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“I Am” to “We Are”

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If you have read the about developmental stages of the spiritual evolutionary journey described on Level Praying Field, you have probably read about the significance of the words, “I Am.”

Moses resonated with the words, “I Am That I Am” at the burning bush when he experienced his true, innate nature and recognized consciously his alignment with the Divine and his mission to free the Jewish slaves.

This same developmental stage awaits all human beings. If they are dedicated to growth, each in their own way, at their own time, every human being may come to a point where they, too, say, “I Am” (see Stage 3). It is a decisive, pivotal moment when they defy restriction and expectations, and when they assert — accepting all costs that may come from their boldness — their true nature.

Ukraine is having such a moment, right now. In the face of Russian oppression which asserts that Ukraine is really part of the Russian “family,” Ukraine is saying, “Sorry, absolutely not, we are Ukrainians.”

They are willingly putting everything on the line to back up their claim (one of the requirements of the true “I Am” moment).

Their fierce leader in this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made this assertion very clear. When, in the face of Russian’s imminent invasion, he was asked by Western powers if he wanted help evacuating, he replied, “I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.” This was his declaration of independence unto death — accepting the ultimate consequence. And in his personal declaration, he is leading his people on a national version of the same. Due to his leadership, coupled with Ukrainians’ own developmental readiness and scrappy, strong character, Ukrainians are steadfast and unified. “We Are Ukrainians.”

The astonishing, wondrous, powerful, and momentous thing is… the Ukraine spirit is so strong that it is not just unifying the Ukrainian people; it is motivating the world to take their own ride of “I Am” along with them. Putin’s oppression is so strong and so dark that it is rousing compassionate, self-assertive forces around the world. In Paris, Berlin, New York, Rome, London and across the globe, people are saying, “Ukraine, we are with you.”

Ukraine is leading us into a global “I Am.”

Non-dual doesn’t mean half-empty

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One of the biggest challenges in seeing beyond duality occurs pretty much any time you open your mouth. This is because, from a dual perspective, your failure to opt for the perceived “positive” side quite readily gets interpreted that you must therefore support the “negative” side.

This is understandable, because from within the lens of duality, that’s all one sees — one side or the other side. But from the standpoint of spiritual reality, to see the non-dual perspective as “negative” is inaccurate.

For example, today my heart is breaking for the people of Ukraine. In my every quiet moment for the past two to three weeks, Ukraine has been in my thoughts and prayers. I have strong emotional ties to Eastern Europe. I personally know Ukrainians here in America whose families are there. As this crisis has been building, I did not share President Zelenskyy’s optimism that Putin would back down. This is because I grew up in a household where my father was staunchly suspicious of Russian cunning and expansionism; but, more than that, because I saw the conflict in Ukraine as a classic example of the tension between Individuation and Law which is so fundamental to human spiritual evolution and so core to the human experience. This conflict is what gives us the opportunity to grow as human beings. In Ukraine, right now, this universal conflict is taking place on a national level.

So today I see these events in Ukraine in two ways. On a very personal level, I am aching for the people there who are frightened, fleeing, suffering and putting their lives on the line. I was up in the wee hours last night cringing with sadness as the first rockets created blasts of light over sleepy towns on my television screen. I thought of my hairdresser’s family and wondered how they were doing. I thought of going over to the salon today to give her a hug.

Yet from the perspective of spiritual reality, I know that even this invasion is what we do on Earth. Over and over again, on individual and aggregate levels, life gives us opportunity after opportunity to struggle to individuate against mighty, resistant forces. The mighty forces serve their purpose in helping us to strengthen and purify. Nothing is for naught. All is love, actually. Yes, even Putin (sorry, Dad). All is God.

What?? Maybe you cringe when you read those words. Notice how, from within duality, you may expect any comment on an “atrocity” like the invasion of Ukraine to offer righteous outrage, condemnation, indignation. Yes! Of course! Anything less sounds cold and unsympathetic. Maybe even downright evil.

Consider Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus offered us The Beatitudes, which contain a highly significant, true and profound esoteric understanding. The Beatitudes articulate the developmental life stages required to fulfill the spiritual mission here on earth and enter God’s Kingdom. The last Beatitude, which describes the pinnacle of spiritual attainment on Earth, says, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven….”

In this statement, Jesus is describing this phenomenon right here – that from within non-duality, if you open your mouth, you will look like you’re supporting the “dark”, unloving side. People will be frightened and hate you for it. But it doesn’t mean you’re espousing evil. It means you’re transcending good and evil entirely.

Take the case of that classic glass which can be seen as either “half full” or “half empty.” The non-dual perspective doesn’t see “half full.” Thus to some, it must seem that the non-dual perspective therefore sees “half-empty.”

Actually, the non-dual perspective chooses neither “half full” nor “half empty.” It understands the strengths and purpose of both, and is simply grateful for the glass.

Maybe…

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maybe

This morning, as much of the world is in shock at Donald Trump’s unexpected win of the 2016 Presidential election, I find myself thinking of a Zen Buddhist story I learned many years ago:

A farmer who used a horse to help him plow his fields discovered one morning that his horse had run away. His neighbors were very sympathetic. “Oh! That’s too bad!” they cried.

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

The next morning, the horse came back, followed by three other wild horses. “Look at that!” the neighbors cried. “You’ve got more, now! That’s great!”

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

The following day, as he was riding one of the wild horses, the farmer’s son got bucked off the horse and broke his leg. Once more, the neighbors gathered in support and sympathy. “Oh, what a shame!” they cried.

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

The next day, military officials arrived from the big city announcing that they were drafting all young men into the army. Seeing the son’s broken leg, the officials passed on, excused the son from duty. “What great luck!” the neighbors cried. “That’s terrific that your son can remain at home!”

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

At the core of every event is a center that is constant. That center is alive in you. It is the truest thing about you. The task is to find it.

 

The 2016 Presidential Election – Beyond the Polarity

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2016-election

In the media and in everyday conversations, the 2016 Presidential election has been routinely called “unprecedented.” For some, it is unthinkable that a man like Donald Trump could wind up in the most powerful office in the world. For others, it is equally unthinkable that a woman like Hillary Clinton could.

The election has also been characterized by enormous polarization. I’ve heard people say they won’t put a Trump or a Clinton bumper sticker on their car for fear of their car getting keyed. There are threats of revolt if the “other side” succeeds.

If we step back, remembering that all people on the earth go through the same, multi-stage evolutionary process to become more fully conscious and fulfill our human potential, the polarization gets transcended. We start to see that there’s actually a lot of similarity on both sides.

For perspective, first consider what makes for a great leader. Great leaders are mature spiritually. Due to that maturity, they have the capacity to go through all six evolutionary stages within their lifetime, enabling them to come out of the refiner’s fire and assume a position of leadership where they lead wisely and selflessly, in true service. Selfless, service-oriented leadership is only possible when there has been self-declaration (“I Am”) and then purification, so that the ego is ground down and the individual no longer identifies with personal needs.

Nelson Mandela is a great leader in whom that developmental process is very obvious. He emerged as a leader against apartheid (“I Am”), but then was imprisoned for many years. When he was released, through the process of purification he underwent while in prison, he was ready and able to lead wisely, selflessly and powerfully. Of course, not every great leader has to be imprisoned to be purified—purification can happen in any number of subtle ways—but in Mandela’s case, imprisonment was the vehicle.

In both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we have leaders who have clearly passed the milestone of self-assertion, but they are behaving as if that stage (Stage 3) is eternal, and it is not. (To their credit, this is a basic misunderstanding in current western society and throughout much of the world, dominated as it is by western thinking.) But the life stages inevitably prevail. Each in their own way, through this election, both Clinton and Trump are finding their efforts thwarted; they are undergoing the surrender phases following self-declaration.

What used to work, just isn’t working any more

In Trump’s case, he has been stunned to discover that his mandate is not as self-evident as he assumed it would be. A man who, for the past twenty years, has rarely had his thoughts, words and actions challenged, suddenly in the sphere of the election, he’s found his words examined at every turn and often used against him, damaging his prospects and—just as bad—his hard-earned, hard-bought brand.  These are all hallmarks of the surrender phase. In the surrender phase, the Type A’s “achiever” modus operandi just doesn’t work anymore, and there’s nothing to do but stew in the astonishingly fact of being thwarted. Most leaders in this phase simply trudge on, as is he.

Hillary Clinton is undergoing a similar process. While on paper, she has many Type A achievements to her credit and is perhaps the best qualified candidate who’s ever sought the Oval Office, people just don’t like her. They don’t trust her. The email issue has not gone away because it’s based on a fundamental, unresolved suspicion that the Clintons have been too accustomed to power for too long and (people worry) can’t tell the difference any more between what’s appropriate and fair or not.

Notice how similar the positions of both candidates are! Both have been hugely successful. Both are at a point in their lives where they have started to assume that success is part of their identity. Yet suddenly the dynamics of election are grinding down those assumptions—their entitlements, if you will. This is all classic surrender phase stuff.

From the American populace, strong, exasperated, disbelieving voices continue to cry out to both candidates, “You are not fit to lead!” Actually, all those voices are correct. With their purification phases unfinished, neither Trump nor Clinton are ready. No matter who wins on November 8, America will elect a candidate whose ego-identification will be the biggest challenge to their effective leadership going forward.

It all depends on the stage

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It has been a very intense week – for me personally and for the world. Life and death issues play out, with huge unknowns, for my friend Fred. My solace comes in tending to him, focusing simply on the moment at hand, trusting that, in time, what is meant to be will surely reveal itself.

Life and death issues also play out for the world. Ebola is brewing. This week saw the beheading of the third (this time a British) journalist by ISIS. Obama delivered a national address seeking to drum up support for a limited, internationally coordinated offensive.

So many things went through my mind when I listened to President Obama’s address.

I thought of the Dalai Lama’s response many years ago when asked an earnest question by an audience member after one of his speeches. I saw a video of it. The inquirer was a young woman, about 25 years of age. It was at a time when China’s oppression of Tibet was actively violent, headlining the news. Tibet was taking a passive stance.

This woman asked the Dalai Lama, “When China treats the Tibetans so viciously, why don’t you fight back?” I remember her face–confused, sad and scrunched up by what obviously seemed to her a cataclysmic failure to act when action was so clearly indicated.

The Dalai Lama replied softly, “Well, we would be like China, then, wouldn’t we?”

In hindsight, it was a completely appropriate response by the spiritual leader of a country in Stage 5 (Purification phase) of its spiritual development. Likewise, it was a completely unsatisfying response to a conscientious 25-year-old becoming ripe in her individuation stage, building toward her own personal “I Am” (Stages 2 and 3).

Hearing President Obama address the nation, I thought about America – particularly after the President’s concluding litany about “the difference we (America) make in the world.” He spoke of American leadership as “the one constant in an uncertain world,” then delivered a long sequence of assertions:

It is America that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists.

It is America that has rallied the world against Russian aggression and in support of the Ukranian people’s right to determine their own destiny.

It is America – our scientists, our doctors, our know-how – that can help contain and cure the outbreak of Ebola.

It is America that helped remove and destroy Syria’s declared chemical weapons so that they can’t pose a threat to the Syrian people or the world again.” (Hmmm… does the United States have chemical weapons? I wondered.)

and it is America that is helping Muslim communities around the world… in the fight for opportunity, tolerance and a more hopeful future.” (Hmmm… do they see it that way, too? I wondered.)

The President spoke about the values that we Americans have held and embodied for the world “since our founding” – freedom, justice, dignity. They’re all beautiful, essential values; values that brought this nation to its own “I Am” stage of spiritual development.

SeeSawBut remember that spiritual growth occurs in stages. No mental constructs are utterly true always. In fact, in pure Being, mental constructs fall away entirely.

So when President Obama went down his list of “It is America” claims, I found myself wondering: where does that fine line exist between a) appropriately extending our wisdom to others who are striving to attain the spiritual goals we have mastered (what I call “positive karma,” and we’ll look at that in a future blog); and b) sticking too long in egoistic assertion when really the next spiritual step is to let go, as the Dalai Lama knew to do for Tibet?

When does declaration turn into hubris? When does the conviction of the “I Am” turn into “the most dangerous time when you think you know what’s supposed to happen?” If applying the tasks of the right stage at the right time is so key to optimal spiritual growth, isn’t it to our advantage to figure out what stage we’re in, as individuals, members of group souls, nations, races, etc.?

In your own life, this is a great question to ask God directly. Because the last time I checked, “the one constant in an uncertain world” is not American leadership, as President Obama declared, but God.

The Antedote to Hopelessness

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I heard on NBC News last night that 60 people were shot, 9 dead, over the July 4 weekend in Chicago due to gang violence.

What??

A woman on the NBC video segment had it right, I thought. Speaking as someone from one of the affected neighborhoods, she traced the violence to hopelessness. I wish I could find the video online. I wish I could show you that woman’s sad, astute face.

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This news comes to me the day after I have finally finished writing this website (took me a year); the day after I am busy finishing up the last pages, writing about the importance of holding tension during the spiritual process of being human.

The youths in Chicago clearly didn’t hold tension. They clearly let all the intolerable fear, frustration and adrenaline pent up inside rip out their veins into their wrists steeled against quaking rage, aimed down their fingers, blasting into a terrible world that they could validate as being all the more terrible by unleashing corporal damage on another human being. At least in so doing they could prove themselves to be right in their horrible convictions.

Certainty borne out. But at such a price.

Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Sunflower Gen 2 July 2014 - 1Yesterday upon finishing the website, I looked back over the computer logs and was startled to see that I had started the website exactly a year before. Started on July 6, 2013. Finished on July 6, 2014.

This morning upon finishing the website, I walked out into the garden to see that my Gen 2 sunflowers – offspring of the original sunflower that guided me to start this website to begin with – were, that day, beginning to bloom. Kinda wild, huh?

Lao Tzu talked about Wu Wei: the effortlessness and harmony that come from living in a completely natural, uncontrived way. Without control, force or the attempt to influence.

The news last night was not just about Chicago. The news last night was about our lives – all of our lives – and all of our struggles, in a world that seems to be going increasingly mad.

What will be your center point? The place where you can rest in Wu Wei? What will be the source of your hope, your miracles, your ability to hold your own tension?

I promise you, my friend: it is in you. It is all around you. It is the stuff of Being itself. It is who you are.

Can this type of violence be stopped by understanding?

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I saw a segment on NBC Nightly News tonight about what Brian Williams called “the most urgent crisis unfolding in our world” – sectarian violence in Central African Republic between Christians and Muslims that has become so severe that it is decimating the population, affecting mostly children. The video is heartbreaking.

This is exactly the kind of violence that this website is intended to prevent.

Meanwhile, upstairs in my computer, this website is about 2/3 done and not yet launched… I chip away at it after a long work day each day and the progress seems so slow… but I am pedaling as fast as I can…

The question remains to be answered: can simple understanding help bring about peace? When conflict is necessarily built into the system of human growth, and when arrogance and the need to control is built into human nature… is it realistic to expect a Bigger Picture to put a rest to these terrible religious-based feuds?

We shall see over time. Here’s my first blog. Off we go.