What it is and what it ain’t
All of this speerachul fluff-n-stuff can be a little confusing, right? Ascension, dimensions, authentically awakening, shifting, soul saving, soul finding (it’s with that sock), spirit versus soul being the real you.
This truthy stuff. The stuff we think sounds like it could be the truth, the truth, The Truth, or better yet, THE TRUTH! Until it feels like it’s not. Con.fus.ing.
The joys of Faceplace frustration and the need to create angst about spiritual growth and not enoughness bring me to this post. Those memes with energetic warnings to keep you alerted to your fear & themes to redirect your thoughts to be like others; reminders of traps and tests; and, requirements for being authentically and organically weird just like another.
This past Friday was the spring equinox. That fabulous first day of spring coincided with an eclipse, and some pretty amazing energies that shared the borealis with those who don’t get to see it very often. The slew of emails sharing feelings of ‘something big happening’ followed by the slew of emails wondering why nothing big happened and, “What was supposed to happen?” All have provided fodder for today’s reminder of a few simple ideas.
Every year is a big growth year, every day is a big growth day, every minute is a big growth minute, every breath is a big growth breath. We are not in the midst of a ‘great age’ in which people are all going to become awakened to think like you think they should think or appear as if you believe they ought to. One of the reasons it feels like that is because as we begin to look for ways to understand our own growing up, we find those who think like us, support our views of how things should or might someday be. The internet now makes that possible with peoples from across the globe. Because you find a lot of people who say they think like you, doesn’t mean a) it’s true, or b) can be extrapolated as truth.
In broader discussions of things speerachul growth, particularly as it relates to the methods and manners of metaphysics and new religions or New Thought, we still rely on creating the expectation that people are going to arrive at our viewpoint; one in which the Ultimate Truth is revealed. Or, sometimes because our own perception appears to be is just one big muddled mess, or not matching others‘ viewpoints, we fall back on ‘are we there yet’ as we wonder why we don’t see ‘it’ yet as others do.
I can’t remember off the top of my head which wise one said something along these lines: Our experience is limited. Our mind shapes our individual experience to fit preconceived notions. And we ought to know better than to universalize our own solitary existence, but that’s what we do. And, as I type, it comes to me that this little nugget was shared Bishop Spong. In an article he shared from Progressive Christianity (I’ll find it before I hit publish) this is how the story of Adam & Eve was connected to the modern equivalent of the dichotomy between seeking our own fulfillment while absolutizing the nature of that which we seek; that Tree of Knowledge.
Spiritual growth isn’t about getting to an absolute place or state. Although you don’t stop growing (truly, something really does go into your ‘learned something new today’ file every day, even if you’re not paying attention), you’re not ascending anywhere. Those Ascended (?) Masters? They aren’t. We have created and maintained them in the image of how we’d like them and us to be. Awakening, although often accompanied by physical & mental phenomena, isn’t about being ‘awakened’. It is merely (!) becoming aware of your interrelationship with those things visible and invisible that you are infinitely connected to and subsequently (or simultaneously) changing mental, emotional, and physical responses to align with that new knowing. It is a recognition that there aren’t inherent bureaucracies and levels through which you must graduate from to become ‘other’. A new knowing of yours that is not identical to others’. Might there be similarities? Certainly. That’s what helps us create community and push boundaries with a sense of safety.
This myth of The Shift is merely another myth. It has been as imminent, rescheduled, and regurgitated as the End Times and Armageddon.
Try dropping out of that group think and ask yourself what your shift is about. Or, if anything needs shifting at all. What if you just sat down for a while, right where you are, and changed your perspective slightly. Maybe alking away from the computer or TV or office for the day. Perhaps cocking your head slightly to the right and closing the left eye and noticing something just from a slightly different angle; or, go meet someone you’ve never met before and, while looking them straight on, say hello and see what comes of the conversation.
Here’s more from Carl Kreig:
Of course, worlds can and do change, especially as we open ourselves in dialogue in community. We are capable of learning, of expanding our horizons, of challenging our own assumptions. But no matter how much progress we make in this endeavor, we never reach the end of the road. There is always more of our “world” that needs to be unraveled and transformed. That’s what makes life so exciting: we can continually grow into our higher nature. There is always more to be and to learn and to experience, and that is the essence of life. (To read the whole thing, go here: http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/eve-adam-and-self-transformation/).
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