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Highlights #73

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John La Grou reports on some
reading:

I'm currently reading "The Divine
Conspiracy" (from Dallas Willard,
former Chair of the USC Philosophy
Dept.). He cites Clyde Reid's
studies on traditional Western
religious community, noting that
"adult members of churches today
rarely raise serious religious
questions for fear of revealing
their doubts or being thought of as
strange. There is an implicit
`conspiracy of silence` on religious
matters in the churches. This
conspiracy covers up the fact that
the churches do not change lives or
influence conduct to any appreciable
degree."

Fear of rejection and banishment
(psychic, if not physical) from any
community leads certainly to a complex,
and mostly unstated, hierarchy of
subtle codes. And, as always, this
reveals a path to unity.. to identify
and open those transpersonal borders
which keep us separate. To one day say
with complete honesty that "what's been
done to you feels like it's been done
to me."

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The prolific Gene Poole holds forth
on sharing and "Dominator Culture":

The difficulty of speaking of this, is
that I must 'make it up as I go along'.
I make no apologies, but ask that the
reader understand that my use of terms
is provisional, and that I frequently
resort to metaphor. This may be somewhat
mind-stretching for some... UFOs or not.

I referred in the (my) quoted post to
_sharing_ as a way of Being. I understand
that sharing is the best word to use for
this, because 'true sharing' is when
_nobody is dominating_.

Even though many of us crave the
experience of intimate sharing-connection,
we are stopped by the dominating or
controlling behaviours of others. It is
important to know, why this is so.

Sharing requires _genuine_ vulnerability,
but it may be more productive to say that
sharing requires "complete openness". This
requirement makes sharing a _voluntary_
behaviour; it is important to realize that
we are in control of our sharing. Realizing
that, answers the above question, as to why
dominating or controlling behaviours are (to
say the least) inhibiting to sharing. In
other words, the contraction that we
experience in the presence of a controlling
person, is the contraction of our 'sharing-
channel'; it is a form of self-protection,
and a very real boundary, and as such it is
also part of the immune-system.

As you say, children are "uniformly
responsive" to this invitation, but as you
know, the immune-system of the child is
immature; without special education and
initiation ("immunization"), children are
unknowing of the voluntary nature of sharing.
In their unknowing, they are often victimized
by those who use _force_ to intrude and
control. Soon, the child hardens, and is in
danger of living a life of disconnection. This
is a very real hazard which I suspect most of
us here have had to deal with, both in
themself and also in their own children.

It is the involuntary and painful contraction of
the 'sharing-channel' which is the primary
aspect of neurosis. I have found useful
concepts in the arena of yoga and psychic
sciences, such as Ayurveda and Vajrayana. Here
is how I see it:

Sharing is possible if the _relationship_
between the _nadis_ of Ida/Pingala is one of
balance. Ida (female) and Pingala (male) nadis
('astral nerve-tubes') are useful to visualize or
think of in terms of 'true sharing'; when either
is dominant, the balance is lost until recovered.
If balance and sharing occur, the main nadi, the
central channel 'Shushumna', then opens. It is
said the the opening of the central channel of
Shushumna is the event which enables the rise of
'Kundalini'.

My own vision shows me that it is the sharing with
the living universe which is interpreted as
Kundalini; that is to say, that we (finally) allow
sharing, when we are able to voluntarily expand or
inflate our 'sharing-channel', which is Shushumna.
It is the voluntary control of sharing which I feel
must be learned; sharing can only occur when there
is balance in relationship, not only between male
and female, but also with all persons and energies.
In other words, there is an equanimity which is not
only internal, but which can be shared, as both the
invitation and the partaking of agenda-free
(neither dominating or submitting) sharing. I
stress this repeatedly, because this is the point at
which most people seem to lose interest in pursuing
intimacy. Giving is nice, but it is not sharing, and
neither is receiving. Sharing is a specific and
identifiable reality when experienced consciously;
it has a flavor which is that of awareness without
embellishment, free of agenda, topic, or domination or
submission. It is sharing of Being.

I refer to this relationship as the Ida/Pingala Axis
(IPA), also popularly known as Yin/Yang and also as
the 'eternal conversation between Sakti and Siva'.

The IPA will 'spin' one way or another, (yeah, like a
chakra!) depending upon which (male/female) is actively
dominating the other. Careful linkage of heartbeat with
breath, allows the voluntary slowdown of that spin; a
nice pulsating and gentle oscillation is the result.
Perhaps you can feel it happening right now. Some
researchers have speculated that what is actually being
done is the balancing of the right and left hemispheres
of the brain. If that is so, it is logical that there
would be discernable 'readouts' for us to notice, for
fine-tuning of our ways. A fine-textured 'air' then may
move through the center channel, producing light and
warmth. This is connection to the living universe. It
is closely related to breath, and may sometimes feel
cool and other times warm, or both.

I am aware that there are those who will object to my
introducing even more concepts to an already concept-
clogged area of study. I remind them that I am making
this up as I go, and am liberal in the use of metaphor.
I feel that this is potentially redeeming information;
that the awareness of the essential contraction of
Being as being synonymous with involuntary closure of
the 'sharing channel'/Shushumna may be a vital clue for
others.

This approach of mine may be termed as 'secular yoga';
it is devoid of the sentimental attachments to objects
of religion. It has more to do with recognizing the
basic conditions which lead the yound person to either
openness or separation, and the deliberate re-evaluation
of all relationships, for the purpose of allowing free
communion with that whichis. It is in that communiion
that one discovers both individuality and universality.
This is a highly individual event of great redeeming
value, however it may be experienced or expressed.

I am somewhat hesistant to add, that it is the goal of
the Dominator Culture and their agents, to so traumatize
the sharing-channel, that communion is forever lost as a
possibility. The Dominator Culture may then sell us
substitutions (drugs, false intimacy, other forms of
stimulation) for what they have thus made unavailable;
that is the 'conspiracy' which is sensed and decried by
sensitive ones. Those sensitive ones, the meek, shall
inherit the Urth.
________________________________

Melody waxes poetic over "the
living Cross":

The arms of the cross
are like the arms of a scale

tipping one way,
and then another....

as certain ideas weigh heavier
on our hearts and minds.

Those arms that swing in opposites,
like pendulums in motion -

sometimes moving
to such extremes

we wind up picking ourselves up
off of the floor!

Yet then comes those moments
when the movement

of opposition
ends,

or comes to a rest,

and the focus
shifts

to the vertical plane.

Becoming witness to
the descension, the ascension...

as the Divine Mother
of the East,

the Holy Spirit
of the West,

courses thru our bodies

and the 'doorway'
to the Eternal

is opened.
________________________________

Jerry contributes a rave movie
review:

I have just seen a spectacular
movie on video. To say it is about
a cable (phone) man and young lady
he adores is to say much, but it
tells nothing. I haven't known such
surprise and delight in a movie
since Star Wars. It's a low budget
British film. In terms of humor and
its swift exchange of place with
tragedy, the dynamic is effected
without any feeling that one is
being manipulated, nor is it
predictable in that way. As regards
its portrayal of the World Dream and
the hunger to meet the fullness that
is its transcendence, this movie is
a smashing success. If anyone wants
an experience that will have you
saying aloud in the midst of it,
"What a great movie," I say see
Little Voice.

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