When was the last time you had some lovey dovey ecstasy?
I can hear it now: wait, you mean there’s still such a thing?
Why … yes, if only in the imagination, as desire is the beginning of creation in the imagination. Desire is the first cause at the heart of soul, a stirring in the heart of soul that grows, with constant attention, into an intention that fuels a transformative fire of desire by which, from which, and with which to manifest your next best version of yourself, your life, and your experience of reality, to know and experience the Self in all of its glory (or as much as you can embrace), to know who you truly are in experience.
In physicality, in assuming physical form in this dense realm we call third density, the promise of knowing, being, and loving who you really and truly are through experience and encounter comes alive with and to and through a sense of possibility that draws on a cosmic field of infinite possibilities.
In orchestrating a life of love to be an experience of constant joy, of continuous creation, of never-ending expansion and expression, of ultimate fulfillment in each and every moment of now, any and all needs and desires cannot help but be satisfied and fulfilled with effortless ease.
In these moments of total knowing, we have it within ourselves to bless and accept all that we encounter and experience, to be carried along a stream of life that flows with an attitude of gratitude, and to find this flow in the peace of love and the joy of bliss on the way to godliness.
In “the Flow” (aka, an Optimal Temporal Reality), how can lovey dovey ecstasy not be far behind?
In asking and addressing these provocative questions, we would be remiss if we did not also give at least a moment of attention to the dark side of this brilliant light casting shadows in daily life, for how would it be possible (even desirable) to bask in the Light without also having at least one tiny pinprick of a shadow by which to apprehend and appreciate the relevance of Dark in view of the significance of Light?
Ultimately, one tiny shadow “out there” is but one tiny shadow “in here”. Shadows appear and disappear at various flicker rates, but they also appear in many guises: a physical shadow (on the ground) is not a moral shadow (in the heart) is not an aesthetic shadow (on a canvas).
I belabor this point only because I know without a doubt that humanity is in a fight for its life with moral shadows appearing here, there, and everywhere with a frequency that can only be described as terrifying and horrifying by anyone who can still claim to have a heart and soul.
But let us not fall into the depths of despair en masse. Let us instead find it within ourselves to rise to the pleasure and privilege of dancing around and through the moral shadows of life.
Operation Lovey Dovey Ecstasy
I’m not trying to be cute here; this is serious business, except when it isn’t (which is most of the time if you are wise to the statement I made above, viz., one tiny shadow “out there” is but one tiny shadow “in here” – for how can any shadow affect you if you are not identified?
“But, …” – and trust me, I can hear this protest loud and clear – “… how is it even possible not to be affected by at least one moral shadow by which, with which, and through which to realize the Self more clearly, more keenly, more calmly? In other words, how is it possible to have my cake and eat it, too? How is it possible to find love in peace at the height of ecstasy, not just on occasion, but in every moment?
Without any unconscious identification with any moral shadow?
The provocative answer to these admittedly provocative questions lies in being a healthy, happy schizophrenic, and the secret to being a healthy, happy schizophrenic is to be an absolute master of duality at the very heart of a soul that can serve the mind with spirit.
Is this not delusional? Not at all, not if you understand the literal meaning of schizophrenic.
Is it not true that we need to take care of ourselves well enough to care for others? Is it also not true that we need to give enough care to others so that they are willing to care enough about us? This duality is the moral duality we all need to master to be masters of our realm.
How can we do this when we are so deeply identified with the moral shadows of our realm?
On Being a Healthy, Happy Schizophrenic
Being a healthy, happy schizophrenic is an extraordinary achievement, as it requires mixing and merging five simple ingredients that are, truth be told (and why not tell it), next to impossible for most of us to realize and express fully in every moment of our experience with moral duality:
- energy
- clarity
- buoyancy
- quality
- vitality
hint: these ingredients correspond precisely, respectively, with body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit
A supportive matrix for gathering these ingredients is vast in its scope. Mixing and merging these ingredients with care is not an easy task – just look outside your bubble of reality for a moment to observe the state of this world, with its stifling obsession with security, and the dark shadows of suppression in service to submission that the glaring light of this obsession casts in our daily lives. Focus on just one of these ingredients too intensely, too frequently, for too long, and you lose your balance with duality.
The absolute crux of moral duality in our realm is “positivity and negativity”, and the crux of any relationship with this moral duality is this: “to what extent do I cultivate and celebrate the energy of positivity and to what extent do I exacerbate and tolerate the energy of negativity?”
Being a healthy schizophrenic means … “I cultivate the energy of positivity even as I refuse to exacerbate the energy of negativity.” Being a happy schizophrenic means … “I celebrate the energy of positivity even as I refuse to tolerate – mindfully, skillfully, artfully, appropriately, wisely, consistently – the energy of negativity.” Need I indicate what it means to be an unhealthy, unhappy schizophrenic?
As I said, being a healthy, happy schizophrenic is an extraordinary achievement, an achievement that goes beyond being ordinary in daily life. Why? Because it requires that you be of two (naturally split) minds and … that you have the wherewithal to find and keep your balance with these two (naturally split) minds. A most interesting paradox if I do say so myself. And what is this “wherewithal” of which I speak?
In modern parlance, “wherewithal” implies money and purpose. If we take these implications too literally, we shortchange ourselves, as “wherewithal” is best construed as “any means by which to realize a purpose”, such as finding your balance with the five ingredients in tandem with finding and keeping your balance with a schizophrenic nature that is decidedly healthy and happy (not delusional).
The key to balance in daily life can found in receiving, reflecting, and responding to this mother of all questions: “how ready, willing, and able am I to receive the following two insanely important questions, reflect on them, and respond to them in view of the give and take of proper care; in view of the five ingredients of being, having, and doing; and in view of a schizophrenic nature that is healthy and happy?”
to what extent
do I cultivate and celebrate
the energy of positivity?and to what extent
do I exacerbate and tolerate
the energy of negativity?
Soulfully speaking, we reap what we sow. Spiritually speaking, energy flows where attention goes.
If the expansion and expression of positive energy (positivity) is infused with love – with being kind, patient, and tolerant in exercising, wisely and appropriately, the virtue of forbearance – then the expansion and expression of negative energy (negativity) is infused with fear – with being mean, impatient, and intolerant in lieu of exercising, appropriately and wisely, that undervalued, underappreciated virtue known as restraint.
Let us ask ourselves, collectively: “what are we projecting into this world? More basically, what are we attracting into our experience? More basic still, to what are we attending, willingly and willfully? Most fundamental of all, what are we intending for ourselves and each other?”
Collective projection follows collective attraction follows collective attention follows collective intention. What are you contributing to these collective modes of working with the energies of our realm in each and every moment? To what extent are you cultivating and celebrating the energies of positivity in your daily life? And to what extent are you exacerbating and tolerating the energies of negativity in your daily life?
If you’re lovey dovey, you’re a healthy schizophrenic.
If you’re ecstatic, then you’re a happy schizophrenic.
In the ultimate scheme of things, why not be … both?
Principle 1: Purpose Unifies Destiny
Your fate (what seems fixed about yourself, your life, your relations, and your experience of reality) yields gracefully to any design that can be said to fulfill your destiny (what seems fluid about yourself, your life, your relations, and your experience of reality) as and when you conceive of a purpose that serves to unify your destiny, thereby transforming the dense matter of your fate into the fluid energy of your destiny.
If cold negativity solidifies fate in harsh reactivity at the expense of serving destiny, then warm positivity serves responsively and responsibly to liquefy fate in service to fulfilling a desired destiny.
If you understand this contrast, if you truly understand it and apply it consistently as you go about your day, day after day, then there is nothing more you really need to know. A purpose that exudes positivity, that unifies destiny, inevitably brings you this benefit: to live wholly and freely, by turns peacefully and blissfully or faithfully and gracefully, without a preoccupation with social status and their symbols.
In light of this fundamental guidance, the question of “how” naturally arises.
Principle 2: Structure Determines Behavior
So, how do we live wholly (soulfully) and freely (spiritually)?
By addressing our schizophrenic nature in moral duality, through the energies of positivity and negativity, by making it easy to answer the following two questions, and by reminding ourselves daily that these two questions give us our tickets to ultimate wisdom and freedom:
to what extent
do I cultivate and celebrate
the energy of positivity?and to what extent
do I exacerbate and tolerate
the energy of negativity?
In light of these guiding questions, by what structure do we address them and answer them along our way to realizing ultimate wisdom and freedom, and by what criteria and behaviors do we realize that we no longer need to ask these questions of ourselves and others?
When I contemplate these questions, I am reminded of the Serenity Prayer, a prayer first published in 1951 in a magazine column by the American theologian, Reinhold Niebhur (1892-1971). Here is my version, based on my understanding of the Law of One material:
I allow myself the serenity to accept what I cannot change (fate), the courage to change what I can (destiny), and the wisdom to know the difference (between fate and destiny). For me, this affirmation of serenity, courage, and wisdom is also an abiding contemplation.
In the face of a constant play of negativity and positivity in daily life, we are compelled absolutely, without exception, to be schizophrenic, to be of two minds in receiving, reflecting, and responding to this constant play, and if we are wise, we opt for a healthy, happy schizophrenia.
The energy of negativity in third density is always, already available for use as a catalyst for growth: to what extent do I wish to make it worse and to what extent do I wish to permit the existence, presence, practice, and impact of negativity in my life without resistance or protest?
Conversely, the energy of positivity in third density is always, already available for use as a welcome alternative to learning and growing from negativity: we would do well to ask ourselves: “just how much negativity can I take?” In other words, “just how much positivity can I take?”
In pushing for positivity, we cannot help but attract negativity from those who are offended by too much positivity, and so a kind of balance arises in an attempt to modulate the amount, intensity, frequency, and duration of positive energy in a bid to keep it from infecting our lives indirectly and negatively.
Must we push for constant positivity?
Or merely welcome it graciously and gratefully when it arises in our experience?
Must we resist or protest negativity?
Or merely expect it to arise in any moment, in spite of ourselves, while doing our best to meet it, not with an attitude of gratitude, but with an attitude of friendly curiosity, by asking, as follows: “what, if anything, can I (or we) learn from this?” and “how can I (or we) grow with this?”
This prescription for serenity is clear:
welcome positive feeling with gratitude
welcome negative feeling with curiosity
At this point, you might be wondering: “what structure gives me the security to be so welcoming and what structure gives me the stability to process what comes in the wake of being so welcoming?”
Consider this thought experiment:
You lose your livelihood to change, you lose your friends and colleagues in the wake of a false accusation, you lose your wealth and status, you lose your home, and in losing your home, you lose the warmth and support of your family, and then you run out of money and credit. You are utterly alone now and this cliché takes on new meaning: “home is where the heart is.”
Again, I ask: “what structure would give you the security to welcome the constant play of positivity and negativity and what structure would give you the stability to process and absorb what comes in the wake of being so welcoming to this constant play of positivity and negativity?”
Obviously, we are not talking about a physical structure, but a psychological structure that is dissolvable in time, with time, so that no more questions about your capacity and your ability to welcome and process positivity and negativity need be asked or addressed ever again.
What structure gives us, individually speaking, the security and stability to be so welcoming? Before I give you my response, I invite you to contemplate and appreciate for yourself the full import of this question, in light of what I shared in this post, in view of your experience with lovey dovey ecstasy.
I will draw on this document (from May 2015) to craft a structured response.
This post has been filed under Context in the Ultimate Outline.
Note: my evolving outline on approaching a realization of the ultimate in personal fulfillment can be found here, accessible from the nav menu under the page “Be Here Now”.
Note: this ever growing perspective began here: Ultimate Perspective