Loving What We Do, Doing What We Love

Relationship shapes our lives. There are times when a relationship is heart shaped, and times when a relationship is another shape altogether, maybe even dagger shaped. An individual mood can make all relationships conform to a particular shape, from, for instance,’ I love everyone’ to ‘everyone’s out to get me’. Sometimes relationship not only shapes a life, it controls it. Sometimes not having a relationship may control a life, too. The power of relationship for pleasure and for pain is undeniable. Yet we cannot do without relationship nor would we want to. Everyone and everything in the world is truly interdependent. We belong to families, social classes, local action groups, unions, groups of work colleagues, football teams, astrological types, ethnic minorities, and so on. And we belong, as the human family, to the interdependent biosphere of all living things. The interdependence of all our different spheres of experience needs to be recognized, individually and collectively, to create the ground for more harmonious relationships.

We live in a world that appears more divided than unified, however, and living in a world of duality enables us to come to know both ourselves and others. Whilst we are in this world of duality, we help bring more beauty and harmony into the world through a clear consciousness of loving what we do and doing what we love. The last thing we need, though, is an ungrounded, ‘mystical’ view of life. Of course, the reality of a mystical experience which separates an individual from their mundane, earthly existence and, in a state of bliss, leads them to temporarily forget all outer reality and the environment cannot be denied. To become attached to such experiences, however, is to fall into a mystical trap. We avoid this through always paying attention to bringing all transpersonal energies back to ground and finding a way of expressing them in the ‘ordinary world’. The mystical experience is not an end in itself but rather a step along the way from which the individual, who has the fortunate to have such an experience, can draw creative energy and enthusiasm. Indeed, the true mystical experience brings with it the desire to come back into the world to express the energies involved and help one’s fellow human beings to also experience this enlightenment.

Many people in the modern world suffer from what is sometimes called the ‘crisis of meaning’. Particularly in the western world but increasingly over the whole planet, many people live in an existential vacuum, where life has lost its meaning (beyond, at the best, the purely material). In this modern world, with its collective lack of meaning, there is much strife between people. The state of the world on an ecological level is poor due to the greed of some people and the mindlessness of others. There often seems to be such an appalling lack of care and understanding and so much unbalance, particularly in the interaction between people. The healing of this ‘illness’ is found through working on knowing ourselves, to bring meaning back into life which then creates a context for living a life in accord with others.

Our healing work needs to involve the whole person, which is composed of the personality plus the spiritual realms, including our connection to the divine, whether that is seen as some outside energy or ultimately within us. As growth occurs in the personality we may find more effective ways to experience life and to express ourselves. As transpersonal growth happens, more effective ways of utilizing creative energies are discovered. Creativity is not just about drawing, painting, making music, sculpting or whatever (although it is these things as well), but acknowledges the fact that everyone is creative in their own ways. With the right attitude, it is as equally creative doing housework as in painting a masterpiece, in changing a baby’s nappy as in encouraging it to walk and talk.

An important, underlying principle of healing is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If we look at a painting and analyze it into its component parts we may find the different colours, brush strokes, shading and light, figures and background, we may even find beautiful scenes depicted within it, trees, people, places ... but we have to see it as a whole, in its entirety before we can realise the value of it as a great work of art. What comes out of that synthesized whole is something beyond any or all of the individual components, perhaps something that even transcends the artists original conception.

Whilst looking towards wholeness, we should respect the individuality of each part. No bit of us is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than another bit. On the contrary, each part of us has its purpose and has the potential to be truly synthesized and integrated Conflicts can then be experienced in this light - as the source of the energy which allows us to know more about ourselves. When we work on our inner conflicts, we can utilize the energy this releases to bring ourselves into a more effective state. In other words, apparent obstacles are gifts with as much value as the more obvious gifts received when things are going well. This is true for groups, of course, as much as for the individual.

Whilst most of us may spend a large part of our lives experiencing separation and disconnection, once we start to explore the deeper aspects of our being we discover the underlying truth of our connection. We may not be able to ‘be there’ all the time, indeed it may not be right for us to stay in such a state, but once we have the intimation of its existence, once we actually experience it in ourselves, there is no looking back. We have ‘set our sights’ on the clarity and connection that comes from such realizations and try to make each move we take a step in that direction.

The realisation that we are connected to everyone and everything else brings a different perspective on time and space wherein we can cultivate within ourselves a sense of ‘global consciousness’. When we ground this awareness it helps us take actions that move the total collective consciousness forward along its positive evolutionary path. It is not an exaggeration to say that one small act made by one individual at one moment in time can make a profound difference. To care for others, both those immediately within our field of awareness and activity, and also all living and non-living things generally, is the way to ground this consciousness. When we care for our environment, both locally and generally, we are also grounding our deepest, psychospiritual consciousness. Every conscious act that includes such caring furthers the cause of global awareness. Such awareness will bring about cures for the ills which currently threaten not only our individual existence but the existence of life as we know it on this beautiful planet.