Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Fly Free; You Are Forever

In the aftermath of the waking dream that has many of us stunned, saddened and fearful, it's hard to find that silver lining.  Many of us in the consciousness/spirituality movement feel it's very important to stay positive, because despair leads to emotional catatonia, which literally gets us nowhere.

In my last post, I mentioned how one of the things that seems apparent is that we won't have a leader to turn to, so we'll need to do it ourselves, for each other and with each other.  Do what?  Make sure Love trumps hate.

Obviously that won't be easy, but the hard things seldom are.  For myself, I'm choosing the areas I most want to champion and commit my energy there, while supporting others in their endeavors to move human consciousness beyond the stagnant mental swamp of this dying patriarchal system and its death generating values.

For me, the women's movement has received a huge wake up call; too many women, white women it seems, voted for a misogynist and put their own civil liberties, their daughters' and their grand daughters in jeopardy.  Why?  Brainwashed, that's why.

That's the title song by George Harrison on his posthumously released album:

Brainwashed in our childhood
Brainwashed by the school
Brainwashed by our teachers
And brainwashed by all their rules
Brainwashed by our leaders
By our Kings and Queens
Brainwashed in the open
And brainwashed behind the scenes

God God God
A voice cries in the wilderness
God God God
It was on the longest night
God God God
An eternity of darkness
God God God
Someone turned out the spiritual light

Patriarchy is a 5-6 thousand year old paradigm that has forced humanity into this perilous period of self-destruction.  It takes many forms on the planet, physically, monarchies that are inherited or hierarchical legislative structures that are to various degrees elected, but psychologically it takes one common form.  God is male, so the male is the only suitable representative of his rule in the physical. This belief is manifest to varying degrees of severity, depending on where in the world we find ourselves.  But very few societies extant give equal voice to the Feminine Divine.  This denial of half of who we are, within and without, has created the dark paradigm, the collective dream, we're living on this physical plane.  I spoke about this in my Mother's Day Homily a few years ago in more detail.

The good news, as I've mentioned before, is that we humans have been here much longer than the patriarchal age and have experienced peaceful coexistence and egalitarian organization of societies. The myth of it's always been like this is part of the patriarchal, apocalyptic narrative.  Are the myths of Eden hinted at in this bleak story echoes of the paradise we indeed lost when god was not the war tyrant father and all that was life was the Mother? 

The challenge of the times we're in is doable; it depends on one person at a time learning to free herself/himself from the mind-forged manacles that make us conform to values that are religious rather than spiritual, exclusive rather than holistic.  The choice isn't religion or atheism; it's dogma versus experience. The realm of God/goddess is within and the path is always open to us, especially through our dreaming.  Paying attention to our dreams, our organic spirituality, can free us from the religious strictures and lies that cloud our judgments and harden our hearts with fear.

We are forever because we're spiritual beings in this present physical existence.  We've been here before and we've been elsewhere in the multi-universe, as well.  We don't have to earn our way into heaven because heaven is inside us - as is hell, if we choose it.

The question for each of us is, why am I here now?  What do I need to learn and what am I here to contribute?

A world out of whack is a world of imbalance; many teachers in the consciousness/spirituality movements of today believe that the Feminine Divine must be returned to equal status with the Male Deity that's been Ramboing us to perdition these past several millennia. The influence of the Feminine is key to achieving balance; the goddesses that all our earth centered ancestors revered informed our moral codes very differently.  Goddess respecting cultures embodied a very different paradigm, a very different consensus reality. 

We need to melt down this hateful paradigm that's imprisoned the human imagination for so long and fly free.  Patriarchal religions control through fear and coercion, just like patriarchal governments or patriarchal family structures.  But no one can control our inner freedom.

The spiritual movement of this dark patriarchal age is brighter than it has ever been, thanks to so much passionate research and writing in the last century.  Material science and metaphysical science are partners in the current conversation on what constitutes "reality."  We can take heart in that.

There is no doubt in my mind that as Jesus put it, you can't put new wine into old skins; the new skin we need to grow, to rebirth, regenerate and renew our existence on this planet is a psychic one.  We need to act as if our spiritual being is just as important as the ego being of our waking reality. It's not either/or, it's both/and, especially when the shit hits the fan.  We need to examine our beliefs, where and how we got them and whether they serve our deepest values.  We need to tune into our dream lives because that's where we find the help we need, custom tailored to our own soul, not mass produced, mass distributed and controlled by patriarchs for their own profit.

As Robert Moss teaches; "We are born to fly, and in dreams we discover that the soul has wings."










Thursday, November 10, 2016

Dream Strong Now!

The moon when it's full lights up the dark night; using our dreaming life consciously, we can lighten the darkness of this waking reality.

 I was deeply inspired by Secretary Clinton's concession speech.  Here's what I learned from listening to it.

a)  I'm not off the hook.  Four years of HRC and I could have lah-di-dahed my way around serving my community and future communities on earth by doing my civic duty of giving back in a cavalier way, confident that the ship of state is in good hands.  Now, the glow is gone and things look dire, but as she points out, this campaign, this movement was never about one person.  Get out from behind the FB posts she challenges us and do something for whatever you believe to be right and good. 

b) Watching her give her speech made me realize that HRC is even more valiant and capable than I already knew her to be. What an example of poise and states-personship!  She's an inspiration to the women's movement; I know she will continue to lead and do her part for the greater good. I loved how she reached out to the young and challenged them not to be disheartened.  More than anyone I know, I feel she leads by example in exhorting us not to lose heart; never doubt that working for what you believe is right and good is worth it, she exhorts, despite how painful the moment must have felt to her personally. 

c)  Brutishness has always been a part of patriarchy so it appears Mordor is waking once again. But,   spiritually considered, we're all going to die sooner or later; it's no big deal, we've done it who knows how many times, how many lifetimes! We can ask ourselves if it's wise to be so fearful of death and if it's not even wiser to ask ourselves for what purpose was I born this time around?  The currency of eternity is love.  The answer to our spiritual purpose is too individual to allow for the doctrines and legislation of patriarchal religions; spiritually we're all equally free and assured of deliverance, death where is thy sting? As for a life's purpose, any variation of spreading love in the world will do; it's one of the few treasures from the physical that converts to the non-physical at death.  I'm guessing spreading hate and violence doesn't sell well on a soul level and that attitude bears re-thinking. Perhaps, many of us volunteered to bear witness to this truth, at this time, in this space for the purpose of spiritual evolution. 

d)Both HRC and Pres. Obama are speaking to our hearts, calling for a mindful transition into whatever difficulty we encounter and for our powerful, loving and creative energy to transform the worst case scenario into the unexpected.

e) "Scripture tells us: Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season, we shall reap, if we do not lose heart."  Her message is simple and clear: Never doubt that doing good is worth it and never give up.  She's amazing.  She's not giving up and neither should we.

f) This isn't how I wanted it to be, but I am famous for my life motto: "It is what it is and it ain't what it ain't."  We have choices to make.  We live in interesting times.  We can make a difference that is far bigger than our little self.  Calling all to dream strong and all dreamers to connect deeply with what is good and kind and loving.  We are still stronger together.

"Hopeful, Inclusive and Big Hearted".