THE LONG AND THE SHORT DEFINE EACH OTHER
Namaste,
I hope you had a wholesome day yesterday.
I was very busy with meetings and our webinar on living your Dream-Line. We had a great turnout for the webinar and excellent questions from participants, which always makes it fun!
Yesterday was my scheduled day off from training but I decided to hit the gym anyhow due to my schedule. I had a fun little session. I created a circuit of heavy lunges (225 x 2), water-ball lunges (80 pounds x 20), box step with kick (10 ea.), and finished the circuit with Supine Lateral Ball Rolls (4 each for a six second hold). I did four circuits on about 90 seconds rest. After a cold shower, I felt more alive and that was my prep for giving the webinar.
I booked a massage for today and thought I’d prefer to have a deep rest today instead of getting a massage after lifting; it generally takes about 4 hours for the nervous system to calm after training so getting a massage too soon after training diminishes it’s benefits.
Today I will be filming my monthly message and Q&A for www.chekconnect.com. If you are interested, you can subscribe to my Q&A with Paul series there.
Each month, I answer questions form around the world on pretty much every issue of body-mind health you can imagine. My Monthly Message is free and available to you there on that site. There are many of them there any time you’ve got an interest to see what I’m sharing in those offerings.
We continue to get great speakers, sponsors, and more delegates confirming their attendance at our upcoming CHEK Conference 2011. I’m very excited about the way the event is shaping up. I’m confident that anyone that’s there will be pleased with the variety of lectures and workshops. There is something for everyone, from the public to the seasoned health or exercise professional. If you haven’t seen the conference information yet, feel free to check it out. I’d Love to have you join me there!
I’m particularly excited because unlike many conferences, there won’t be any weak presentations. I’ve had a personal hand in selecting the presenters and did my best to choose great presenters with topics that are complementary and holistic as well as will be informative and offer practical applications.
THE LONG AND THE SHORT DEFINE EACH OTHER
Our discerning mind (ego-mind) gives us individual consciousness, self-perception. Having self-perception allows us to have individual perceptions and experiences.
A group of people watching the same movie will all have individual experiences, perceptions and judgments. Some may love the villain. Some may hate the villain. Some may find a specific actress very beautiful, but some may find her too fat or thin for their individual tastes. Some will feel the movie moved too slowly, while others are challenged to follow the plot because it unfolds too quickly for them.
Each such experience emerges from one’s own perceptions and judgments of this or that. After an experience of watching a movie with a group or some friends, it’s not uncommon for debate, or even arguments to emerge over who said or did what in the movie; over who the actual villain or hero was!
People can have such charged emotions over a movie that it creates separation between them that may last a lifetime!
In my diagram, you see a dotted circle in the middle, which represents THE ABSOLUTE, SOURCE, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, and/or CONSCIOUSNESS. As I’ve shared in previous posts, THE ABSOLUTE has only two essential qualities:
1. EVERY-THING (black in my diagram) is contained within THE ABSOLUTE, yet
2. NO-THING exists in THE ABSOLUTE (white in my diagram) because THE ABSOLUTE can’t be known “as this, or as that”.
Paradoxically, it is the meeting of EVERY-THING with NO-THING that creates existence (everything outside the dotted circle in my diagram).
Whenever there is something, it is only something because we perceive that its presence negates the possibility of it being no-thing. If you think of no-thing as water, and some-thing as a stone in the water, an essential understanding of life can emerge. Water’s contact with the stone, as soft as water is, transforms the stone.
With today’s technology, it would literally be possible to watch, film and measure the changes in shape, density, weight and energy emission from moment to moment.
In the process by which stones are created, energy is entangled, and therefore, contained within the stone, much like a battery holds energy that can be extracted when put into a circuit, like a flashlight.
As the water interacts with the rock, the energy of the water interacts with the energy of the rock. The water’s energy added to the rocks energy creates changes in atomic vibration, leading to decomposition of the rocks original form or state.
From moment to moment, the atoms are expressing the energy of transformation as radiation. The process produces a transformation of states in both the water and the stone.
This process of transformation and the energy exchange in either direction (water absorbing more rock – rock becoming less solid and more liquid) defines “Spirit”. The byproduct of Spirit’s presence and action is light. The expression of light from Spirit produces yet another paradox; light is a “thing” that isn’t a “thing”.
CONSCIOUSNESS equates to FIRST PRINCIPLE. It is non-local; everywhere and nowhere at the same time. CONSCIOUSNESS ABIDES. CONSCIOUSNESS and SILENCE are as ONE.
Just as ZERO is both empty, yet full of possibilities, so too is CONSCIOUSNESS. Yet, we know that existence is here, our you wouldn’t be reading this.
We know that emptiness allows; space is empty and space “allows”.
Emptiness (space) allows some-thing to be. If there were no space, there is no way we could discern this from that. There could be no “consciousness of” this or that. We know from observation and scientific investigations that wherever there is something in the presence of something less, transformation occurs (Spirit).
Spirit can also be referred to as vibration.
ALL vibration equates to Second Level Creation. Second level creation is dependent upon FIRST LEVEL CREATION for the same reason you can’t get to “one” without coming from “zero”. When any “one” looses their body or identity, we naturally say there is “nothing, no-thing there”.
The loss of embodiment equals the loss of charge, which emerged from a polarized relationship (tai-chi).
If we view CONSCIOUSNESS as THE OCEAN, vibration is as ripples or waves in THE OCEAN.
Regardless what emerges from THE OCEAN as this or that, it returns to THE OCEAN, losing identity as this or that. Spirit is the word that describes the creation of, and resolution of waves in THE OCEAN. Only when there are waves in THE OCEAN (Spirit) can there possibly anything to know of as this or that (MIND).
ALL vibration emergent of THE OCEAN = MIND. MIND = THE ONE. Within THE ONE, we find “the many”, or what Buddhists and Taoists call, “the 10,000 things.” Ego is “one of” the 10,000 things.
I look at you – you look at me and we each see some-thing and we label it. I see Paul and Paul sees me.
Paul may see you and say, “you are short”. You see Paul and may say, “but I’m taller than you.” We are labeling waves relative to other waves.
When Bob shows up and see’s us having a discussion over who’s tall and who’s short, he may say, “as far as I’m concerned, you are both short!”
Two minutes later, Bob asks Paul to borrow some money because he’s short. As soon as I hand Bob some money, I become tall to him; I may allow myself to feel tall inside because now he’s not so tall.
This game goes on forever, infinitely.
Why? Because Second Level Creation (Spirit) encompasses All Waves, All Vibration, All MIND, All space between this and that and within this and that. Ego emerges in MIND as self-perception as this or that. Paul is short, Bob is tall, but Bob is short and Paul is tall.
Because CONSCIOUSNESS IS the Basis of ALL (THE OCEAN), just as the soil is the basis of all trees, CONSCIOUSNESS exists equally within Paul, Bob, Spirit, waves, drops, or trees.
When drops of THE OCEAN name or label each other, “Third Level Creation” emerges. Because you have free will, you can choose to side with this or that character in the movie, yet (Spirit) the movie projected on the screen (2nd Level Creation) is the same for everyone.
When you look at the world, or the stars at night, you are seeing 2nd LC. When we choose to label, we add our own vibration (spirit) to Spirit (MIND); we create waves atop of waves. And we often find our waves are harmonious with other’s waves, or they are discordant with another’s waves.
Where there is discordance, the ego mind tends to judge as a means of diminishing (Paul is short). When we perceive our ego-waves are being diminished in power or presence, we tend to return the same energy back, just as a mirror can only return your light to you. “Bob needs money from Paul, now Paul reminds Bob that he is short.”
This is why Lao Tzu says, “the long and the short define each other.”
The more time we spend defining the long and short, the more conditioned we become to measuring “this” against “that”, and the more conditioned we become to this and that as our reality.
To the degree that we become conditioned, our ego-mind’s focus becomes narrower and narrower until we loose consciousness of MIND (2nd LC), just as a fish born in, and living in water may loose the concept of water as this or that — We unconsciously get trapped in 3rd Level Creation.
To the degree this occurs, we get trapped in our minds, our heads.
When this occurs, we first loose our intuition (ability to access MIND), and eventually, we become so constrained by our own judgments, our own beliefs, that we loose our imagination.
What does this look like?
First and foremost, we are all, and can be nothing other than CONSCIOUSNESS – 1st LEVEL CREATION.
To some, CONSCIOUSNESS, as I use the term here, is the equal of God; though in actual fact, because they have “ideas of what God is”, they would be expressing a misunderstanding because any “God that can be known or differentiated from any other God or god, or thing, is merely an idea; one who’s consciousness had expended to include God, would by definition include ALL of 2nd Level Creation – ALL MIND.
One who’s consciousness had expended to include God, would by definition include ALL of 2nd Level Creation – ALL MIND.
In that state, such a person would, by definition, KNOW ALL that can be known. Therefore, there would be no impetus to know God as this or that – no “ideas”.
If you have an idea of God that differs from my idea of God, we are clearly claiming that our God (which should be GOD, 1st Level Creation) is a 3rd Level Creation because if God truly represented ALL that can be known, we’d have God in and as MIND (2nd Level Creation), which would be equal to saying that All Waves are Waves Everywhere For Everyone and create Every-Thing – Every Conceivable Idea.
Therefore, their God (wave) can’t possibly be GOD – CONSCIOUSNESS (THE OCEAN).
To the degree that anyone argues over their judgments of God as this or that, they by definition, express their inability to use their “intuition”; intuition means to access MIND, without preconceived notions or judgments of should, shouldn’t, right or wrong. What comes as intuition is a gift that can only be valued or perceived to the degree that one is aware – open-minded.
When intuition (2nd LC) gifts us, the gift is often so grand that it falls outside of our ego-mind’s programming (3rd LC) or perceptual range Therefore, to interpret intuition, often requires active imagination; imagination creates a bridge between ego-mind (believed ideas) and MIND or ALL Potential Ideas (2nd LC).
To imagine means to be open to, and willing to create or experience novel ideas within the context or milieu of our preconceived ideas.
Two people sharing their ideas of God may spark the imagination of the other, resulting in realizations that potentially expand their ideas of God. This would mean that through imagination, their God is becoming bigger, more inclusive, more complete – more whole.
Imagination then, cannot occur in one who has a closed mind – a dogma; you are shorter than me no matter what the measuring tape says!
One who is free of mind-viruses (God as this or that), but remains open to all possibilities is likely to leave such a conversation about God with an enlivened imagination.
Newly conceived ideas, come by way of the other in conversation, may very well bring them to an impasse; to the degree that allowing the other to be right makes them wrong at the level of ego-mind (3rd LC), but they are willing to remain open-minded, their imagination will synthesize any number of possibilities or ideas by which they can choose to modify their conceptions of God.
Yet, it is natural when in such a state to feel insecure because such new ideas are not yet programmed with the assurance the ego projects it’s prior (facilitated or habitual) ideas.
This lack of assurance in an open-minded individual with an active imagination triggers a healthy sense of wonder.
Wonder is the basis of intuition. One who wonders about God is open to experiencing God. Therein lies the paradox of ego’s representations of “God as this or that.”
The instant the ego defines God, it un-God’s God, creating a god. That is the stuff that starts wars and gets people killed every day!
To exemplify this point, I will quote a passage from a great book I suggest anyone read (particularly those that are sure their religion is the Religion). In the book: The Beginning of Fearlessness: Quantum Prodigal Son (p.116), Lee and Steven Hager state:
“Since 3600 BC, we’ve enjoyed 292 years of peace and suffered through approximately 14,500 major wars, which took the lives of around 4,126,000,000 people (close to 2/3 of the 2010 world population). It would be wonderful if we could say that we were closer to world peace than ever before, but the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century have been the bloodiest in history.”
Keeping what we’ve now discussed in mind, we can be more present with what Lau Tzu meant when he said, “the long and the short define each other.” Paul was short relative to Bob, but Bob was then reminded of his shortness when he needed to borrow money from Paul.
This weekend, I will meditate; be intuitively open to:
- How often I’ve created pain in my life and/or the lives of others by over-investing in relative value judgments; defending “my God or god” for example!arguing over movie plots…
- My imagination as to what any-thing really is.
- My intuition’s offering of expanded awareness so that I can learn to feel safe; safe in knowing that I always have access to MIND, and because MIND defines all possibilities in space-time, I can come to better understand my own reality within reality itself.
- Practicing the implementation of any experiences and ideas gifted to me through intuition and active imagination so that I can actively explore the possibilities of Love – Inclusion.
- Having empathy and compassion for those who have not been fortunate to have open-minded parents, teachers, and social influences, and are unaware that they are creating pain by believing that movies are real enough to argue and fight over.
- Reminding myself that where I see and label this or that as long or short, I’m being invited to go beneath the ripples on THE OCEAN and explore and experience more of THE OCEAN so that I can experience, with wonder, more of the mystery that I am, and You are!
I invite you to join me!
Some of you may find this blog and its messages a source of artistic, poetic or literary inspiration. Please share in the comment box for the blog if your expression will fit there; best written on your computer and pasted in the box due to the formatting constraints of the comment box.
I’d love it if any of you are willing to share (by emailing to [email protected]) a photo of the art that comes from this blog experience and participating in imagination and intuition with it. I’ll do my best to post what you share on the blog next week.
Thanks for sharing with me today.
Have a lovely weekend ~ I will!
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
Written by - Paul