Somewhere in the divide between opposites is a connector, and the connector is the Self or Soul, the light of which draws all together in harmony and balance.  One finds the Self in the effort to expand consciousness; to go beyond apparent conflict to resolution that does not diminish either side but mediates.

The Self mediating conflict.

I’ve been blessed that my dog and cat are best friends.  They chase one another around the furniture, the cat jumping up to the top of things where my dog pants from below waiting for the moment he knows his friend will jump down, and they’ll wrestle on the floor leaving piles of fur but never a nick in the skin of either. 

They are my model of resolution of difference. Each is programmed to hate the other and yet, being individuals, they choose to relate not as enemies but playmates.  And I, The Self, watch delighted, in hope for the world. 

In a post last week I spoke about the goddess Nemesis who is really a friend in the guise of an enemy.  When we are able to see in such a way, the world will be renewed; mankind will achieve its true potential.

A core conflict experienced as early as 1 year old is the apparent opposition of the individual and the group.  Pulled by one side and then the other, the child must struggle to realize they are not at odds but are two sides of one thing; an individual pea in a pot of peas.

Until this conflict is adequately resolved, the individual will waver from self to other and back again, constantly teetering on the razor’s edge of reason; how can it be both? If I am a member of a group I must agree with the group, but if I don’t agree I will be left out, rejected.  And human consciousness at the group level has yet to resolve this divide which forces the individual to capitulate or isolate.  Neither is a choice.

Trapped between the two, a chasm forms, that over time, deepens until the two sides are pushed further and further apart creating an insecure system.  An insecure person, by definition, is one who is uncertain as to his identity.  Such an individual, locked between the two sides of reality is incapable of seeing outside the narrow chasm his consciousness has formed within making him incapable of caring for another; the other can’t be seen as anything but a threat to his delicate balance.

Leaping into the void, recovery of self is possible, but it will appear to be a great risk.  Many of us have memories of such risk taking.  Often it will occur at puberty when the issue comes to the fore once again. If it wasn’t resolved earlier, here is another opportunity.  Healthy rebellion is that chance. 

At the dinner table my father routinely humiliated my younger brother.  At one such dinner I couldn’t remain silent any longer to the abuse we’d all witnessed for years.  My heart beating so hard I was sure it could be heard above the nervous clatter of silver ware, I spoke up for my brother. Father’s eyes glared into mine as I resolutely held my ground quaking. 

 I’ve not been more frightened since then, but I discovered the world didn’t end; everyone went back to their food and no more was said.  But I had ventured into the void and survived. I was an individual and had not been sent to solitary confinement.

At the level of instinct all herd animals, humans included, gather together for protection.  Which can appear to be concern for the other when it is merely a  survival technique.  Fish swim in schools, buffalo in herds, geese in flocks, etc. So what is the difference between the necessity to bond to be safe and a felt “com-passion” for another? Humans are not the only herd animal with this attribute; dogs and elephants are well-known for their compassion.                                                                                                             

Cats and other animals who are solitary in nature appear more distant and uncaring.  Though many cats I’ve known have exhibited a concern for emotional suffering, it is less common and we don’t associate them with that attribute. 

What is the worst punishment if not isolation, exile, being sent away, left out, rejected? Every child lives in terror of mother turning her back on them, and by school age, a human child will do almost anything to be accepted by the group.

Group pressure is responsible for some of the most gruesome acts perpetrated by man; the many examples of ethnic cleansing throughout history occured because the group decided to reject another culture.  Bonding together for protection would suggest the members of the rejecting group had no knowledge of compassion.

There is no more pitiful site than the rejected member. Left alone with no witness, there is nothing to mediate his suffering. Compassion is the connection between one and another that lets the sufferer know they are not alone.

Only when we go beyond the selfish drive to be connected for protection, can true compassion arise.

The unique thing about our human connection is that as a species we have a particuar quality of connection; as do baboons to one another, reptiles, quarks and any other species. 

We relate more to our own than to another only because our experience and conditioning is the same.

When the magician, Merlin was teaching the young Arthur to become king, he gave him the experience of being a fish, a bird, and other species he was related to, but was not.  This unique perspective transcends the hubris of human arrogance and builds compassion for all life. 

How very much our world needs to see this way, to feel this way; outside the limits of our own skin where life is sacred, profound and precious.

One of the beautiful things that came out of the 60’s experiment with consciousness was just such an expanded awareness.  Whether the shift was brought about through drugs, meditation, or any other practice that broke down the walls of our Box, the result was a generation more open, more compassionate, more forgiving than the one that came before. Not everyone who had that experience remembers it today, but human consciousness made a slight shift toward awareness beyond our own species.

The result of that shift can be seen in many areas of life today; humanitarian, ecological, protection of other species, physical health through diet,  exercise and some form of spiritual practice;  basically in a more compassionate approach to living with all other life, and to the health of the planet itself.

When we know we’re connected we care for that which is outside the boundaries of our own skin.  When we don’t know we don’t care. More on care, compassion, empathy, for the rest of this week.

Witness 2010’s celebration of spring:

The grand mistress of creation; Mother Nature honors new life each year.

Her children bask in abundance once more, no matter how hard the winter has been.  All is forgotten/forgiven.

The Hills are alive with the sound of Music

The Great Mother, in the habit of saying “die” each winter, always also says, “live” each spring.  At least on this planet, and it is after all, the only one we experience, life and death are a cyclical process; that cycle being nature’s assurance that death is but a relief to be followed closely by an in-breath of life. 

So breathe in the message of spring, love well, and rest content.  There is no end, only a continual transformation of the all.

the Greek Goddess Nemesis is the personification of divine justice and the vengeance of the gods, sometimes called the daughter of Night, she represents the righteous anger of the gods against the proud and haughty and against breakers of the law, distributing good or bad fortune to all mortals. No one can escape her power. This goddess helps to avenge those who are wronged.

The book of deeds; how terrifying it is to think there is such a book, and that someday we will have to face the truth of the many actions and inactions recorded there.

I would rather face a wild boar or angry client or bankruptcy, or any other physical catastrophe than to face what is in that book; to face the fact that I am responsible for each and every one of the things recorded there.

Part of me is still a child and wishes to play with no consequences; to apologize to my friend when I’ve been mean to her and go on with no further thought about my behavior.

Nemesis reminds us that whether we’re children or adults, all our choices have consequences, and if we’ve done harm, amends are required.

Isn’t it interesting that our current definition of a Nemisis is one who is against us; an enemy or foe?  Yet the root meaning is one of justice. 

What a clever criminal is the human ego who redefines the need to make amends for our mistakes as wrong, and says that we should fight that force, rather than accept and be grateful that there is a scale, by whatever name we give to it, that takes account, and

                                            it really does matter what we do!!!!

Like Wells Fargo stagecoaches that, through rain sleet or snow, promise to deliver your mail on time, each morning is a new day, and though you work diligently to control what comes in the mail, many surprises lie in wait on your doorstep.

 Will the gods be kind and deliver marvelous experiences, taking us to beautiful places with loving people, friendly animals, abundant food, beauty?

Or will they traumatize?         

Is there any rhyme or reason to what comes or doesn’t come to you? If there is a God, does He/She love you and give you goodies, or hate you and punish you with thorns?    

Do you draw to you what you believe will come through some version of self-fulfilling prophesy; create your own reality?    And what happens to the idea of a creator in that scenario?

If you are a soul transmigrating through time and have done wrong things, the packages at your door will be of your making; Karmic payback for pastlife mistakes.   

On the other hand, maybe there is simply a trickster element in the universe, like a kind of quark, whose purpose is to keep you on your toes, keep you awake, to the experience of life. 

Each surprise whether delightful or Nemetic (just made up that word, but it seems to work) is a tiny ah ha, gotcha, to remind us that whatever we believe about life and our place in it, we are not in charge!!

Maybe the only control we have is in how we respond to the packages.

And what is a Nemesis anyway? Tomorrow we shall meet her, one of the lost great goddesses maligned in western history since the Greeks fell out of favor giving way to The One God.

How many fools headed across America, through unmapped territory inhabited by millions of angry displaced original inhabitants, unheard of mammoth predators, limitless mountain ranges, killer weather, barely anything to eat  . . .  in search of what? Opportunity; gold in California, land for farming and raising livestock, freedom from oppression . . .

All at a risk I’m happy to say I did not have to take.                                         

                                                                                                    Ship Of Fools

 Of the hundreds of thousands of fools on that ship who risked everything for the slim chance of finding Gold, what percentage were rewarded positively for their efforts, and how many, by the end of the arduous journey, felt at best foolish, and at worst were ruined?

Those many unfortunate souls would have certainly believed a cruel April Fools trick had been played on them.  Isn’t that why we have an April Fools Day; to celebrate and hopefully laugh at the times when our foolish leap has ended in our having been tricked?

I have 3 younger brothers and this particular holiday was a favorite of ours growing up. None of us ever missed an opportunity to play a trick, and because it was sanctioned on this day, be forgiven. 

However, being tricked by the fool is difficult to forgive when the trick costs us more than a little loss of face.  The fool does not intent to hurt but only to prick the ego’s bubble when it has become inflated.  (Reference yesterdays essay on the importance of the fool in the courts of kings.)  Losing face is an important side effect of the fool, for his purpose is to prevent us from  thinking too highly of ourselves; his tricks are meant to keep us humble.

If the ruler of a domain is our ego selves, the fool is that archetype that turns things on their head, makes us laugh, and for a moment, forget our fear. 

Life in a physical body is fraught with danger.  Though we may not be aware of it every moment of the day, the struggle for survival is present in the body every moment of the day. Fortunately the creator of this grand experience has granted us several boons.

Like the child who puts his blanket over his head and believes his mother can’t see him, denial is an effective tool.  Another useful one is distraction; I will pay attention to acquiring things– or any number of other goals– and won’t be aware of the danger.

However, it isn’t possible to completely avoid the fact that we’re mortal and vulnerable to so many forms of suffering on the road to our final destination. 

The fool is the friend who, throughout our life, helps us to walk more lightly , knowing it is temporary and, well, he quips, why not? What have you got to lose that you’re not going to lose anyway?

Encouraging us to risk all in order to experience life fully, he represents purity of action. Only looking forward, never back, never strategizing or over thinking a movement, he seeks to discover, always willing to take a chance, come what may. The fool lives to live. He frightens us a little because nothing frightens him. He is a liberated spirit.

But . . but . . . our fearful selves object, one must not be fool-hardy.  Right-O.  And what pray tell is the difference?

If I am offered an opportunity for an adventure, my fool will say go for it no matter what, while my rational self will insist on considering the possible consequences of that adventure.  Between the two of them a decision will be made. 

If I’m in need of new life experience, I will leap.  If I’m tired, or ill-equipped at the moment to take on the challenge of an adventure, I will decline the invitation.  I would feel fool-hardy only if I didn’t consider both sides. 

I would be even more fool-hardy if I didn’t give license to the fool to take an active part in my daily life. . . who wants to be safe all the time is already dead!

The first nano-second after the big bang, that first combustible kiss, matter repulsed in all directions, creating the universe as we see it today; separate suns, moons, galaxies, etc. all floating together in a soup of onemess-or as it’s popularly termed “Oneness”

Opposite of Attraction, repulsion is the energy of individuation.  Though repulsion can manifest as dislike, hate, and any other of a long list of negative adjectives the mind applies to what one does not want to be associated with, it is at root, a movement that separates objects. 

How much kinder it would be, if in our my need to distinguish ourselves as separate entities, we could simply create space between us rather than have to apply hurtful names to the other, and or, physically force them away.

Every unkind act is grounded in the need to individuate, yet that drive can better be accomplished by consciously knowing self from other rather than making the other wrong so that we can be right.

The yoke is not more right than the white. It is merely different, and that difference is essential depending on what one is cooking.  

When the sun began to shine it had gotten hold of itself; it individuated.  The difficulty about this concept for humans is that our egos get confused between the need to distinguish ourselves, and that we’re not the only ones who need to do so. As an old sage once said, “You’re the only one but you’re not the only one who’s the only one.”

As love is the force of attraction that connects life, repulsion is it’s counterpoint, separating matter into distinct entities that can then experience one another. 

The Ancient Maya story of creation speaks of the a time when everything was one.  All was black and from out the dark one golden eye appeared and then another; the male and the female creators could see each other for the first time and they were so delighted they decided to keep dividing and dividing until the world was as we know it today.

It’s still all one but the one has been separated into the many; one beach many grains of sand, one ocean many drops of water, one universe, many galaxies . . .