LESS EGO / MORE SOUL

Is it the curse of the human experience that we may never truly experience what it is like to love unconditionally? Sure it may be possible for some of use to love an individual – a child, a pet, a lover – “unconditionally”, but isn’t that love still bound by the condition of the character we have dedicated our love to?

Is it possible to even love humanity unconditionally? To greet every stranger with love; to marvel at their own unique beauty, no matter how “ugly” the packaging may sometimes be.

I stand in awe of an apple tree, which offers the fruits of it’s blooming love so generously, without discrimination. All are welcome to receive its nourishment; no matter one’s sins. After all, did you know that the true meaning of the word “sin” is actually most accurately translated to “missing the mark”?

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,

“You owe Me.”
Look what happens
 with a love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.
—Hafiz

Recently I have been following the work of Charles Eisenstein in his exploration of what he calls “Sacred Economics”. In his book, he explores our historical relationship to money, it’s original purpose and the now warped addiction we have to paper, metal and plastic in this “Age of Separation”.

There are three points he makes that I would like to summarise here, as these insights have really inspired me to adopt a healthier relationship with the universe…

1. We are all born helpless infants; creatures of pure need with little resources to recipricate, yet we are fed, protected, clothed, held and soothed, without having done anything to “deserve it”. This experience, common to everyone who has made it past childhood, informs some of our deepest spiritual intuitions. Our lives are given us; therefore, our default state is gratitude. This is the truth of our existence.

“No wonder ancient religious thinkers said that God made the world, and no wonder they said God gave the world to us. The first is an expression of humility, the second of gratitude. Sadly, later theologians twisted this realization to mean, “God gave us the world to exploit, to master, to dominate.” Such an interpretation is contrary to the spirit of the original realization. Humility knows that this Gift is beyond our ability to master. Gratitude knows that we honor, or dishonor, the giver of a gift by how we use it.”

2. Everything that is sold today was originally a part of the commons – included in the package of life, for all of us to enjoy. As our society has progressed into this Age of Separation however, elements of our communal wealth have been, in effect, stolen to create the commodities traded throughout the world today. You can trace all the materials used for a thing, back to its natural source. This idea of property has perpetuated the ego’s attachment to “mine” and “yours” as we divide our world into increasingly smaller fragments. This is a wound we all feel subconsciously and is perhaps most obvious in the example of property. No longer do we have the luxury to enjoy nature’s beauty like the free animals we were born to be, as our land has been divided and christened with signs proclaiming “PRIVATE PROPERTY – KEEP OUT”.

Take a walk through the country and all humans are bound by the laws of trespassing to stick to the dusty main road while a swallow may carelessly explore whatever territory it wishes.

3. “The urge to own grows in natural response to an alienating ideology that severs felt connections and leaves us alone in the universe. When we exclude world from self, the tiny, lonely identity that remains has a voracious need to claim as much as possible of that lost beingness for its own. “If all the world, all of life and earth, is no longer me, I can at least compensate by making it mine.” Other separate selves do the same, so we live in a world of competition and omnipresent anxiety. It is built into our self-definition. This is the deficit of being, the deficit of soul, into which we are born. And, because there is no apparent limit to what money can buy, our desire for money tends to be unlimited as well.”

I encourage you to indulge your mind in the brilliance of his writing, on a subject that is important for all of us to understand.

You can read Sacred Economics online for free here.

(c) Sarah Blake

Light and Dark are the original children of the divine duality.

Children, both equal in their merits and caveats, though in many ways humanity appears to favour light as the more benevolent, “spiritual” and higher of the two.

Enchanted, we often associate Light with purity, goodness, spirituality, cleansing and the soul.

Darkness, in contrast, is often related to debauchery, evil, fear and pain.

While darkness may amplify our fear of the unknown, Light, banishes the unknown, limiting possibilities and calming the insecurities that rise in the face of uncertainty. With light, creation is limited and our imagination is restrained – lest we forget that it is actually in the dark where all is equal and free.

Dark benevolently passes no judgment; she loves unconditionally.

Light on the other hand, illuminates what would otherwise be unknown. It gives shape to the energy that surrounds us, allowing us to perceive the interactions that take place in our environment. We feel safer and more secure in the light as form takes on a more familiar shape.

However, is it not light that inspires our judgments; separating form from form with the boundaries of “this” and “that”, “me” and “you”, “us” and “them”?

Is light then not the instigator of separation, and darkness facilitator of unity?

“All colours will agree in the dark.”  – Francis Bacon