This past week saw me take a break from reading, thinking, and writing about the ultimate in personal fulfillment, which has left me feeling refreshed and ready to take it up yet again.
At the end of this week, I did, however, add context to my next topic of study on birth, life, and death.
Today, I’ve been giving some thought to the relationship between presence and pretense, which has been showing up in my mind’s eye as a series of images involving the colors white, black, gray, and green.
On a scale of pretense bookended by black on one side (dark pretense) and white on the other (light pretense), an infinite series of shades of gray marks a continuum between the two, and if presence is shown as green, as a green strip under the continuum of pretense, then we have the beginnings of a tool for assessing the degree to which presence and pretense characterize the life of an individual or a collective – groups, societies, nations, humanity.
shades of pretense in contrast to presence:
black ……….. shades of gray …………. white
___________ green _____________
If dark pretense is informed by ulterior motives that seek to seduce, deceive, manipulate, or exploit with cunning, then light pretense is informed by the motive of playfulness. Anything in between (“nothing is black and white”) is marked by ambiguity and ambivalence motivated by fear to a greater or lesser degree.
If a thin strip of green indicates relatively little presence in a life, then as the green strip thickens, replacing pretense, the strip brightens to a point where it turns pure white (pure presence).
Likewise, as pretense is replaced by presence, the black end shrinks until it disappears, the shades of grey grow lighter, and the white end grows and begins to dominate the spectrum.
In terms of realizing the ultimate in personal fulfillment, I’m still uncertain whether any amount of gray pretense in a life is necessary or desirable for spiritual development, although I sense that it is.
Could it be that a touch of gray in a field of green is the ultimate cause of evil and suffering, but could it also be that a touch of gray in a field of green is necessary for us to realize ourselves more fully?
TUiPF *
a message for our times: “be true, be wise, be free; love is the key”
Context
(Setting the context)
The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic,
is that the world is made of words, and if you know the words that the world is made of,
you can make of it whatever you wish ~ Terence McKenna
consider this truth: “there is no truth”: true or false? if true, then false; if false, then true
words are powerful, as and when they are spoken in the light of truth, love, and wisdom
Basis
(A cosmic perspective)
Previous study: the cosmic life review (learn more)
Current study: a cosmic perspective on birth, life, and death
View this page to explore the basic issues
Essence
The ethical imperative: guard guide your eyes, guard guide your thoughts, guard guide your steps
What the cosmic life review indicates we do in the earthly realm: (1) sanctify; (2) purify; (3) justify
Does “what does it take to be fulfilled?” = “what does it take to be sanctified, purified, justified?”?
Ideals
Proposal: our prime directive as a species is finding the balance
- finding the balance between soul (being) and spirit (becoming)
- finding the balance between being perfectly full and becoming perfectly filled
- finding the balance between living soulfully (truly, deeply) and living spiritually (wisely, freely)
Integration
(A context for living life to the fullest)
proposal to universalize human need:
need 1: “a safe place to eat and sleep”
need 2: “a way to satisfy all my needs”
need 3: “someone to love and cherish”
need 4: “a healthy, vital outlook on life”
a vital distinction to observe in daily life:
satisfaction of need v. fulfillment of desire
the body is but a vessel for soul,
serving to contain all that the soul needs;
the body is but a vehicle for spirit,
serving to convey all that the spirit desires;
how might body serve to contain and convey
both soul and spirit as vessel and vehicle?
Application
(A practice for living life to the fullest)
exploring …
the ways and means by which I can be centred in love
the ways and means by which I can follow (or manifest!) a path with heart
the ways and means by which I can be love truly and wisely
if the first pointer serves to expose the truth of who and what I am,
and if the second serves to reveal the meaning, purpose, and direction of my life,
then the third serves to realize a dynamic balance between my soul and spirit
How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours ~ Wayne Dyer
Commentary
(a global perspective: why is humanity failing to fulfill its true potential?)
weaving a terrestrial narrative that aligns with a cosmic perspective, including historical, interdimensional, extraterrestrial, conspiratorial, and eschatological elements, is an exhaustive process
such a terrestrial narrative would have us explore and expose the causes and consequences of two widespread (and related) social phenomena: cynical detachment and egocentric entitlement
the story of Howard Storm: how a visit to The Other Side cured his soul and spirit of cynical detachment and egocentric entitlement, transmuting his contempt for humanity into compassion and compersion
If darkness is your problem, talking about darkness won’t help.
If darkness is your problem, nothing can be done about darkness directly.
You cannot throw it out, you cannot push it out, you cannot switch it off.
Darkness is an absence. Nothing can be done about it directly.
If you have to do anything, you have to do something with the light, not with darkness.
~ Osho (Fear: Understanding and Accepting the Insecurities of Life, p. 136)
Questions
1. “I just can’t stand it anymore … why go on?”
2. “Wrong body, wrong family, wrong planet … why?”
3. “Why am I making such a mess of my life?”
4. “What does it really take to be (become) fulfilled in this life?”
5. Soul: “a sound approach to being perfect: possible?”
6. Spirit: “a sane approach to becoming perfect: desirable?”
7. The ultimate in truth, love, and power: dare we ask?
Study Notes
- incorporate the use of symbols with these elements: sphere (soul), spiral (spirit), pyramid
- presence and pretense: best to view them as complementary, rather than as mutually exclusive?
- follow these elements of perspective: form, structure, substance, orientation, appearance
- the
devilchallenge (problem, difficulty, obstacle, inadequacy, struggle, conflict) is in the details - the privileged among us: a little too preoccupied with celebrity, technology, personality, positivity?
- extroverts and introverts: “living on the surface” and “living from the depths with presence”
- the cosmic life review: a representation of the ultimate in personal fulfillment for a life lived?
* TUiPF = The Ultimate in Personal Fulfillment
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Next: Ultimate Fulfillment 10
Note: this ever growing perspective began here: Ultimate Perspective