Krysan

INDRA'S NET - 1 - Green Spirituality

Details: Created on Sunday, 28 March 2010 17:53; Written by Marian Moore

KRYSAN

WELLBEING CONSULTANCY

PERFECT ONENESS

(That we shall live ...)

A little too abstract, a little too wise,
It is time for us to kiss the earth again,
It is time to let the leaves rain from the skies,
Let the rich life run to the roots again.

- Robinson Jeffers

IS MONEY OUR MASTER OR OUR SERVANT?

Have a look at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/26/protest-rule-of-money?INTCMP=SRCH

It begins to address a question that I have been asking myself (and others) for some time: Is money our master or our servant?

Posted: March 2011

THE JEWEL NET OF INDRA

(according to Buddhist tradition)

This seems a good time to re-tell the story of the 'Jewel Net of Indra' or 'Indra's Net'. The story tells of the interconnectedness and interdependence of everything and everyone in the Universe.

The God Indra

Far away in the Heavenly abode lived the God Indra. Indra, the God of natural forces that protect and nurture life, had a problem and thought deeply for a solution. Indra yearned to protect and nurture the life of the entire universe, as all life is all the same.

He saw that the whole cosmos was contained in a single grain of dust. Thus, Indra, by some cunning, hung a net around the Universe so that it stretched out in all directions. The net was infinite; it had no beginning and no end. At each place where the net came together Indra placed a knot.

In a gesture of extravagance that only a God can manage, on each knot Indra hung a beautiful jewel which contains and reflects every other jewel in the net. When Indra touched any jewel in the net, all other jewels in the web resonated.

If we select a jewel for viewing and look deeply into the jewel, each contains every other jewel in the net. Each jewel contains all the life in the universe.

IN ONE IS ALL, IN MANY IS ONE

'GREEN SPIRIT'

'Thou shalt fall in love at least three times a day.'

Marian @ Krysan

The Four Paths. What follows is my own summary of Matthew Fox's 'Four Paths of Creation Spirituality' as set out in his book Original Blessings and clarified by Grace Blindell in Green Spirit. The sole purpose of the four paths is to enable a new understanding about the nature of the universe so that we can carry 'seeing differently' into all walks of our daily lives.

By seeing differently, we do differently.

1 The Via Positiva: 'Thou shalt fall in love at least three times a day'

The first of Matthew Fox's four paths, the Via Positiva, entails re-awakening awe, wonder, astonishment and delight. It has to do with reverence and 'becoming again as little children'. Think on this,

"Forfeit your sense of awe, and the universe becomes a market place for you."

And, now ask yourself two questions. 'Is this not exactly what has happened? Could we have ravaged and polluted the planet as we have done if we truly held it and the life it supports in awe? Once we acknowledge just how dulled we have allowed our senses to become, it is a small step to begin to see again through eyes of wonder. Here are a few lines by the poet Walt Whitman who never lost his sense of the magic and wonder of life. There is nothing to stop us being same.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, / Every cubic inch of space is a miracle, / Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, / Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

We are each and every one of us born with an insatiable curiosity. We must all be ever vigilent that our child-like ability to stand in awe  does not become buried under a deluge of words, numbers, measurements, and explanations. I would also ask that you consider the deadening effect of societal attitudes that teach our young early in the lives to 'take for granted' the moment by moment miracle of just 'being'. The Via Positiva invites us all to live our lives open to wonder, to embrace again awe and reverence, to be consciously alive within the present moment ... the eternal 'now'.

2     The Via Negativa: Embracing the Dark. Letting pain be pain

In essence, the arguments are contained in the following,

"Every added protection against the natural world contributes its bit to the steadily building illusion of independence from Nature, so that in time the greatest of illusions is erected; the omnipotence of 'man'."

Paradoxically, the Via Negativa and the Via Positiva are the Yin and the Yang, the necessary correlation of each other. And, I would remind you that 'the extent of our willingness to embrace and engage with the darkness is in direct proportion to our openness to awe, wonder and delight'. Only by accepting all that we are (including what Carl Jung described as the 'Shadow') can we ever become whole.

3     The Via Creativa: Expressing our own true selves

The third path calls us to connect again with that creative power which already dwells within us and yet, like so much else that was once spontaneous, has been numbed by a culture which imposes a narrow definition of what is and what is not creative. Many of you will agree that, 'most people by the time they reach adulthood have lost touch with, as well as confidence in, their inner creative energy'. This does not mean that we all should become painters, musicians or poets, but it does mean that we should learn again to trust our deepest feelings. It will mean giving birth to ideas and imagination, play and surprise, boldness and intuition. Suppressing the natural creative energy that is within every person will result in it returning, thwarted, in a more destructive guise. Ask yourself, 'Do you create, or do you destroy?' We cannot be neutral. As every leaf and every blade of grass is unique and unrepeatable, so are we. Here's that lovely quotation by Nelson Mandela again.  It was used in his inaugural speak and is addressed to every member of the human race.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us."

4     The Via Transformativa: Embracing Compassion, Justice and Wisdom

The fourth path brings the insights of compassion, justice and wisdom to bear upon our interpretation of the previous three paths, most particularly upon that of the Via Creativa. Do we create or do we destroy? Our creativity will need the compassionate direction of wisdom and justice, for we are not puppets. We are a species with the power to choose. Our conditioning is deep, however, and we slip so easily back into old patterns of seeing. Yet each small illumination, each seemingly slight shift of perception is another step along the way of 'our Cosmic unfolding'. Grace Blindell lists the following as the 'five subtle transformations in perception that will mark our journey as the new vision of who we are dawns upon us'.

From consumer to partaker: As the new story penetrates our consciousness we see ourselves no longer as consumers, but as partakers. A consumer is one who devours without thought or consideration ... the precious life-sustaining systems of our planet. A partaker starts from a different viewpoint, sharing in the mutual interdependence and taking only what is fair and just.

From observer to participant. We are not detached observers in an inanimate world whatever we may think. The awareness of our total dependence upon our planet and our interconnectedness will transform us from detached observers to participants. A participant, as with a partaker, comes from within, not without and (as a member of the Earth community) is active, responsible, compassionate and involved.

From tourists to pilgrims. A pilgrim is one who recognises and seeks the sacred. The vision here is of Green Spirit, an organisation which views the whole of creation as sacred and thus worthy of reverence and awe. (See USEFUL LINKS) Within the attitude of the pilgrim there comes an enrichment, an enhancement of both parties. (Try it and see).

From Masters to Co-Creators, and from Doers to Listeners. Both shifts acknowledge the reality that we, as humans, are not 'in control'. Yet our role ... is far from a passive one; it calls us to embrace our cosmic destiny as active participants in the great unfolding ... using all our wisdom and compassion to work with, and not against, Nature.

"Nothing has changed, except the way I see things - and so everything has changed."

Marian Moore

REFERENCE

MARIAN VAN EYK McCAIN, (ed.) (2010), Green Spirit: Path to a New Consciousness, pub. Winchester, UK., O Books. For more information about the above book, click on the Youtube link below

GreenSpirit - Path to a New Consciousness

'HARMONY'

Click on link below for Youtube presentation by HRH Prince of Wales

Harmony - A New Way of Looking at our World

The Prince of Wales has written a book called Harmony about how man has become "dangerously disconnected" from Nature.

A film accompanies the book in which is written by HRH The Prince of Wales, Tony Juniper and Ian Skelly. Harmony: A New Way of Looking at the World.

'START UK'

Go to startuk.org for a new initiative to help people lead more sustainable lives and to show what a more energy efficient, cleaner and healthier future could look like.

'I HAVE A DREAM'

To celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s enduring and powerful message of peace and acceptance, here are some of his wise words. Which quote is most powerful for you?

We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.

Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Marian @ Krysan

For information on Journey of the Universe,

visit:

http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org

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