A one time poster left this over on the main blog, a long time ago. I am not comfortable with the self-congratulatory bit, but I am happy that someone sees deeper implications within what I assert.
Proteus said...
Great stuff, Jeff. And thanks for exposing me to some interesting art.
It seems that we are willing to eviscerate ourselves every nanosecond in the guise of avoiding suffering. Yet without the absurdities of geopolitics and warfare, how would we be collectively compelled to turn inwards? I have come to see material causation as illusory as the sermons given by today's Freemasonic cultists (Hello, Mr. Robertson). We are face-to-face with our shadow. Do we externalize and feign ignorance, pointing outward at those poor souls who are poisoned by Self and watch "helplessly" as the whole mess is flown into the sea? Or do we stop playing the X-Box, stop fucking away the pain, stop being so willfully ignorant of our own destiny, and calmly remember that we have always been the pilots? Our Gods are dying. Let them go or die with them. Only the servile and selfish will continue to piss on their birthright of creative expression made manifest.
Each and every one of us is capable of enlightenment. I like Michael Tsarion's take on enlightenment having more to do with weight than light. When we are troubled and then relieved of the perceived cause, do we not feel like the weight has been taken off our shoulders? Taking on the role of Atlas is a choice. Swimming in externalized shadow projections is a choice. There will always be someone from central casting ready to feed on our cowardice as a means of our unconscious confronting us.
I have witnessed the battle between Ego and the unconscious through ritual a few times. One is presented with the option to journey inwards or to remain in servitude to the Ego. The first time one goes through the ritual, they almost never let go completely, leaving their dreams to reveal things at a later date. But the beauty lies in the fact that for the first time, one actually has a frame of reference for their shadow. I have learned that if I am not in communication with my shadow, it will pass through all of the layers of consciousness to make itself known. This gives the illusion of gravity to the walking, breathing, smoldering archetypes we are facing today. Behind the face we see in the mirror lies a grinning skull.
To the person who posted the link to Paul Levy's site (
www.awakeninthedream.com), you and I were sharing the same mind, my friend. I suspect that it was sounder, due to the subjects he fearlessly enters into here, even when surrounded by the very antithesis of his beautiful ideas in this forum. You rock, sounder. Your philosophy has had an impact on me and I hope that more will come to appreciate it for what it is, my friend.
(Paul Levy)
What is happening within us, the microcosm, is a reflection of the same process that is happening collectively, in the macrocosm. Just like the dark other within ourselves is the very figure that can awaken us to a greater and more comprehensive state of being, the darkness that is playing out on the world stage can potentially activate the light of consciousness in our species, thus serving as a catalyst for collective evolution. Jung said, “And so we can draw a parallel: just as in me, a single individual, the darkness calls forth a helpful light, so it does in the psychic life of a people.”
Becoming intimately acquainted with the dark other within us empowers us to relate with and effectively deal with the darkness in the outer world. The inner experience of getting into conscious relationship with and integrating the other within ourselves is reflected in the outside world, as the more we embrace the other within us, the more we are able to re-connect with others in the outside world, and vise-versa.
Any one person integrating the darkness within themselves could be, as Jung said, “the makeweight that tips the scales,” precipitating a realization in the collective psyche of all humanity. Because we are all interconnected, we can co-relate, inter-act and hook up with each other to become the instruments through which our lucidity becomes collectively made real (materialized) in space and time. We are then able to intervene en masse and change the dynamics and direction of the waking dream we are sharing. We are being invited by the universe to be the engines of our own, as well as the universes’, evolution. It is an invitation we should not decline. Let us assent and say “yes” to what is being freely offered to us.
- Paul Levy from his article "Meeting The Other Within"
Namaste, dear friends. It is time for us to go to work
