrive. I can’t believe that I have been promulgating this idea for nearly 30 years. I have probably reached tens of thousands with this idea, and I know I am not alone. But with a human population of 8 billion we need to all get the word out. People are awakening in their droves, but too many are still trapped in the traumas and beliefs rooted in old worn-out worldviews of dominance and competition.
There are a lot of religious people who put up with all the crappola doled out by the religious hierarchies, often because they believe that being pious and not rocking the boat will get them a reward in the afterlife. I believe we can have heaven here in this life if we make a decision to do so, along with having happiness and joy – why wait for the afterlife? Let’s make heaven on Earth now! The late musician Michael Lee Aday (Meatloaf) had a song about that idea.
To Be Continued ……………
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