Occupy Love

This evening, I saw Velcrow Ripper’s film Occupy Love. It’s the third in the series, after Scared Sacred and Fierce Light. It was held as a free showing in a local church, a rare showing in his home town. (the previous 2 had theatre runs) It was also crowd funded.

“Occupy Love explores the growing realization that the dominant system of power is failing to provide us with health, happiness or meaning. The old paradigm that concentrates wealth, founded on the greed of the few, is causing economic and ecological collapse. The resulting crisis has become the catalyst for a profound awakening: millions of people are deciding that enough is enough – the time has come to create a new world, a world that works for all life.”

He asks “How can the crisis we’re facing become a love story?” The film explores the Alberta oil sands project, the Occupy movement where he spends time during the Wall St. protest, and several other events. He speaks with a number of participants and experts on social change. It shows the Occupy Movement from a different reference point than was common in the media. For example, they used horizontal organization which was foreign to those used to hierarchy. And love was a major theme. Did you know that?

The film speaks of solutions revolving around raising consciousness, changing paradigms, and love. In discussions afterwards, it was clear some attendees viewed these as abstractions rather than practical solutions. That was a good reminder. And we discussed how things have evolved since Occupy, such as with Idle No More. Non-violent or Compassionate Communication was also observed to be growing.

“We live in a time of record-breaking crisis, but it’s also a time of record-breaking vision.” Not “the 99%”, 100%.

It’s Elemental

Prior to the age of science, traditions the world over described the world as composed of 4*-5 fundamental elements or components, whose combinations lead to the various qualities and building blocks of the physical world. This was not because of primitive beliefs, though they may have degraded into such. The origin of the idea is in the direct experience of the way the world becomes.

There are 2 ways of looking at these 5 elements.

One is the way elements are the fundamental building blocks of the physical world. Not elements in the sense of the periodic table you learned in Chemistry but more the fundamental qualities whose combinations give rise to the groups of elements in the periodic table. They function as different modes of physical properties. I described them this way in the kosha (purusha) chart here. The pranas (energy) and senses are more subtle.

Another way to look at them is even more fundamental. In that sense, the 5 elemental qualities arise in sequence, each arising within the previous, each progressively less subtle.

In this model, the qualities of the 5 elements are all present in the gross as above, but the physical is dominated by the earth element. The next most subtle level is dominated by water, and so forth.

Kosha	element	chakra	layer
Annamaya	earth	root	physical, etheric
Pranamaya	water	2nd	astral/emotional/vital
Manonmaya	fire	3rd	lower mind
Vijnanamaya	air	heart	intellect, causal
Anandamaya	space	throat	bliss, celestial

(Note that these are not 1-to-1 correspondences but relationships. And they are not separate layers but interpenetrating.)

Origins
The elements arise due to the nature of awareness itself. When awareness curves back on itself and becomes aware of itself, it creates a subtle space: self witnessing self. Feeling the recognition leads to air, seeing to light and fire, taste to water, and smell to earth. They are then structured as personal sensory experiences by our energetic physiology; the chakras and their expression. Here they shift from principles into actual elements.

And thus can we know the world from within our own awareness.
Davidya

* some leave off space/ether

The State of Illusion

Finally got a chance to see Austin Vickers film People vs The State of Illusion. As a former lawyer, he sets the story of the film in a trial and prison as metaphors for the prisons of belief we build for ourselves.

Like the film What the Bleep, it’s a series of experts talking about our personal reality, interspersed with the story of a man jailed for causing a fatal accident. The information comes fast, with quick edits from commentary to commentary. Also like What the Bleep, the (few) film critics generally hated it while the audience loves it. Anything that suggests we can have a direct effect on our reality is rejected by some outright.

We got Vickers himself for a Q&A afterwards. Judging by the questions, many people missed some of the main points in the deluge of info, but the subtlety of the message was also unfamiliar to many.

The key message is recognizing the difference between content and process. Most of the time, we ignore how we are relating to people and events, focusing on the what or content. What is being said, what is happening, and judging the what as good or bad. But if we’re unconscious of the process underlying the content, we’re unable to separate ourselves from it and are caught in a reactive mode. We feel like a victim.

If we take a step back and notice the process of the interaction, and under that, the process of how we’re internally responding, we begin to have choice in how we’re responding. I’ve spoken about this in a number of ways before. A deeper stepping back means the observer or witness mode. Then recognizing ourselves as the awareness in which the process is taking place. Then we see the meaning and judgements are what we add to it, our story, not what is actually taking place.

Unlike the film, he also framed it as learning to listen. What are we being called to do? This is aligning with the universe, God or whatever you’d like to call it.

The various speakers illustrated how we see the world says more about us than the world. Two you may have met in What the Bleep. Two others were a part of Princeton’s PEAR (“Scientific Study of Consciousness-Related Physical Phenomena”) project.

He noted (and the story illustrated) that if we see our behaviour as negative, it won’t change. We’re focused on the problem. Whereas if we ask what value the negative behaviour has for us (eg: drinking to mute feelings), we can see it as it is and can change. If we believe ourselves to be broken, we will remain so. Healing is much easier when we see ourselves as whole rather than broken.

Vikers observed that the clothes we’re wearing all started as an idea. And the chair we were sitting in, and the building, the city, the province, the country – all ideas. He said the Law of Attraction (The Secret) did not work from simple intention alone but rather from belief. Watching our process reveals what the underlying beliefs are. Expectations also point to beliefs.

On several questions, Vickers turned the question back on the questioner as they were not recognizing their own process [story] and resulting assumptions. Like using “we” to assume everyone thinks like me. It’s so ingrained that we may not even realize we’re doing it, assuming our stories about the world to be true. And because we identify with our beliefs, we associate them with ourselves. When they’re questioned, this can trigger ego defenses. We take it personally and are emotionally reactive. If we notice we’re reacting, it’s a good sign there’s something to notice and resolve. We can follow the feeling back to its assumption.

It’s the kind of film you may want to see more than once to digest. There’s a lot of information, some of which is framed uniquely. And it doesn’t summarize main points. The DVD evidently has another hour of footage from the source interviews too.
Davidya

What Supports Happiness?

Really the question should be: What gets in the way of Happiness? Happiness is innate, it is the subjective experience of the flow of life itself. If we are alive, simply being, we should be happy. It’s our natural state. You’ll notice it shows up naturally when we open, like in awe or in love.

But it does move in the depths of our being. So the sheaths (koshas) or veils between our “bliss body” and the other layers of our experience need to be fairly clear.

From the kosha perspective, the first body is Annamaya or the food body. What we put in our mouth, its volume and its suitability are the difference between a plugged up system and a clear one. The body has great intelligence on what it needs if we don’t confuse it or overload it. We may need to learn to listen though.

The second body is the Pranamaya, the vital body, also known as the astral or emotional. This is another body that is often plugged up, but with unresolved traumas that cloud our feelings. Same rules as above. The tendency to excess (food, drink, activity, etc) is one way people try to mask how they feel. Avoidance is another but these don’t exactly support happiness.

Manonmaya comes next, the lower mind. This is the home of thoughts and identification. Out of touch with our source, we become ego-identified and build a false self-construct. We believe ourselves to be in control to feel safe. This creates a false barrier to who we are and what is here. Of course, Self Realization is the resolver of this trap.

You may have noticed by now that the bodies have a relationship with the chakras, the above being first to third. This isn’t one to one but there is close ties.

Vijnanamaya is the next. This is the intuitive mind and discrimination. While we do have to awaken this value within and remove some crusts, it is not typically as polluted or stuck as the lower energies.

And thus we come to Anandamaya, the bliss body. The prior sheaths don’t have to be perfectly clear. Just unfogged enough for the bliss to shine through. And then we’ll find happiness is indeed our birthright. It is only for us to prepare the way.

Readers of this blog know that the best way to clear the decks is transcendence (samadhi). When we practice an effortless meditation, we regularly touch down into source. That gives the body deep rest, allows feelings to release, and breaks the boundaries of the mind. Of course, we’ll still have healing to do through conscious attention. But meditation will lighten the load considerably.
Davidya

The Rose List

I first became aware of Rose Rosetree through her interview on Buddha at the Gas Pump (Batgap). She’s all about subtle perception and healing and developing skills for same. Her tag-line is “Reading People Deeper and Healing with Energy Spirituality“

As I’m exploring models of awakening, I was fascinated by the idea that her “energetic literacy” allows a person to read if someone is enlightened or not. I know a small number of people who can see this and can help people past their last barriers. As this is a potent way to support others and opens the door to objective ways to study transpersonal development, the ability to learn it was intriguing. But evaluating such a unique vision is not a simple matter.

She sees the stages very similarly to how I do. But she determines the shift quite differently, through auras. By auras though, she don’t necessarily mean coloured light around the body but rather energetic signatures. Light is only one aspect of that.

She describes an enlightened person as having a “stabilized, habitual state of consciousness with certain characteristics that would be easy to identify for someone with Stage Three Energy Literacy.” She refers to “databanks” in each chakra and said they’d all be working well, are relatively balanced, and are free of “stuff” – her term for astral or emotional debris. The aura will also be permeated with the divine in some way and there will be a value of joy from that connection.

In other words, the personal crud is cleared and they are feeling the divine. A dry Self Realization would not make the cut.

She’s rather fearless about calling a spade a spade and tells it like she sees it. A few teachers she mentions as being enlightened but having messed up (including ones she’s studied with).  A few others she mentions as awake but not enlightened, even if they say otherwise. I’d agree there are some who have recognized the Self but not become it yet. I was such for many years. And there’s a difference between Self Realization and its mature state, sat chit ananda (absolute bliss consciousness).

At first, I wondered if she was reading sattva development rather than atman. But her comments suggest more. “Permeated with the divine in some way” suggests a deep perception. Earlier, I had the impression that there was a standard underlying energetic process in enlightenment. The chakras are awakened and we connect with source in the crown. Advanced stages unfold during a decent. Some teachers and kundalini traditions follow this model. However, others experience the stages during the rise and there are kundalini traditions that support that as well. And so on. She has apparently recognized this variety in the results.

The List
The result of her reads is her Enlightenment Life List, people she’s rated as Enlightened by the above criteria. Unexpectedly, it includes some famous people like Obama, the Clintons, and George Clooney. Shades of Men in Black! (laughs) From comments, it would seem that being in the larger public eye can raise someones consciousness. (a group consciousness effect?) But I’ve never explored that. In most cases I’ve seen, people who are enlightened know they are. I have met a few who were unsure. But once verified, their progress accelerated.

Rose indicates that when she started expanding the edge of energetic literacy into enlightenment, she didn’t meet the standard herself. Also, as she’s more heart driven, there is less conceptual precision. Plus it’s kind of an organic unfolding like this blog, rather than a presentation of a fully formed teaching. But as Rick Archer (Batgap) said to me, “she’s a sweetheart, making her much-needed contribution.“

Of course, making pronouncements about others is tricky territory. David Hawkins, of Power vs Force fame, is notorious for having rated many famous teachers, all of whom he rated as lower than himself, save Jesus. His ratings are considered infallible by himself & adherents. (he’s a no on Rose’s list) There are also some guru rating sites that are essentially trash-em lists.

Rose’s approach doesn’t fall into these traps but is instead a simple is or isn’t (yet). She says it’s about clarity rather than judgment. And offering examples for students to read. But a few issues still come to mind. For example, it’s not the person who is enlightened. It is the Self that wakes up to itself, through an apparent person. Making a list of names points to the person. But addressing that requires only a caveat. She talks about some of this here.

It’s useful to note here that she differentiates Householder and Renunciate enlightenment. A renunciate is Neti Neti (not this, not this) oriented whereas a householder still very much engages their person as an aspect of their expression. If this difference isn’t clear and a householder tries to play a middle ground, they succeed at neither. I’ll write more on this later.

Secondly, her process is by perception which can be fallible. The perception is also reading the effects of awakening not the awakening itself. She does however mention a few exceptions who appear to meet criteria but have issues that overshadow that development. She also notes it’s her read and opinion. No absolutes stated. That’s a good sign.

Clearly, it depends on the skill and experience of the reader. As I don’t have these skills, I’m keeping an open mind to get a better sense of what this is. I’ve bought her book Aura Reading Through All Your Senses but have just started it. She’s since recommended more recent books to me, like Read People Deeper. Thus, this article is more a work in progress than a review.

Here’s a good article on how her outlook evolved. She also talks about what she sees as the 10 most significant things about enlightenment there.

Meanwhile
Meanwhile, I commented on her blog a few times. One she quite liked and moved forward to a more recent post, then offered to read me for her list.

I found the exercise interesting as it looks to the question from a different angle than usual and confirms a couple of subjective impressions.

As prior posts mention, I’ve stayed pretty low key about who I am here, for various reasons. And awakening really isn’t about a person anyway. So it was a consideration if this was even appropriate. But now I sit at #180 on her list. (laughs)

I’ll do some more reading & exploring before I have better handle on the techniques she teaches. She certainly has a unique vision and some excellent insights. If her processes are as effective as she suggests, they could be quite useful in a number of ways.

Meanwhile, we’ve exchanged blogroll links. 
Davidya

What is Consciousness Published

I do almost no publicity or networking for this blog. It has grown by word of mouth and happenstance. Until recently, I blogged under an alias.

A few months back, I was invited to contribute an article to Science to Sage on-line magazine in an issue themed on consciousness. This issue was delayed a couple of times but has finally been published.

As a benefit to readers, the editor has invited me to send a link to the magazine issue for my readers for free. The issue is normally $8.

The issue is a wide-ranging smorgasbord and very graphical. I’ve not read the other articles yet and certainly don’t endorse the other content. But you may enjoy a browse. Other contributors include Eliza Mada Dalian, Bruce Lipton, Austin Vickers, and Dean Radin.

My article begins on pg. 104. A PDF (3MB) with the cover pages and just my article is here. I also posted the article in February as a three-parter beginning here.
Davidya

What do Concepts Feed?

This blog is all words. Words are symbols for concepts.
“Taking concepts to be reality. That’s the basic human dysfunction that we call maya or illusion or original sin…  we form all these concepts in the head, and then we take the concepts to be reality. And the concepts are words about reality at best…”
– Francis Bennett (1:09)*

In other words, if I feed your concepts that create barriers to what is here, this blog fails. But if the words here offer pointers that help you recognize what is already here, it succeeds.

“Peace will come one enlightenment at a time.”
–John Mark  (1:32)*

*Both in an interview by Rick Archer on Buddha at the Gas Pump.
Both bring a Christian perspective to the enlightenment discussion.
Davidya

How Many Dimensions?

In a recent interview I watched, they described finer values of existence using the term “dimension.” This is a common error I’ve seen even physics PhD’s make.

For example, say we call astral the 4th dimension and mental the 5th. But both the astral and mental are also 3D, so you’d need to add 3 for each. Now you have 9 dimensions, not 5. And what about time? We experience time differently at different resolutions. Are there multiple dimensions of time? Or just different ways of experiencing it?

This is also implying that astral and mental and such are separate spaces, which they’re not. If we’re inside one layer and looking at another, they may seem separate. But that’s only due to the context, not the actuality. If we’re inside a large building, we see floors. If we’re outside, we see the building as a whole.

All of the subtle values interpenetrate each other and the physical and exist in the same space, first arising in the dynamics of awareness aware of itself. Thus, there is one space, whatever the level.

To be precise, space is nested. What we describe as the universe or outer space is a space nested inside the creation space, along with other universes. As aware beings, we hold a reality or personal space within the universe (although that can grow significantly). Every object arises in the dynamics of self-awareness and thus has its own space within the universe space and in your space if it’s been in your experience. Obviously, there’s a lot of overlap. All of these are “defined” areas within one creation space.

This is something like national and local boundaries, only a little more subtle. You could say you live in Canada or France or Tibet. But countries, even local property and land title, are conceptual objects that have no physical reality. They exist in mental space, we could say. The 49th Parallel for example, the border between the US and Canada, exists only on maps. Similarly, the property your home is on may be defined by a fence. But is that anything more than a representation? Even geological boundaries like a seashore are conceptual boundaries to a country. The land continues under the water. And countries continue to argue about where their border really is.

It’s also worth noting that space is omnidirectional. 3D is an arbitrary conceptual way to measure open space and plot objects in it. Bucky Fuller developed a 4D model based on the tetrahedron. A map does not fully describe actual space. The map is not the territory.

A similar issue arises when people speak of “bodies”, as in astral body & causal body. The Vedic term is kosha or sheath. This describes it much better.

Why is this point important? If we use misleading terms, they can lead to conceptual misunderstandings about what we’re experiencing. English doesn’t have a good vocabulary for subtle reality and we need greater precision to improve understanding.
Davidya

Healing Perfection

I’ve noted that people’s life passion often arises out of what they had to overcome or heal. In a sense our mission may be fueled by what we don’t want or what we want to help others avoid or overcome. Thus we become seekers, psychologists, helpers, and healers.

In another forum, this came up in the context of spiritual teachers. Byron Katie apparently said that she still teaches “because she realized that some aspects of the Self have not yet been integrated.” This is similar to the idea that a teacher learns more than the student. Much the same way, I write as a process of clarification and integration and have found that sharing this is valued by others.

The commenter observed that everyone in a satsang who shows up is a part in the process of being made whole, including the teacher. A good healer or therapist or teachers job is to heal what shows up in whatever form. You may recognize the related idea of Ho’oponopono. Heal within what is showing up outside and both are healed. This is seeing the Self in all.

This cannot take place on the level of mind. If a teacher sees themselves as the “realized one”, they divide themselves from students and fail to support this process. Many teachers don’t recognize this dynamic at all. Similarly, if we see teacher or God as other or more than ourselves, we artificially divide. We’re all in this together.

A non-dualist may balk at such statements. They may deny any healing should take place as reality is only whole and perfect. And while this is true, when wholeness experiences itself as identified or attached or ill, then some healing can take place in a return to wholeness. It may seem a paradox but if you recognize there is only literally one of us here, it makes more sense. The paradox is resolved in true oneness.

The time real healing takes is directly related to the depth of surrender. Surrender isn’t something we do but rather allow. We let go of the grip or resistance and what is already whole replaces it. You may better relate to this as stress – a cause or complicating factor in the majority of physical and emotional illness.

When surrender is deep enough there is an awakening. As it deepens, more and more wholeness arises. What I call stages unfold.

The apparent individual processes the integration of what remains to be integrated, heals what remains to be healed, and releases what remains to be released. In that process, we see activity that might be called satsang or teaching or healing.

There is perfection in wholeness and healing in the coming together of the parts into wholeness.
Davidya

Feeling is Believing

Recently, I did another workshop on working with your energy centres with Nancy Shipley Rubin. It was part 2 of the “solution field” process we learned last fall.

While the workshop covered all chakras, I’ll focus on the 2nd here. It plays a key role in our experience of life and our ability to create what we’re seeking. The second is the main energy centre for our emotional sheath, also called the astral or vital body. It’s also where we tend to carry the most baggage. The related third drives the lower mind and will, that which names and judges. It is also the lower protector or guardian.

Unmet Needs
Much of our disappointment in life is from unmet emotional needs. Out of touch with ourselves, we unconsciously project our needs into the world and seek them externally. Expecting others to somehow mind-read what we don’t recognize in ourselves, the world fails us repeatedly.

When someone else is projecting on us, it takes a lot of strength not to get caught in it. Ironically, if we close our energy in protection (common for most of us), our energy will amplify their projections, reflecting it back. This of course amplifies conflict and discord too. To just be able to see it as their projection of unmet needs profoundly changes relationships. (not that I’m well-practiced at that)

Many relationships fail because of unconscious needs that cease being fed by the other person due to changing circumstances and growth.

Yet if we can learn the simple ways to resolve internal conflict and repressed feelings, we can clear the way to meet our emotional needs internally. For example, we can’t project when we’re grounded and present. And wouldn’t you like to be happy for no reason? Happiness is part of our nature and will arise if we cleanse the emotions.

This is not to say we shouldn’t love and express feelings, only that this is a giving and sharing rather than a co-dependency. When we don’t depend on another for basic emotional needs, our inner life settles markedly. But this requires skills, like learning to tell the difference between our old baggage (unmet or unresolved) and what we’re feeling now (new).

What we feel, we believe
Like seeing is believing, what we experience directly we tend to believe. However, events can trigger emotional memories that feel real but may no longer be true. Like that we’re bad or unworthy. They have a kind of “magnetic” quality, due to embedded desires. They are the story of what was not met in the past. And they continue to filter our perception of ourselves, others and the world. In some ways, beliefs are named emotions with ideas attached.

This causes us to live driven from the past and from avoidance rather than from what is here in front of us. It also tends to create life dominated by what is unmet (used to want) rather than what we want now. Emotional literacy helps us become aware of our internal dynamics and differentiate between a triggered memory, resistance, and what is actually here now.

Inversely, if we’ve repressed our feelings and don’t feel the dynamics, we’ll tend to try and force things, striving and pushing against what is. This is more common for men. ‘Real boys don’t cry.’ And if you can’t relate to this, numbness is an emotion too, a good sign of long-term overwhelm.

Where do we feel it coming from? What is the “tone” of the feeling? Does it feel forced or resistant? Is it a natural response to circumstance we can let flow through us? If it’s not clear, a reality check may be helpful. Talk it out with someone not involved for perspective. It can take time to resolve an emotion fog. But it’s more than worth it.

One belief we do want to have is that feeling good is safe. Many such beliefs are quite healthy. But many messages we got out of anger or to correct childhood behaviour may no longer serve us.

Conflicting Beliefs
We all experience areas of life that move well and other areas that are bumpier. These bumpy spots indicate we have unresolved emotional dynamics (aka karma) that create a conflict between our higher and lower selves. Nancy called this a “warble.” Where our higher self is open to what is unfolding but our lower self is hesitant and blocking that flow. In a way, we hold both the problem and the solution in a duality rather than letting the solution through. Old past belief-experiences get in the way of solution. But curiously, even familiar suffering can feel safer than the change of opening to happiness. With the familiar, we feel safe and in control even if we feel bad. Or nothing.

Feelings, even fear, are not the enemy. They are life’s richness. Fear and anger are often a form of protection. They are not a problem in themselves. It is the attempt to resist, suppress and control emotions and not let them resolve that makes them an issue. This doesn’t mean dwell in the muck but rather allow them to complete and leave. When we face a large trauma or change, it is natural for it to take time to heal. But we need to give it that time and not repress.

Because we often experience others as emotionally fickle and unable to meet our needs, we may come to distrust love. I’ve met many in my age group who have become ambivalent. But love isn’t a second chakra emotion. It’s the divine in focus and flow. Love is simple and unattached. What we love will grow in our hearts. Love based on needs is not really love. This is why we can love someone but not like them.

When the higher and lower are in sync, we experience the smooth flow of the formless into form. What we know the feel of, we can create. Do you know what hope actually feels like? Safety? Feeling is the energy before form and what sustains our world. What do you feel?

These points were only a small part of the other chakras we also discussed and experienced. But they are key things to get to know in ourselves. Especially for a guy. Real guys do cry – especially out of happiness.
Davidya