IT’S A MYSTERY TO ME…

I orginally posted this way back in 2009, and stumble across it this morning. Seemed like it was worth reposting—what do you think?!

Hannah, whose mantra is "More food please."

The above is one of my favorite mantras these days. Another is “I haven’t a bloody clue…” I know this has nothing to do with animals and nature, but this essay, sent to my by Paul my radio guy, expresses much of the confoundment I am feeling in these days of what seem to be great upheaval. Can you relate?

By Daniel Pinchbeck | realitysandwich.co

Recently, I have taken as my personal mantra the not very transcendent phrase, “I don’t know.” The list of things I feel unsure about seems to be steadily increasing. For instance, I don’t know if our solipsistic species will survive much longer, and sometimes I am not even sure how much I care. I don’t know if Barack Obama is a warm-hearted leader who will unite people at a time of adversity, or the most brilliant puppet ever put forth by the New World Order conspirators (who, as radio journalist and documentary filmmaker Alex Jones suggests, may be plotting a program of rapid depopulation)…
I don’t know if the increase in UFO sightings means we are approaching a benevolent contact experience or a horrific predatory ambush. I don’t know if global warming is mainly caused by human action, or if it is part of a phase transition of the entire solar system, as the Russian scientist Dmitriev proposes.

I don’t know if men and women should be monogamous or if it is better to be bonobo-like in one’s erotic habits. I don’t know if we will develop some type of new energy technology that will rescue us from Peak Oil, or if we are destined to see industrial civilization devolve and disintegrate as fossil fuel becomes scarce. I don’t know whether to learn to grow food and harvest rainwater or to master some weird new esoteric discipline like Vortex Healing or Keylontic Science. I don’t know if free will exists, or if we are conditioned robots, performing an illusory spectacle scripted by Hindu deities or dreamtime ancestors. I don’t know if we should get rid of religions or create a really cool new one.

I don’t know whether to stockpile gold or create an intentional community. I don’t know whether to stay in Manhattan or head for the hills. I don’t know whether we are approaching global enlightenment or regressing into barbarism. I don’t know whether biotechnology and nanotechnology will fuse to give us immortal physical bodies or if we will all croak as our mistreated planet falls apart. I don’t know if anything special will happen on December 21, 2012. I don’t know if I should start a riot or throw a party. I don’t know whether to panic or relax.

Something seems to be happening that is beyond my capacity to understand or articulate. I can only assume other people are feeling this way as well. We are witnessing the collapse of the old, rigidified structures, while the new hasn’t come into realization yet — that is, if there is going to be a new anything. A change seems to be happening at the level of logic, which is becoming less dualistic, less “either-or,” and more binary, “both-and.” Former diametric opposites are moving toward confluence, as well as dissonance, in various areas: Like tweaked out psychonauts, the physicists at CERN discuss opening portals into other dimensions. As the financial system evaporates, incredible new gizmos like Pandora and Cool Iris spread freely on the Internet. Obama references Chicago 1968 in his acceptance speech at Grant Park, then hires as his economic advisers the guys who, under Clinton, deregulated the banking system, causing the current disaster.

Reality is becoming more improvisational and up-tempo. Although I don’t pretend to have certainty about it, the ideas that Jose Arguelles, Terence McKenna and others have proposed about time speeding up and going through ever-faster fractal spirals of historical pantomime — including, alas, the mass suffering usually caused by historical convulsions – seem increasingly on the mark. If we are shifting away from dualistic separation and linear logic to a binary thought marked by polarities, this also suggests a shift from the modern historical perspective to a revived mythological consciousness. Like processes in the unconscious, myth resolves oppositions through symbol and image, without need of rational explanation. A society that reintegrates mythic thought at a deeper level of awareness will be able to handle seemingly contradictory perspectives without breaking down.

I don’t know if we will live to see the birth of such a new worldview as part of a regenerated civilization, or if we only get to see the decline and fall of our current dinosaur. It does seem that ever-increasing numbers of people are done with it and ready to move on, but move on to what?

Some theorists propose we have reached a point in evolution where we have the capacity to consciously co-create reality, and choose our own script for the future. Sometimes, this feels fuzzily plausible to me. On the other hand, our past actions and intentions have created the reality we experience now. It seems highly unlikely we can phase-shift to hyperspace, the fifth-dimension, or whatever it is until we have learned how to take proper care of this material world and those who share it with us. Although maybe I am wrong and we will get a free pass. I just don’t know.

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18 Responses to IT’S A MYSTERY TO ME…

  1. Cindy says:

    And therein lies the perfection….”not knowing”. An open, empty mind, or a least one that stays with the questions, instead of filling it up with speculations. Here’s what I know for sure….life is short, very short, and nothing is guaranteed. I don’t have the foggiest idea what tomorrow will bring, so with this knowledge I try to spread love as much as I can while I’m here, that’s all. Love is the absolute…this I know.

    Cindy

  2. Denise says:

    ๐Ÿ™‚ Well now that is all good stuff!

    Meditate and listen to your inner side.

    Its all good and we will prosper and move forward no matter what! Oboma, a different view…no more than that.

    Take a moment to ask the Crones and Beasts…they will show you this is not a thing to worry about.

    Put your thoughts on the things that feel good to you…it will spread.

    Be easy, enjoy and picture well-being.

    Good Sunday to you!
    Denise

    That we look for more is a great step…the leading edge is a gift to our children.

    • Susan McElroy says:

      Denise, like you, I have a sense that all this calamity is for the good. Much of it affects me personally on a scary financial level, and yet I have to say underneath it all, I have a sense of exhilaration. My spirit says to me, “Hooray! It’s about time! The great turning is here! Of course, I don’t know….!

    • Susan McElroy says:

      Hi Denise, When I try to write you from my contact connection, your email bounces back to me! Have you taken Kelly’s address and written it into your mail service, like composing a message from scratch? Try it if you haven’t.

      You aren’t allowed to post photos on a blog when you send comments. The way I get those folks in our “community” is, they write me here at my email address and send me the photos,and I stick ’em up on the blog! Took me a week to learn this….!

      No comments on the meditation, but you ought to post a followup and ask the group. That might be a good way for a reply!

      Also, Denise, I just have no words for how grateful I am for the interest you have taken in this little community. You and Cindy are the cornerstones, you know? Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

  3. Carter says:

    The past is no danger. Every thing after now is a mystery. So, why worry. It’ll just give you a stomach ache.

  4. Cindy says:

    Maybe I missed something? Is there a meditation offered, or is it something already posted? Inquiring minds want to know!

    I had a thought….what if there was a suggested query or topic posted for consideration as a meditation for the community? For those who would want to participate we could then post our thoughts, perhaps share where our own personal meditation took us. Just an idea. I know I always gain fresh new insights when others share their thought processes on a subject. Sometimes the simplest shared idea or perception can completely shift my mind and I grow in a new direction.

    Whatcha think?

    Cindy

  5. Ann Parker says:

    “I don’t know” is pretty much my mantra as well these days. I just try to ride it all out. I found a little book that helps me in my attempts to do this … “When Things Fall Apart” by Pema Chodron.

    Being somewhat of a science nerdette, I was intrigued by this comment in the essay: “time speeding up and going through ever-faster fractal spirals of historical pantomime.” I shall have to look up that reference!

    • Susan McElroy says:

      Ann, if you can translate that quote about “historical pantomime” into English, I’d love it! And I, too, have found much good in Pema Chodron’s book. Simple and deep.

  6. Denise says:

    001! Gals, get me back to the point where I can send an e-note to Kerry or Susan or cindy and it gets through(wish I had a 12 year old near by to just fix this!) ๐Ÿ™‚ And finally send a Photo!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

    My mother (78 this Saturday past) slipped and fell. She is now one foot on this planet and one foot…? I am the only child. Steady is the thing that comes to mind. My mom has always liked 4 footers better than 2! She, like my Great Grand-mom could speak to Horses and many other animals. Mom would say “D.B. look into the eyes and listen! Mom and these beautiful animals seemed to understand each other and be really be good friends.

    I’m open to your musings, your good thoughts and if anyone can explain the CONSTANT squawking of the big Ravens (or crows?) outside her window please enlighten me( they were also present at the 1st of the month meditation). The spring winds are coming, the winter woes are easing and I’m wondering about the direction that this all wants to take.

    My dog Lola has been restless, sick to her tummy and especially close to my mom these past days. She seems to be mirroring my mothers condition. I’m also aware of a very, very persistent red fox, this one is darting in and out beneath our windows and challenging the bunnies not seeming at all concerned about us humans.

    Thanks for the energy and wisdom you may have to offer. I consider myself a pretty “knowing” gal but am feeling a bit off beat with my mothers journey.

    Hugs,
    Denise (D.B.)

    • Susan McElroy says:

      Goodness, Denise! I’m so sorry about your mother! For me, Ravens are the intermediaries between earth and spirit. They take the messages into the void, then return, carrying messages from spirit. Crows, you know, are about treasure! And magic. The fox being so bold would certainly have a message for you, but I have no clue what. I’m sure you’ll sort that one out. Denise, I’m glad you are feeling offbeat. There would be something wrong with you if you not touched by this. I send you my prayers, and will keep your mother in them when I do my equinox pipe meditation tomorrow. Blessings to you during this unsettling time.

  7. Ann Parker says:

    Hello again!
    I’d have to think about/research the “historical pantomine” business … it’s a lovely turn of phrase. Without really trying to track it down, I picture a silent movie, with the same scenes on a loop, moving faster, faster, faster… so, for instance, wars occur more often and within a tighter time frame. Or economic crashes occur at increasingly shorter intervals. (I’m not saying they do … I’m no economist! … but just offering examples.)
    Here’s a lovely fractal pattern:
    http://tech.petegraham.co.uk/category/fractals/

    Basically, a fractal is a pattern that repeats in ever-smaller versions of itself. Whoa! I’m not sure that makes sense. I blame the hour of the night in which I’m writing this…

    • Susan McElroy says:

      Wow, that fractal is so beautiful! My own scientific knowledge of such things stops with the neat show I saw about fractals on the discovery channel. Now, that “historical pantomine” thing—I was thinking “historical pantomiMe” which makes it even more mysterious…!

  8. kerry says:

    Hi there all. Just catching up here after a few days out of the loop…

    Denise, so sorry about your mom. I have gone to my animal books by Jamie Sams and Ted Andrews to try to intuit an answer for you about the animals. Most certainly there are messages for you. Fox is my primary totem and Raven is prominent, so I was hoping for some lightening bolt insight. The only thing I have to offer is this about Fox from Animal Speak….

    “…Because it is a creature of the night, it is often imbued with supernatural power. It is often most often visible at the times of dawn and dusk, the “Between Times” when the magical world and the world in which we live intersect. It lives at the edges of forests and open land – the border areas. Because it is an animal of the “Between Times and Places” it can be a guide to enter the Faerie Realm. Its appearance at such times can often signal that the Faerie Realm is about to open for the individual.”

    Perhaps fox is there for/because of your mom. My prayers are with you.

    Kerry

  9. Ann says:

    Whoops! You’re right Sue, it’s pantomime (with two m’s). I shouldn’t try to type late at night…

  10. Cindy says:

    Hello everyone….

    I was away for some very needed nature healing. Visited the Daniel Boone National Forest for most of last week. What remains a mystery to me is how I can have such a good grasp of how to live my life “in the flow”, calm and pretty serene, then Wham! Bam! something completely out of the blue just knocks you on your butt. Well, I don’t know why this happens, I don’t know why I had to deal with what I had to deal with a coupe of weeks ago, I’m still deciphering the lessons in it. But what I came away with after a few days in the woods was this……the Universe shines a very bright light on what needs healing in our lives, and we shun it more times then not. But in it’s infinite love for us it will keep shining it’s light on whatever it is that needs attention……until we stop and heed the gift it contains. I am humbly grateful for the knowledge gained this last week, knowledge that has led me to see I need to take better care of myself FIRST, to not be afraid to ask for help when I need it and to never underestimate the benefit of a really good cry.

    I’m back now……I’m definitely on the mend and I’m thankful for you all and your delightful stories, wisdom and friendship. Now, I will contemplate the “mystery” of the last two weeks some more, and maybe gain an insight or two….or maybe not, I don’t know. But all is well……….

  11. Denise says:

    Good Morning,
    I’ve missed you all! Thanks to all who sent much energy and interest in my mothers condition; as it turns out she was swirling from many years of Prescriptions (too many and most not needed) and a life of feeling uncertain as to her worthiness. I have taken on the commitment of showing her that she is a valuable part of this world. Gone now are almost all of the medications and her body and mind are starting to notice one another! In fact I’m getting to know a new mom too.

    I know this format is not really for this kind of thing but I wanted to share and ask for your continued energy and powerful thoughts. I think I’d like to write about her story but not sure how that would be done.

    Spring has hit Northern Michigan, the Tree Peepers are my Carnige Hall! It amazes me every time the next season shows up, so magical. I hope this day gives you all the chance to enjoy the things you love…

    Hugs,
    Denise (D.B.)

    • Susan McElroy says:

      Wow, Denise, such good news about your mom! Carter and I know all too well what too many medications can do when they all mix up in your system. I’m so very glad you are getting to know a “new” mom. How prescious! And…this IS the forum for these sorts of things. Where else?! Good to have you back!

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