The Shape of Things Not Coming, Part 2
Greetings, Friends!
As promised, I will elaborate on the original consideration here, in Part 2.
Personal Background:
A mentor of mine once noted, "We are not here to change the world, we are here to be changed by the world". In the course of this quicksilver human experience, I have had the opportunity to learn first hand what a precious gift this life really is, and so my gratitiude extends out perpetually. Right from birth I have been humbled in a dance with death -- with the truth of impermanence and fragility. Complications with delivery resulted in the doctors giving me very little chance of surviving, and my mother told me later that they considered my survival something of a miracle. I was to hear this very phrase repeated many times in the years to come. In elementary school, I was stricken with a severe case of bronchial pneumonia, and once again my parents were told my hopes were slim. Still, I came out of it, only to be nearly dragged to my death in an undertow while body-surfing a few years later. I was pulled out past the view of the shoreline, and carried several miles south, until somehow washed up hours later onto the beach. A lot happened during that time alone at sea, and profoundly affected my appreciation for this life. Soon thereafter, I was again to undergo a near-fatal return of the bronchial pneumonia, and spent several weeks in intensive care. A few years later, while tubing white water rapids in a river in the Sierras, I was again subjected to a near fatal episode, and shortly after that, I also nearly died while cliff climbing. The biggest scare of all came with an automobile accident late one night in 1984, in which the car I was driving was pushed at full speed off a cliff and I experienced a powerful near death episode which utterly changed my perception of existence itself. Several years ago, I was diagnosed with a life-threatening form of cancer, which I have so far been successful in managing. All this is meant to serve as a prelude to elaborating on the purposes of the original thread, which was primarily about the way we as individuals in an altenative community can typically miss out in appreciation for the beauty and wonder of the gift of this very life, right here and now, while pre-occupied with dreaming and speculating and hoping and fearing about what may or may not come.
Methodolgy:
I purposely chose a silly sort of introduction in the original post as a kind of tongue-in-cheek spoof or satire of the frequent prognostications we encounter in forums like this. Ranging from the numerous channellers from the Outer Limits, to the self-proclaimed seers foretelling doom scenarios, and on to the tech types like Cliff High and his web bots calling for the end of the world as we know it in his "Shape of Things To Come", I figured that "consulting the Oracle via transpersonal metalink" would be transparent enough, although I see a few nevertheless took it seriously (which says something about our gullibility itself).
The 12 Points:
I synthesized a number of elements in arriving at the 12 points or predictions. Chiefly, I combined probablility analysis, information from sources I have deemed reliable over time, and my own psychic intuition, which has generally served me well. Moreover, I have no particular stake or investment in any outcome, which is fine, since whatever does or doesn't happen cannot then disappoint me. Remember that I was specifically discussing this year, 2012, which has gained a near-hysterical notoriety. For example, I was in having my car smog tested last week, and the mechanic told me that my "knock sensor" was about to go bad. I asked what was required to replace it, and he suggested I not bother, since the world was coming to an end in December.
Psychological Mirror:
The primary aim of this excercise was to provide a kind of reflection to ourselves of our individual and group psyche relative to these matters. Another of my mentors once remarked that the only obstacle to our happiness was attachment to the past, but I would add that attachment to the future is also a hindrance. Those expecting and hoping for some extraordinary change or dramatic event may be simply trying to avoid the boredom, doubt, and discomfort inherent in everyday existence. Buddha, in his First Noble Truth, articulated the principle that life is "Dukkha", translated as "dissatisfaction", and so no wonder people are looking for some way out. Paradoxically, I have come to realize that the only way out is by going all the way in -- facing the boredom, the doubt, and the discomfort squarely, seeing through them, and releasing them at the heart as mere errors of judgment and appreciation. I have posted previously about this subject, but I'll re-post here for those who may not have read it the first time.
Life is filled with dissatisfaction. This sense of dissatisfaction generally arises from wanting things to be other than they are. When our desire is thwarted, we feel upset. Now, some will suggest supressing the symptoms of this dissatisfaction by stuffing oneself with food and toxins, or getting laid, or taking one's mind off their problems by watching TV, etc., but these strategies typically only serve to postpone our having to face what's really going on internally, that provoke the original sense of dis-ease.
In fact, we are always stimulating the motor and thinking mechanisms to overcome boredom, doubt, and discomfort and achieve well-being and pleasure. But those very mechanisms, by being constantly stimulated and brought to a point of achieving some sort of enjoyment, become insatiable. We require more and more remarkable stimulations of body and mind to achieve a relative degree of pleasure. The more we think, for example, the more extraordinary our thinking must become to satisfy us. We become addicted to the pursuits we can engage through motor activity and thought, and we are constantly agitated by this motivation. We feel always haunted by our limitations, our difficulties, or boredom, doubt, and discomfort.
When we feel uncomfortable, we generally employ some physical means for achieving release or a sense of pleasure. Social life, sexuality, pizza and ice cream, all kinds of physical activities are used as means for overcoming chronic discomfort. Likewise, because boredom is an emotional state, we are always seeking emotional stimulation through entertainments, the play of our relationships, aesthetic enjoyments. And we always seek to overcome doubt through activities of the mind, through reading, pursuing conventional knowledge, participating in speculative internet forums, daydreaming about trips to Neptune, and so on.
In the typical setting of the usual life, these means, physical, emotional, and mental, are constantly, chronically, in every moment, used in pursuit of a sense of pleasure, well-being, and release from these chronic difficulties. Fascination with ascension schemes, space operas, world endings, alien involvements, conspiracy rumors, etc. all serve to distract us from the fundamental condition of boredom, doubt, and discomfort at the core of our experience.
We keep hoping that something will happen externally to change this sense of dissatisfaction with existence, maybe some kindly ET will appear to give us free energy, for example, but it never does, because nothing that has happened, is happening, or will happen in the external world has the power to touch and heal the internal conflict and sense of separation from Source we perceive at the heart of our being. In other words, we are always attempting to modify our experience by placing our bets on external changes, but this strategy is bound to fail, since only an internal revolution at the heart will break the spell of our self-imposed bondage.
So, how does such a revolution come about? Here's a thoughtful piece that addresses this subject with some clarity:
"The real search isn’t a search into tomorrow, or to anywhere other than now. It’s starting to look into the very nature of this moment. In order to do that, you have to “stand in your own two shoes,” as my teacher used to say. What she meant by “standing in your own two shoes” is you have to look clearly into your own experience. Stop trying to have someone else’s experience. Stop chasing freedom or happiness, or even spiritual enlightenment. Stand in your own shoes, and examine closely: What’s happening right here and right now? Is it possible to let go of trying to make anything happen? Even in this moment, there may be some suffering, there may be some unhappiness, but even if there is, is it possible to no longer push against it, to try to get rid of it, to try to get somewhere else?
I understand that our instinct is to move away from what’s not comfortable, to try to get somewhere better, but as my teacher used to say, “You need to take the backward step, not the forward step.” The forward step is always moving ahead, always trying to attain what you want, whether it’s a material possession or inner peace. The forward step is very familiar: seeking and more seeking, striving and more striving, always looking for peace, always looking for happiness, looking for love. To take the backward step means to just turn around, reverse the whole process of looking for satisfaction on the outside, and look at precisely the place where you are standing. See if what you are looking for isn’t already present in your experience.
So, again, to lay the groundwork for awakening, we must first let go of struggling. You let go by acknowledging that the end of struggle is actually present in your experience now. The end of struggle is peace. Even if your ego is struggling, even if you’re trying to figure this out and “do it right,” if you really look, you might just see that struggle is happening within a greater context of peace, within an inner stillness. But if you try to make stillness happen, you’ll miss it. If you try to make peace happen, you’ll miss it. This is more like a process of recognition, giving recognition to a stillness that is naturally present.
We’re not bringing struggle to an end. We’re not trying to not struggle anymore. We’re just noticing that there is a whole other dimension to consciousness that, in this very moment, isn’t struggling, isn’t resentful, isn’t trying to get somewhere. You can literally feel it in your body. You can’t think your way to not struggling. There isn’t a three–point plan of how not to struggle. It’s really a one–point plan: Notice that the peace, this end of struggling, is actually already present.
The process is therefore one of recognition. We recognize that there is peace now, even if your mind is confused. You may see that even when you touch upon peace now, the mind is so conditioned to move away from it that it will try to argue with the basic fact of peace’s existence within you: “I can’t be at peace yet because I have to do this, or that, or this question hasn’t been answered, or that question hasn’t been answered, or so–and–so hasn’t apologized to me.” There are all sorts of ways that the egoic mind can insist that something needs to happen, something needs to change, in order for you to be at peace. But this is part of the dream of the mind. We’re all taught that something needs to change for us to experience true peace and freedom.
Just imagine for a moment that this isn’t true. Even though you may believe that it’s true, just imagine for a moment: What would it be like if you didn’t need to struggle, if you didn’t need to make an effort to find peace and happiness? What would that feel like now? And just take a moment to be quiet and see if peace or stillness is with you in this moment."
~Excerpted from Falling Into Grace: Insights on the End of Suffering by Adyashanti
In conclusion, I hope this discussion has served some benefit in helping us to inspect and understand some of the mechanisms involved in our attitudes towards the immediate future. As I mentioned in reply to one poster in the original thread, I in no way am attempting to downplay the very real challenges facing us as individuals and as a collective as we move forward into the unknown before us. However, I do feel that I have accomplished the purpose for which I was brought here to Avalon, and so now will slip into the background and refrain from further comments.
Blessings to All, and may All awaken to their own inherent Joy and Freedom!
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