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..:: Transition ::..
By
Alan Schneider
I recently attended a Theosophy lecture
by a traveling Hindu pundit named Baba Harihar Ramji entitled “Living In
Turbulent Times”. This title is indeed a very accurate
observation of the nature of the period of history that the world
consciousness is passing through now! All seems to be in a state of
upheaval, and becoming more so daily. This essay deals
with the concept of transition – the observable mechanism of
change on the Physical Plane – and the implications of transition for
human beings.
As a human being myself –
that is, as a spiritual being associated with a dense body and sense
perception – I am, of course, subject to the endless process of
transition on the particularly turbulent modern environment of the
Physical Plane, as are we all. If anything typifies this life, it is
change. I have frequently remarked to myself in the course of
living and observing phenomena that it seems to be quite odd that we
have evolved a pair of apparent survival mechanisms that operate
in a very contrary and resistive orientation to the universal phenomenon
of change – the physical brain, and the ego sustained by it. As
sentient creatures, we seem to be driven to maintain control and
consistency in our internal and external environments as a first
priority. One can only surmise that individuals who possessed a
superior capacity for the successful execution of this characteristic
tended to survive long enough to reproduce, and thus pass on the trait
to their offspring. So, control stands in opposition to
change in life, a battle that has raged forever during the course of
civilization, still rages today, and is causally linked to human
survival. No wonder that the world is so filled with “control freaks”
of every kind and configuration!
The process of observation is
closely involved with control. The more accurate our observations of
the Physical Plane are, the more effective our control behaviors will be
in terms of yielding the desired stability so craved by the organism.
This fact, in turn contributes to another paradoxical development. As
observations become more accurate and insightful, expanding into the
extended matrix of consciousness, we eventually observe ourselves in
the act of observing – a meta-observation of the observation
process itself – and this level of observation initiates a new phase of
inquiry into the nature of our existence and priorities. We realize
that observation is a gestalt phenomenon – a whole that
exceeds the sum of its parts by virtue of its dynamic, interactive
organization. And, as we follow this inquiry, we will ultimately
realize the limitations of control as a productive mechanism in living,
although this realization may take some time to gel in our perception.
With the realization of the
limitations of control as a coping and gratification mechanism, the
necessary reassessment of transition occurs. It is easy and
natural from the ego’s point of view to see change as a menacing
condition that necessarily threatens our existence on many levels, and
therefore must be subject to restriction, i.e. control. But the very
act of the meta-observation mentioned in the previous paragraph places
the observer beyond the observational gestalt, creating a new level of
self-perception and understanding – I am more than my ego and
sensory condition, I am capable of participating in – in fact have
always been unknowingly and unconsciously participating in – a much
larger phase of awareness. As our perception expands along these lines,
so does our perspective on transition, moving us away from the
mammalian, primate threat response into a more flexible, insightful
orientation. Ongoing experimentation and investigation of this more
enlightened perspective eventually yields the extended perception of
many more levels of insight and realization beyond the physical,
which can and will then be integrated into our perception of events on
the Physical Plane, producing a successively higher level of
understanding of our condition, as viewed through many additional lenses
of comprehension. This is the process of human spiritual
evolution, and of the development of all higher consciousness.
Life amounts to the
interaction of Love and fear on both the personal and extra-personal
levels of experience. At the polar extreme of unenlightenment,
fear drives our consciousness and behavior toward blind control – this
is the level of animal instinct that we have inherited from our largely
pre-conscious mammalian, and, beyond that, reptilian, ancestors. In
many ways, the process of human social evolution describes the movement
away from this mode of experience and toward the other end
of the perceptual spectrum – one defined by Love as the active driving
force. In this day of turbulence and intimidating transition of every
kind, this counter-position of polar forces has reached a critical stage
of manifestation. I firmly believe that we are being challenged as
never before in history to make a decisive quantum leap away from fear
and negativity and toward Love and acceptance as the requirement
of our survival as a sentient species. We cannot turn back, and
we cannot defer this decision – we must choose now what
stance we will take – there is no more time left in this eleventh hour
of humanity. And to choose fear is to embrace the darkness of the dead
past – Love is the only way forward for us now, the only mode of
transition open into any kind of progressive future for mankind, and
very probably into any kind of future at all.
At this time the paradigm
shift into the consciousness established in Love is gaining momentum
around the world as we begin to acquire a clearer understanding of the
gravity of the impasse confronting us, and the necessity of rejecting
the ancient reptilian fear and darkness. I believe that the keys to
furthering and supporting this process are communication, compassion,
and collective perception. Yes, we all exist in discreet physical
expressions, and yes we can all still learn to see beyond this basal
condition to the need for genuinely collective expression. By
genuinely collective I mean that the old authority pattern of a
hierarchical command structure enforced by punishment and reward
is replaced by compassionate intuition as the collective basis of
decision making. This phenomenon takes place at the level of the
Heart Chakra, Anahata, pulling our awareness up to that state of
manifestation in the process. We can only perceive intuitively in the
Heart, and can only feel compassionately there as well. This is the
challenge before us – to replace an old, familiar, albeit brutal
mode, with an entirely new, yet experimental, way of managing human
affairs. I would be the first to admit that this is monumental
undertaking, but it must be achieved for all our sakes.
Of the three keys to
transition into the future, I believe that communication is
absolutely the most critical one of all – without the ongoing process of
dialog and interaction on all levels among all people the
task of creating a new mode of collective intuitive perception centered
in the Heart is doomed. This means everyone must participate on an equal
footing, from the CEO right down to the homeless in the street – no
one can be left out. I realize that this will be a damn tough
process for most of us to undergo, conditioned as we are to our
functional isolation in the old, dying paradigm, but this is what we
must do. Failure is not an option. And I have a good working
model for this communication process – Carl Roger’s original approach to
human interaction defined as active listening. Even among
complete strangers and established adversaries, this is a functional
place to begin initiating the process of relationship.
Originally developed as a
therapeutic technique, active listening has many communication
advantages, including the inherent reduction of suspicion and hostility,
and the creation of bridges of understanding among unfamiliars. The two
foundational concepts present in this technique are unconditional
positive regard, and reflective interaction. As
impossibly simple as this may sound, in the vast majority of our
involvements with each other what we are seeking is Love and
acceptance. The essence of Love is unconditional positive regard – the
basic belief and understanding that people are fundamentally good and
motivated to do the right thing. If our communications reflect this
notion, as opposed to fear-based judgementalism, then the stage is set
for productive interaction. Naturally, any residual hate, fear, or
prejudice on any side of the communication process will have to be
exposed, examined, and released to form the required background for
positivity to manifest, and this is the crux of the matter here.
In response I say that again, today, more than ever, divided we fall,
and united we stand. If nothing else, we can begin by expressing
our dislike of each other – which always comes down to our
dislike of ourselves, by the way – but begin to communicate
somewhere we must.
The adjunct process to
unconditional positive regard, and one which coincides with it in the
active listening scenario, is reflective interaction. In order for
communication to occur, we must know that we have been heard and
understood by the others around us. Reflective interaction
accomplishes this requirement. At the basic level, this is achieved by
simply stating “What I hear you saying is _______. Is that what you
wanted to tell me?”, followed by “And this makes me feel _______.” Can
anything be more simple? Amazingly, this elementary method will
frequently sustain contact and satisfactory interaction if persistently
applied! In have personally seen this demonstrated time after time in
the communication arena.
The challenges to the active
listening process occur in two areas. The first involves the decision
regarding when to confront, and the next is when to support.
In therapy, confrontation is often viewed as a modality of support, the
trick is to maintain a heightened enough intuitive sense of the
emotional state of involved parties to know when to apply the
technique. If emotions are running high, as evidenced by shouting,
angry gestures, crying, and denial, restraint in the use of
confrontation should be used until the emotional content has been
discharged to a more manageable level. This may be very difficult on
all sides of an intense issue, but is still the kindest stance. Now, if
I allow another to go blindly forward to destruction, I am clearly not
practicing unconditional positive regard – and if I become so
emotionally involved in the communication process that I loose my sense
of detachment and objectivity I also am not practicing
unconditional positive regard for myself. Thus, I must intervene
at the point of balance between my well-being and their
well-being – this is the essence of support, and it is a subtle
intuitive art, to be sure. I maintain that it is an art well worth
acquiring in the emergent world, perhaps the most critical one of all.
Unfortunately, only abundant life experience can foster this level of
intuitive skill. Prior to that point, we must be prepared to fall down
and get up again many times as the price of learning. It remains a price
well worth paying.
The additional aspect of
support involves resource sharing, another difficult matter in today’s
resource-depleted world. This may be as simple as information access
for someone in need of goods or services, and may be as problematic as
providing those goods and services, but I suggest a minimalist approach
here – offer only as much as is required to sustain others within
the limits of our personal capability. I must emphasize again that an
effective communication using the reflective listening model will
achieve most of what needs to be done, and frequently can
be done, for oneself and others, including under the most dire
circumstances. We are all constrained by our Karma on the Physical
Plane, and this cannot be affected by anything other than acknowledging
and consciously living through our experience. We succeed in life if we
keep our communications open, compassionate, and simple – the rest will
tend to itself.
Much of negotiating transition
amounts to learning how to recognize and exercise our intuitive
resources, frequently under conditions of heightened stress and
confusion in today’s Post Modern, conflicted world environment. To a
certain extent, this occurs in the “gut”, the Western analog to the
Solar Chakra, Manipura, and gut response will due if we cannot
access Anahata for some reason – crises and emergencies often leave
little or no time for deliberation, and require immediate action to
successfully resolve. Under other circumstances, we should let the
Heart determine our course, even if we feel in our gut that we are being
manipulated or deceived in some way. This is the way of compassion and
unconditional positive regard, and it is fundamentally the right
way to approach human interaction. If the pick-pocket sees only the
Saint’s pockets, then the Saint should keep pockets full of Love.
Fill your Heart and pockets with Love, my friend, and they both will
always have enough available for everyone!
- With Love, Alan -
(Copyright 2009, by Alan Schneider)
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