As I said previously I'm just learning about astrology. However, I've decided it's a lot of fun and brings a richness and depth into my life.
Our ancestors on all continents were in touch with many cycles. I just wanted to share a few. The Moon Cycle Aww, the moon. My favorite sky wanderer. That's what planets were named originally. They were the 7 stars that wandered about the sky while the other stars in their constellations seemed fixed. I think that's a fascinating and important understanding. Each month represents a quick cycle. The New Moon sets the tone. People say it's when the theme is set for the collective. New Moons are the perfect time to set inventions. We can symbolically do this by writing a wish and planting it in our yard in a biodegradable container or a banana or orange peel. The Full Moon is the result on the collective level. On a personal level you can release during that phase of the moon. You can write down what you want to let go and burn it. Adam Elenbas has a fascinating video on moon phases you can check out below. The 13 Signs As Seasons Most will tell you that there are only twelve zodiac signs still and leave out Ophiuchus (November 30 to Decmber 18) but it usually takes a while for people to change and update things. Plus, there are already several schools of thought in astrology. However, it's easy to figure out when the sun enters each sign...also referred to as Houses of the Son. Think of the Sun as being Symbolic as the Soul of the collective. Each time that the sun enters a new house it experiences a new energy. For example, if you were to visit my house and then visit my parents house each one invokes different feelings because of the inhabitants. Knowing what energy that the Soul of the Collective is in helps you to plan things. When the Sun is in Cancer you know it's time to focus on family. When the sun is in Sagittarius it's a time for adventure. The first House for the collective is generally considered to be Aries. Light Season and Shadow Season Each year the Sun goes on an adventure that resembles the Hero's Journey. From the Winter Solstice to the Summer Solstice is the "Upper World" or "Light" part of the year. From the Summer Solstice to the Winter Solstice is "Shadow Season" or the "Underworld". Each can be associated with Alchemy but I won't break that down here. In the Light Season we plant our intentions and we work on making them a reality. Christmas is the victory of the Light over Shadow and Easter is the rebirth of the Earth as a result. In Shadow Season, when the sunlight is waning (think of it being similar to the waning moon phase but it is a longer cycle) there are three harvests. There is Lammas (in Leo), Mabon (in Libra) and Samhain (Scorpio). You can look up all three and check out their symbolic meaning. Conclusion There is far more depth in the cycle of life than our current societal belief. These deeper cycles can help us become aware of the more subtle influences on our lives allowing us to work with them. When we are not aware of these influences we are often taken by surprise when their effects are felt. The difference between being aware of these subtle influences is empowerment. We can either choose to ignore or deny this information causing us to feel that we are the consequence and result of chance (science wants to believe in a mechanical universe but that it's all the result of microscopically rare random chemical reactions with no rhyme or reason)...therefore victims of a random pointless cruel universe. Or we can choose to believe that there is a Natural Order set about by a Higher Power that regulates all things and that we are the Hero's of our own Journey, knowingly take up the Hero's Journey and claim our power as a result. Every year as a society and in our personal cycle we enter the Underworld and Come Forth Into the Light of the Sun again. We can do that entirely on a subconscious level or we can choose to do that consciously which completely changes our paradigm and perception of the world. The choice to be a victim of chance or to be a willing adventurer is ours to make.
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I thought of giving this title, "Stop Arguing With God." Yet, it is a bit more universal as even people without spiritual beliefs can find meaning in this idea.
I will be referencing Pema Chodron's, a Buddhist Monk, book "When Everything Falls Apart: Heart Advice For Difficult Times" throughout this blog. This really speaks to the suffering that I see almost daily when people post their political perspectives. Everyone in this world is so busy trying to force their will upon this world into what they think it should be...they don't take the time to really see what their effort might create. This was another epiphany that I want to share because my suffering has been alleviated a lot since I had this realization. A lot of us don't want to admit that we are suffering. One of the reasons I love the Buddhist tradition is because they flat out state that most of us are suffering...that's a core principal of the Eight Noble Truths of the Buddha. The suffering, in my opinion, comes from not accepting reality. Instead of accepting the world/reality as it is we fight it...trying to shape it with our own will. This is tantamount to telling God/Source the Natural Order is imperfect and that we could do a better job. How completely disrespectful is that? When you look at our cities (which attempt to replace the Natural Order) I think you can see the will of man is nothing compared to the wisdom of the Natural Order. We don't walk through the cities of mankind to become uplifted...that is something you only find in the Natural Beauty of a National or State Park. Mankind's attempt to force their will on the planet and shape it into a 'better reality' has failed miserably. Yet, we still try to argue with reality. We keep trying to force our will upon it instead of working with it as though we know better than the Natural Order set in motion by something bigger then us. We don't want to accept how things are in this world. There are certain rules, they are not even really defined by Science they are so basic, but they are known and are generally common knowledge. Yet, most of us trying to fight against the existence of these things. We are constantly at war within our minds with the nature of reality that exists on this planet. We look at this planet, we see that people are hungry and homeless and we want to change it. We see that people are being judged and we want to change it. We see that there is unfairness and inequality and we want to change it. We see that there is death and we want to change it. We try to hold onto all of the pleasant experiences and fend off the negative experiences. We want to hold onto the pleasant emotions and de-legitimatize the negative emotions. Emotions Much as we wish that we were emotionless robots that don't experience pain...we are humans and we have a full range of emotions. When we look at how we treat children in school and employees in the work place- how they become statistics, a mere number- it is clear humanity is struggling with this idea. We live in an era where we are dehumanizing the human experience. We try to make every person a carbon copy of everyone else that never have bad days. Then when the people we interact with don't live up with this inhuman expectation someone goes and writes a bad customer review. We punish people for being human. One of the most damaging things I've seen recently is that people think others are responsible for their emotional state of being. Further, they want strangers that owe them nothing to aid them with their emotional state of being. I'm sorry to inform you that the minimum wage worker at your local bar or restaurant is not responsible for your emotional state of being. At the end of the day such behavior...going to others to be raised to a positive emotional level is called being an Energetic Vampire. If you're really bad dealing with your own emotions you're going to be very lonely because such behavior naturally repels others. Learning to work with all of our emotions is one of the most important lessons that we have during or lives. This is a grown up thing to do but sadly most of our population walks around behaving on the emotional level of toddlers. When we don't explore the depths of ALL of our emotions we are doing ourselves a disservice. Pema Chodron sums it up best: "As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel we deserve resolution. However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution. We don't deserve resolution; we deserve something better than that. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity. To the degree that we've been avoiding uncertainty, we're naturally going to have withdrawal symptoms- withdrawal from always thinking that there's a problem and that someone, somewhere, needs to fix it. Pema Chodron When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice For Difficult Times Chapter 9 page 54 Most of us are taught by our parents not to deal with our emotions. We start to cry and they give us a candy. That's because our parents have never really worked with their own emotions and try to run away from the painful emotions. That's why we reach for food, alcohol, or the television. We try to escape the pain that we are feeling. We try to drown in it out. We do have the option of learning from these emotions. Fear is appropriate when it is dark and a stranger is approaching us. Anger is appropriate when a boundary is crossed by someone. By working with these feelings, naming them and taking appropriate action we can start to work with them and they no longer come on so big. Our unpleasant emotions can be our best teachers. If we listen to them, honor them but remain detached for them. When we let them control us or try to ignore them we experience a lot of pain. Meditation has been the best way for me to learn how to work with my emotions. Inequality This one gets a lot of attention. In fact, there are a lot of movements because of Inequality. Most people know that not all of us are going to be millionaires. It is hard to look at kids whose parents are millionaires and not want their lives. There have been attempts at the level of government, mostly Socialism, to try and 'fix' this part of our reality. Again, this is having an argument with reality and God. We seem to want a world of robots that have the exact same talents, exact same gifts, and exact same everything...yet, when you put it that way it is evident this would be boring and not accomplish much. As our economies change and we see more service industry jobs and less manufacturing and administrative...we are going to see more people become financially 'poor.' This is part of the effect of globalization. In the United States, at least, we have the freedom to choose to work three jobs if we want to and if we want to do a little side business for extra cash we can. Yet, we are rewarded by how much effort we have put forth. Socialism has proven to fail because people are not motivated when they are better at something but get paid the same wage as someone who is bad at the job. Who is going to put forth more effort if they are not compensated? Inequality is a wonderful and beautiful part of our reality. This is what creates diversity. Not everyone is good at the same thing an that's wonderful. For example, I'd be a terrible accountant. I would never get the job as an accountant and then insist on making as much money as the best accountant in the company because we have the same job title. Inequality will always exist. We have the choice to know ourselves and find jobs appropriate to our own strengths. In some rare cases we might even create a new job or industry that no one thought of because we can provide that service. I'm sure the family of the first professional dog walker doubted that could ever be a thing...but look what happened! If we stopped looking at what everyone else had we would find we have all we need to be successful in our own special way...without trying to inflict our will on others or argue with reality. A lot of the young people where I work hate having days off during the week. I worked a Monday - Friday job. Yeah, it was okay but after years of having days off during the week...I prefer it. I don't have to go out to shop when everyone else is shopping. I celebrate holidays on different days of everyone else and have no trouble getting a table at my favorite restaurant...to me the rest of the population is insane trying to compete for resources on a particular date. Again, it is all based on the individuals Frame of Reference and State of Mind. No one is responsible to teach another person this lesson (ok maybe psychologists and therapists...and it would be fantastic if they taught this in public education)...but as adults it's a responsibility to learn this! Stop arguing with the Natural Order of Reality that Source Created! Impermanence (Death) Some of our most brilliant scientific minds are insane. They study the Natural Order in an attempt to enforce their will upon it. Einstein was brilliant but his mathematical discoveries led to the most lethal weapon in existence. Science, in many ways, has led to more destruction of the Natural Order than enhancing the human experience. That's because they do not respect the Natural Order...they see everything as 'matter' that should be manipulated by man presumably because we are at the top of the food chain. Perhaps the most twisted idea they have had is to upload our personality into a computer and live forever. This is simply unnatural and again...is arguing with the Natural Order. Simply put this satisfies the Ego's desire for self-preservation but nothing else. I, personally, long ago decided that I do not want to live forever in this form. I'm very grateful that this form has an expiration date. The Buddhists called it Impermanence. When we look at everything around us we know all of it has an expiration date. Even the current experience that we are having in our personal life- a divorce, a crisis at work or difficulties accepting who is president...all of it has an expiration date. All of it has an ending. Nothing is permanent into our reality. We try to hold onto the moment, we take a picture or we take a note or we get a souvenir. Yet, the experience will still pass. We can go back and remember but the actual act will come to an end. The problem is when we try to hold onto things instead of letting them go fluidly. Instead of enjoying the moment we begin to worry about when (if ever) we will feel this way again...or we try to fight and make the feeling last forever. All of this is arguing with reality and the Natural Order of Source. Labeling/Naming When we are little we are taught the names for things..Ears, Eyes, Nose. Pretty soon we start sorting these into categories of good and bad. When I have a runny nose my nose is bad, for example. Yet, all of this is just a way of processing information and none of it is real. I have held the point of view that we live in a highly subjective reality. Pema Chodron captures this well: "Even if we don't talk about his particular teaching any further we can already see that many of our mood swings are related to how we interpret what happens. If we look closely at our mood swings, well notice that something always sets them off. We carry around a subjective reality that is continually triggering our emotional reactions. Someone says, "You're old.' and we enter into a particular state of mind- either happy or sad, delighted or angry. For someone else, the same experience might be completely neutral." Buddhisim has known this for centuries and Psychology just discovered this within it's brief experience. Imagine my surprise in my final Psychology class when I read that in the Capstone book. In the end, psychology can only give guidelines for classification...people cannot be categorized because there are just too many variables. The same goes with the rest of life. What I might label as a bad experience might be a wonderful experience for someone less inhibited. All of it is our frame of reference. If we do not do the personal work necessary we might end up being triggered at every moment. Pema describes this perfectly as well: "The experience of certain feelings can seem particularly pregnant with desire fo resolution: loneliness, boredom, anxiety. Unless we can relax with these feelings, it's very hard to stay in the middle when we experience them. We want victory or defeat, praise or blame. For example, if somebody abandons us, we don't want to be with that raw discomfort. Instead, we conjure up a familiar identity of ourselves as a hapless victim. Or maybe we avoid the rawness by acting out and righteously telling the person how messed up he or she is. We automatically want to cover over the pain in one way or another, identifying with victory or victim hood." Being a victim permanently is all within the eye of the beholder. Yes, you can be a victim in the moment but it's only if you hold onto your pain that you continue to identify yourself as a victim after that moment is passed. With the rising sun, with every pass moment, we can look at life as a rebirth if we choose. We can rest comfortably in the fact that nothing in this life lasts forever. There is a beauty in that constant in the Natural Order of our Reality. Life is transitory and if we keep that in mind we know that no matter how much discomfort we might be feeling it will pass. Instead of fighting that discomfort we can embrace it...minding the depths of the experience for golden nuggets of wisdom that we can keep. Conclusion I've only touched on the most painful and common ways people tend to Argue with Reality. The pain most people experience is a subconscious choice. Once you realize that you can start working with your emotions and uncomfortable painful situations more authentically your paradigm changes. Everything you experiences shifts in accordance to this new perspective. This requires emotional honesty...and what I call, "Standing Naked Before God." That's where you embrace all of your flaws and limitations. That's when you realize you are not equal to the infinite wisdom of Creation and the Natural Order. At some point you can stop being a little dictator in your own life. You can choose to try and stop trying to force your will onto the rest of the world.You can stop saying, "That isn't fair!" and trying to change the Natural Order. You can learn to rest with it..you can learn to gently console yourself when you are going through a particularly tough lesson that nothing in this world lasts forever. This is just a temporary learning process. With every stumbling block or personal trial you experience you have a choice. You can given into hopelessness and believe that you are a victim forever attracting experiences via that subconscious in a never-ending Self-Fulling Prophecy. In contrast, you can choose to open yourself to this infinite Natural Order of Creation. You can see the more humbling times as a wave in the ocean of the life that you float with effortlessly knowing that it will eventually ebb. You can rest in the knowledge that everything is this way for a reason and that trying to impose your will upon it only brings suffering. My experience with the latter has been a magical unfolding. I still have moments where I tense up. I rest in that moment, now and I embrace it. I explore the feeling...where is this coming from? I diffuse the feeling with gentle love. In all of this you must be gentle with yourself. The practice does not happen instantly. This is a multitude of generational conditioning patterns that we are sorting through and unfolding in our own lives. Yet, it becomes a magical process. Like a child you learn the small loving joy in life again. Every day becomes an opportunity and an adventure instead of a burden. I have begun to work with the Natural Order...accepting what comes to me without judgement knowing that it serves my Highest Good in some way because choose to search for those golden nuggets of wisdom instead of resisting the experience. Life becomes effortless. I can rest in the knowledge that what I need will be brought to me when I need it by the Natural Order. I don't worry or prepare for the worst tomorrow. I rest in the knowledge of what I experience full today in the moment or "the now" as some people call it. All of this reminds me of this quote Jesus/Yeshua made in Matthew 6:27-28: "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan? And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies in the field grow. They do not labor or spin." Here is a wonderful video from The Moore Show that really captures some of what I'm talking about... I had to break down my belief system, after my last blog, and make it as simple as possible. My husband wanted to understand where I was coming from and how I could defend it. Is it possible to have a belief system that doesn't involve God? Can I leave out the bigger metaphysical pieces of the puzzle that have made a more complete picture for me?
Well, yes. There is a very simple approach from life that lies at the core of my value and belief system. That core principal rests on the idea of personal responsibility. In fact, it makes me more responsible for my own reality then The Creator. While the Creator and the idea of reincarnation, life after death, ghosts, karma, and chakras definitely play a key role in all of this and have their place in it at the heart of all good spiritual practices is a basic system. I believe this system was created by a more intelligent force in creation. Whether it came directly from the Creator, or was a product of Shamanic Dream Quests, or it came from some other interaction...it does not matter. That system is very simple and even when you remove The Creator and all of the rest from it can you use it to approach life. Life is Subjective I have explained this one many times. This is scientifically proven as well and promoted by psychology! Life is subjective...it is basically neutral data that you encounter...then based on your belief system you create how you respond to the stimulus. Life is 100% what you make of it. No one forces you to watch the news and become mad. You choose to do that...and someone with a slightly different perspective might find the entire thing absolutely hilarious. (I often have a surreal feeling watching the news after years of not watching it because...it seems really fake from the people who are reporters to the biased way they tell stories all of it almost seems like satire...especially on a slow news day). Two people can experience the same exact situation and have two totally different responses. I went to Knotts Scary Farm on Thursday. The Tricksters came up to me and sniffed really deeply. I asked if I smelt good...because I knew it was an illusion. I knew it was fake. I knew they couldn't touch me and even if they did...well, I'd probably walk away. So, I'm friendly. One time I even offered one a piece of churro when he asked in a creepy voice. His unadulterated shock made my night (he then went around chasing people asking them if he wanted his churro which could be interpreted in interesting ways). Yet, there are people who freak out. They scream, they run, and the Tricksters encouraged by this behavior and the attention run after them...squeaking or sparking their way through the fog. Someone dressed up as a clown can look menacing...and so we have a clown epidemic in our country (wake up to the illusion). People who think about sex all of the time see sexual symbols all over the place. Something that might not look like a penis suddenly does. Yet, I'm getting ahead of myself so let's go on to the next topic. This is basic psychology. When at the end of my capstone psychology class I read that there were too many varieties of people who reacted too many ways to safely categorize or predict behavior in a definitive manner...I went, "Ah ha!" and I was really disappointed because I'd been hoping psychology would give me a glimpse of the motivations behind people's actions. Yet, the answer is that there are just too many ways to react...and the only way to really predict that is based on a person's internal beliefs. The mind is always at your command...if you think it...it will happen eventually. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy This one is proven by science. Guaranteed to make the hardiest skeptic gag on their bloated anti-god rhetoric. In this, basically, a person latches onto a belief or idea. Then their subconscious makes it happen. This explains how affirmations and even positive thinking can work. The brain is trained to expect positive things so your subconscious is going to work for you ensuring that you are extra aware and expecting the parking space near the front of the store. Is it destiny or is it the power of the brain that really own you feeds you a small percentage of the data that it's taken in through the various forms of stimulus? In the end does it matter? With simple Affirmations, a Goal Board, daily positive meditation and working on being a positive person (fake it until you make it...if someone asks how you are say fantastic even if you're not...and somehow just with that reinforcement...even if you know it's a lie it will soon be true because everyone you encounter will be happier to see you!)...you too can train your mind to work for you! Fear Based or Love Based Similar to the Force we have the choice to approach love from Fear or Love. Fear based approaches cause us to hate people and resent them. Usually because we make certain assumptions that lead to a Self-Fulfilling prophecy. Someone will hate us if we act a certain way...so we do and then we're in hot water and hating them. Fear just leads down a dark path....the opposite of the positive path. People who are working on fear try to turn the world into the image they want. Through manipulation of the environment and other people they create their own world. They work against the natural order of things. Naturally, this causes a lot of other problems in their life and like a spider web they weave the trap for themselves. I could go in to why there is no reason to fear. There is good fear, it does let you know when things are not right in your life. Fear will even give you a little guidance as to what needs to be jettisoned or adjusted. If you're afraid of meeting people...usually you have to ask yourself why. Then you realize that you have a belief that was constructed by fear...just knowing that can free you or start to free you depending on how badly you think you need that belief to survive. The love based person trusts themselves above all else. That means not depending on the universe to provide for them but to simply allow for things to happen naturally. When meeting resistance there is an understanding that door is not meant to be opened (unlike a fear based person who will keep working at it until it does open and something bad happens). Being open minded they will give anything consideration for a time but trusting in their ability to know when their boundaries are crossed they will defend themselves as needed. That simple trust is love in a way because there is no love when trust is gone. There is no need when there is love for completion or turning to anything else for answers. This isn't spiritual in any way. We are experts on ourselves, we read endless personality information (Myers Briggs for example) to try to get a perception of ourselves. For some it is elusive...some people take on a defined role and image...and for others it is completely flexible because they can be one person one minute and a totally different one the next. Accepting The Natural Order This, again, has been scientifically proven. In our universe there is order even in chaos. There are patterns...almost as though life is a transmission of some sort from some unknown source. This has lead a lot of scientists to propose we live in a holographic universe (which is not so proven). Yet, the Natural Order is not hard to identify and track. The Earth has a natural rhythm and has dealt with global catastrophes only to adjust and then allow life to thrive again. Some Scientists say we are in the fifth or sixth mass level extinction event...yet Joe and Jane off to their job hardly notice the difference from day to day. The very idea that Humanity thinks it can control nature is such a folly it's laughable and depicted in such movies as Jurassic Park as general knowledge. We can have a slight impact but on a universal level there is a natural order, there are physical processes in place that occur in response to variables and life finds a way. The only problem is that Humanity likes to work against that natural order- massive farms, massive raising of life stock...that can have negative effects. Working against the natural order always causes negative effects. Whether it's the loss of human life because a building was created somewhere that is vulnerable to different issues (frequent flooding or land slides)...it is a failure to really understand the natural order of the universe that causes them. There is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained. Conclusion There really isn't a need to identify the Creator as having a major role in your life. There isn't even a need to make everything complicated. Personal responsibility is the firm foundation of every approach to life. We are not mere bits of straw on the ocean of life being tossed about helplessly in a storm...unless we mentally choose to be based on our beliefs about reality and life in general. That being said, the idea of a Creator does help. That we are part of the Creator, as well as the Created, that we are made in that spiritual image and that is why we can Create and reformat the world based on our will. That there is a divine will or Order to the universe. That the reason we came here is to experience the ability to create and tame the will that makes us desire to work against the Creation by formatting it into our own image. Yet, my very simple set of beliefs don't require it...it just requires a commitment to wholesome healthy psychological living and responsibility which are principals that anyone can put into place within their own life. |
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Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
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