QOTD Mandy Hale
empowerment
Who Is It That Knows There Is No Ego
Cosmic Consciousness
You are literally made of stardust and whatever becomes of you the particles from which you are made have been around since the dawn of time and will continue to live forever. ~Danny Scheinmann, Random Acts of Heroic Love
In other words, we are all a continuation of the big bang (if there was such a thing, but rather than looking at this as an actual event, let’s look at it as if it were the adjective about a particular event). Much the same as humans are conceived, and as thoughts are conceived, and as atoms collide, and as the earth peoples (like the apple tree apples–an idea borrowed from Alan Watts, but that is apropos I think), humans are.
Yes, no one can truly see the world the same way as another. Truly cannot see because each human has experienced his or her life, uniquely, through a unique set of happenstances and occurences and accidents and guidances etc; it is this uniqueness that establishes the subtle distinctions that can make each one of us a guru. In this way, all humans inherently possesses an infinity of probable potentialities. Each probability disappears or appears according to the conscious and willful choices made as human beings. These constitute the lovely differences between humans, which make it possible for humans to relate to one another on differing levels. When we find ourselves among greatness (whether that is a work of art, music composed, ballet, basketball game, graphic design, architecture, voice, etc.) we subjectively feel the meaning conveyed and we perceive that greatness wrapped up in a little piece of ourselves. . . so, in some ways we still experience it differently rather than the same. What we can all agree on is that as far as we know there does exist an external dimension, separate from us, yet somehow connected, called external reality (the amalgamation of all realizations, the collective mind). These are the genes of our sameness.
I, too, perceive in such a nondualistic manner. As the Winter leaves its cold tendrils in the early days of Spring, and as does one galaxy merges (not collides) with the other, passing through one another and leaving bits of each other within the makeup of the other, as is the nonduality in things. It can be difficult to distinguish one from the other, but only at certain levels of magnification. At one level, the distinction cannot be perceived, as a single point from which to begin or end cannot be perceived. Where do I end and Life begin?
The space around us is full of a living essence, which we are just beginning to understand. This essence is like a conduit that is affected by our thoughts. Like oscillations of a bowed string, the notes we play do matter. ~Shawn Hocking
It’s easy to travel down the nihilist path; I find myself doing this on occasion myself. Although, I don’t think of basing the why of things on their function constitutes nihilism. I think it’s a very realistic (no pun intended) way of perceiving the world about us. Nihilism only comes into play because this way does not include the existence of a god (as an anthropomorphic entity). Also, nihilism does not necessarily mean ending as in destruction. Even Nietzsche, the so-called father of nihilism, did not think this way, evident by his philosophy of the Superman. Nietzche was an evolutionist! He wanted a better kind of Man, as he was extremely displeased with the present lot.
And so, that brings us to Love. Love, to me, is not an emotion, it is a way of being, a way of living in the world. Not so much with love, as *being* love’ in this way with every action, with every motion and with every will and want of your being embodies love, which is the natural tendency in humans. Love is a form of consciousness/conscience, and without them love cannot be experienced. And no, love is not only a human trait. The iconization and commodification of love is a human trait, yes. It is obvious that animals and other organisms love. Observe the cow, the lion, the cat, the dog, the deer, the elephant, the dolphin, the whale, the penguin, as well as the flower, the rock, the sea, and the desert.
Are we not all the embodiment of Life and Love, a cosmic consciousness?
![[Cosmic Consciousness]](https://nikotheorb.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/shawnhockingartwork2.jpg?w=682)
*Image Credits (artwork used with permission through CC license and with express permission from Shawn Hocking)–
“Yin Yang Sky Earth — Illustration” by DonkeyHotey
“Fossil Sitting In Sun Light” by A Guy Taking Pictures
“Tardezita” by Eduardo Amorim
[Cosmic Consciousness] by Shawn Hocking
[Untitled] by Shawn Hocking
QOTD Leonard da Vinci
Realize that everything connects to everything else. ~Leonardo da Vinci
*Image credit (used with permission of CC license)–
“Fibonacci” by Cedward Brice
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QOTD Buddha
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. ~Buddha
*Image Credit (all artwork used with permission under CC license)–
“Buddha” by iProzac
“Buddha Quote 3” by H. Koppdelaney
A F T E R B I R T H
PART I – Origo
The Machine Delivered me to Labor, the Wizard certified my soul. Mommy proffered me to the devil, Paperboy declared me sold. They said, “There’s a light in the tunnel, follow it until you get to the field. Report to the man in the tollbooth, he’ll give you your assignment to kill.”
At the tollbooth, the Man threatened, “You see your life won’t be easy, you gotta toil to get by. You’ve a promised Debt to society and when you’ve paid in full you can die.”
I thought, “What do you mean I can die? Toiling in my life to get by? I was only born a moment ago; no, I’ve got my own plans in mind.”
I looked out across the field to see how many had bought this crooked line. I saw thousands and thousands of backs in the sun, bent with their noses to the grind. The Man walked up behind me and invoked leerily into my ear, “Look here don’t give me no trouble,” said the man with the gun in his hand. “Such ideas here are forbidden, it’s the Law to shoot you where you stand.”
Puzzled, I found a spot in the field and planted my feet in the ground. While I waited to see what should happen, I occupied my mind with the sound of spirits racing by unimpeded. I wondered, how could I survive? I questioned empty eyes, saw they were hopeless and slowly the years crept by. . .
PART II – Liberatio
Now, 30 years old, a lifetime to go, it’s been hard getting by. I’ve been beaten and bruised for my reason. In silence, I Liberate my mind. I looked ahead to the evening and a dawning of a new age. Of toiling no more for the Giants and freedom to all those engaged. So, I threw down the plough and I shouted, “You’ll no longer have the abuse of me!” I ran for the edge of the field, but before I got there I was knocked to my knees. I felt the mighty hand of an Agent and at my back pressed cold hard steel. “You see, you can never escape from Duty so Forget all your insane ideas,” he dripped onto my head as I kneeled. “Freedom? No such thing here exists. Never has there been in all time. So return to your post and your toiling or you risk the firing line.”
I intoned, “One day I know I shall be free, because I can see beyond the Horizon. A storm fast approaches along your path and you’ll have all the fear when it comes.”
Angered, I found a spot in the field and stood my feet on the ground. I waited to see what would happen, my mind humming with the sound of spirits racing to my aid. I heard something say ‘You have nothing to fear: Soon all your questions will be answered, your days aren’t much long here’ . . .
the dream
that night I closed my eyes to sleep and awoke walking on a black road of dreams. I saw a dragon flying through a wilderness of herds, an eagle on the wind and a lion rose from the sea. From a cloud appeared a rumbling light; out of the light came a stranger of Being and spoke. “Be not afraid, we mean you no harm, we know what wonders your heart seeks. We’ve watched you since the day you were born and knew you before you were formed. We’ve come to answer your tears, below the Time of Harvest is in the fields.”
the Stranger laid a hand upon my forehead and left a mark, I was full of Light. “Careful,” it prophesied, “they’ll search for you come mourning. Awake now, you’ve no more need to hide.”
PART III – Novae Res
With the Dawn, I awoke to sirens and realized the search had begun. I was not afraid; I stood my ground, as I was tired of life by the gun. In my mind sat the strength of clarity and I turned to face the empty-eyed army. I was stampeded, but I was not done: this war I will fight until it’s won. Should I fail? I’ve nothing left to barter, I’ve got no more of me to sacrifice. Next came, an Army of Agents. “I am Come to reveal all your secrets!” I yawped.
Inside me I felt the Archives of Reason written on the code of my life. From my mouth came the outflow of Truth and the Tempest rode the back of sun’s rise. Sensing the end the people scattered but the storm plucked them up from the earth. Agents gave up weapons and their last breath and were carried away by a hurricane of death. I saw Giants fall from their great thrones and crawl for cover beneath ash and bone. The Storm chewed them up as a feast and from its throat, it vomited a beast. Lightning struck the beast on its eye and from the sky, it fell with a quake. The earth opened up and swallowed it whole. The Tempest broke, and left not stain. Amazed I stood at the edge of a garden beckoned by the lull of a Stranger’s tune. I laid my hand upon the gate to enter and knew my search would end soon. . .
EPILOGUE
My mind buzzing with the spirits of conscience, I knew this was one of but many directions. The door to the line of Evolution stood open; I crossed the threshold to the birth of new questions.
Image Credits–
“Magical Level — Level of Miracles” by HartwigHKD
“Liberation of Psyche” by HartwigHKD
“Dreaming” by HartwigHKD
“I wonder what happens. . .” by HartwigHKD
“Happy & Wholesome” by Philip Kirk
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- Quit the dark corner of the mind: welcome happiness! (peeledonion.com)
Complex States At Being
Emotions can be incredibly complex states of being/mind.
People (particularly in this western culture) are afraid to experience emotion due to heavy amounts of socialization and conditioning, especially in school. You know, we’re taught to sit still, to be quiet, to “use our inside voices”, to line up, to avoid disorder and be orderly, to obey, to submit, to share. To share, but not to cooperate. There is a difference. Sharing does not necessarily imply or guarantee cooperation. In school, sharing is a behavioral technique; used as a means to control the behavior of a room full of pinging (that is, naturally rambunctious and curious-minded) short beings.
Let me tell you a story: a sad story about a little girl who cried.
To get to City Island one can walk across a 2,800 foot long truss bridge, which was exactly what I was doing when I spotted a brief exchange between a little girl and her father. The little girl’s father, pushing another child in a stroller, told the little girl to look around as well as look at all the fish visible in the River below. The little girl was throwing bread over the side of the bridge to the fish, and seemed very happy.
Later, having crossed the bridge, I was sat under a pavilion and saw the little girl and her family again as they were passing by. The little girl tripped over a rise in the structure of the sidewalk and fell very hard. So hard that I winced when I heard the sound. She immediately bawled, as I’m sure that hurt her terribly. Probably terrified at the pain, you know, she ran to her father for solace. . . and he admonished her. He yelled at her as he brushed the dirt from her clothes, “You gotta watch where you’re walking. You can’t be looking around while you’re walking!” He seemed actually angry with her that she tripped, an accident on her part, no intent to spoil his day whatsoever. She only cried harder asking then for her mommy. At this, her father really became angry and shouted, “That’s it! You’re going back to the car you can’t act right!”
Did you see the contradiction?
Just moments ago, on the bridge he was telling her to LOOK around, then minutes later punished her for doing exactly that. These are the kinds of happenings that disturb me in the world. What did that do to the mind of that little girl? How could she possible understand that kind of contradicting information from such a trusted and authoritative figure as her father? What was the impact upon her consciousness? What did she just unconsciously learn? How did that affect her ego? Her sense of self in the world she knows and how will that affect her sense of self in subsequent years?
Which brings me back to emotions and the horrors some humans have undergone. That suffering. What I think not many humans grok is that suffering can be soft, horror is not always large, it can be very subtle. . . like entropy, changing and developing small vibrations over time that then result in the current personality/identity of that child in the form of an adult.
What happened to that little girl is a subtle terror, an event that will accompany who knows how many more and will shape her as a human being. It’s systematic, to get children all to sit still or to behave as one being so it could be easier (or more efficient) for the teacher to educate them. A good idea, sure, but in actuality what happens is that the children become standardized. The spark, the inspiration for creativity and innovation and imagination breaks down because the channels created have no room for them, no means to categorize something as unpredictable as a room full of children all having ideas simultaneously.
This is one way that fear of emotion is installed in the collective consciousness. That fear to really let go and be fully in the space. . .
“. . . and I’m free, free falling.” ~Tom Petty, ‘Free Falling’
*Image credits (used with permission through CC license)–
“I just want to be happy” by bravelittlebird
“cry, baby, cry” by Barbara Pellizzon
“The Girl Who Cried Wolf” by GaelForce Photography
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- Energy & Consciousness (jilljoy2.wordpress.com)
Dimensions Of Possibility
“By 2100, our destiny is to become like the gods we once worshipped and feared. But our tools will not be magic wands and potions but the science of computers, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and most of all, the quantum theory.” ~Michio Kaku, Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
*Artwork: Created by NIKOtheOrb using CC licensed stock from Arwen Arts.
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Infinite Introspection
“Many people suffer from the fear of finding oneself alone, and so they don’t find themselves at all.” ~Rollo May, Man’s Search For Himself
*Artwork created by NIKOtheOrb, using CC license stock:
“Cosmos7_007” and “Simple Starfield” produced by Funerium, distributed by Resurgere Stock Resources.
Related articles
- “A Safe Distance” – an introspective on letting go, by Author G D Grace (author2be.wordpress.com)
Persistence of Memory
“Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow.” ~Jerry Spinelli
NIKOtheOrb 