My morning meditations have been taking through the issue of materialism this week, through the turning of two tarot cards that warn of this. Taking the message contained within these cards as a starting place for meditation, I have come to see a number of things.
I have felt the challenge of what I actually value, and where I place my personal values. What is it that is of actual worth to me, and why are these things of worth? Where do I place my confidence and trust? Is it in what I do? What I own? Or is it in my intrinsic self and my relationship with Spirit?
The material isn't wrong. I live in this world, in this incarnation, and I am here for a reason. This world, this life, is here to be celebrated and enjoyed. However, just as I walk lightly on the earth, in honour of the Earth Mother, do I also hold material things lightly, or is ownership and the act of possession more important to me?
The material has the potential to block my relationship with Me, and also with Them. It can be one of those guy-ropes that stop the balloon from journeying into free flight. Materialism becomes a problem from the value and worth that I place in things - do I appreciate things, places and even people for who and what they are and their unique and special contribution that they themselves bring, or for what I can personally get from them? Is the value about them, or is it about how I can personally benefit?
This has sent me on a journey of searching my heart, understanding what it is I seek, and why I want it. It's been a journey of moving away from personal ownership and control to an appreciation, a sense of valuing each thing and each person that is important in my life. It's a recognition of the value and worth in everything simply because they are - not for what they offer. It's not about how I benefit from each thing and person, rather it's about the spirit, the gifts, the unique contribution each person and thing brings. It's about celebrating them, not what I receive.
This releases the trap of rivalry, of comparison and jealously and manipulation. It brings value and worth to all, and celebrates the life force in everything. It exposes the danger of attachment and neediness that often results from buying into that which is simply illusion. It nourishes and edifies spirit whilst moving away from the celebration of ego.
Again, another process rather than an event, but following the things that I have been shown this week, I truly am looking at people, things and places in a new way and in a new light.
Showing posts with label Illusion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illusion. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Monday, 26 May 2008
The Illusion Of Ego
This is going to be short, but I just need to get a few things down from my thoughts and feelings of yesterday before I loose or forget them!
This posting carries an 'Incoherent Rambling' warning, as I'm thinking aloud, trying to grapple with my thoughts of the past few days. I doubt this will make any sense. It needs to be read together with yesterdays posting, and my reply to Tess on my Comments section.
Dion (Fortune) talks about the letting go of the 'bondage of the senses' which feels somewhat different to Ego as I have understood it to mean in the past. What I also find interesting, however, is that Dion hints at 'Westerners' struggling with this concept, so it could be that she was influenced by the Eastern concept of ego, which in Buddhism, is illusion and this illusion goes on to perpetuate all illusion. Could it be that the bondage of the senses, as described by Dion, has more to do with ones illusion of self, as opposed to who one really is? This would then tie in with the Witch's directive to 'know thyself' - and that is, to know who one really is, not who one thinks one is! In this instance it would be more about laying down falsehood, self delusion, false motivations, self seeking behaviours, passive-aggression, all those negative attributes that only work to attract negativity like a magnet, and only succeed in dragging one down into the mire. I don't think this is all that Dion means, but I do feel that it's a great part of it. Letting go of the lies of self illusion is part of the journey towards true initiation. It's about embracing the truth of oneself and letting go of the mask, the facade, that one may use to fool some of the people some of the time, but that which will never allow true connection to the One Divine Life. It's daring to look into the mirror that Goddess holds up for us to stare deeply into, and to really see who it is who looks back at us.
I think too, that there has to be something here about letting go of experiencing the world only through our physical senses. We experience the mundane world through our bodily senses, and this is fine, but it's not fine if we limit ourselves to this. As was said by an author whose name now escapes me:
and Dion must have had this in mind as well, as she wrote these pages.
I also think, however, that there is something of the 'little death' here, and that this presents something of a battle. It's not a death of the 'sinful self' as Christians would have us believe, as I don't believe that we are inherently sinful. I'm not even sure that I know what 'sin' is anymore, even if it exists at all. Dion talks a lot about the 'flesh' and this reminds me too much of the writings of St Paul in the New Testament, however, I do think that there's a letting go of that to which we cling. Where does my sense of identity have it's birth? What is it that defines me?
I can point to markers along my life path that have shaped me in some way, sense or form. I can point to life events, significant events, childhood trauma, teachers, school kids, ill health, many, many things that have shaped me - but who is the Me that they have shaped? This is simply the me that clings to this body, the me that sees death as a threat to survival, as an ending. As The End. This is not the me that connects to the One Divine Life. I think that part of what Dion talks about is the laying down of the Overcoat. The me that isn't me at all. The me that is simply a mass of adaptations from the myriad interactions that have molded me over the years into something unrecognisable. The me that clings to this body is all of the above and in the laying down of this illusion I will begin to open the door to the manifestation of the One Divine Life.
I hope this makes sense in the morning!
This posting carries an 'Incoherent Rambling' warning, as I'm thinking aloud, trying to grapple with my thoughts of the past few days. I doubt this will make any sense. It needs to be read together with yesterdays posting, and my reply to Tess on my Comments section.
Dion (Fortune) talks about the letting go of the 'bondage of the senses' which feels somewhat different to Ego as I have understood it to mean in the past. What I also find interesting, however, is that Dion hints at 'Westerners' struggling with this concept, so it could be that she was influenced by the Eastern concept of ego, which in Buddhism, is illusion and this illusion goes on to perpetuate all illusion. Could it be that the bondage of the senses, as described by Dion, has more to do with ones illusion of self, as opposed to who one really is? This would then tie in with the Witch's directive to 'know thyself' - and that is, to know who one really is, not who one thinks one is! In this instance it would be more about laying down falsehood, self delusion, false motivations, self seeking behaviours, passive-aggression, all those negative attributes that only work to attract negativity like a magnet, and only succeed in dragging one down into the mire. I don't think this is all that Dion means, but I do feel that it's a great part of it. Letting go of the lies of self illusion is part of the journey towards true initiation. It's about embracing the truth of oneself and letting go of the mask, the facade, that one may use to fool some of the people some of the time, but that which will never allow true connection to the One Divine Life. It's daring to look into the mirror that Goddess holds up for us to stare deeply into, and to really see who it is who looks back at us.
I think too, that there has to be something here about letting go of experiencing the world only through our physical senses. We experience the mundane world through our bodily senses, and this is fine, but it's not fine if we limit ourselves to this. As was said by an author whose name now escapes me:
. . . our consciousness is not dependant on the body, but can extend beyond the limits of the sensory world.
and Dion must have had this in mind as well, as she wrote these pages.
I also think, however, that there is something of the 'little death' here, and that this presents something of a battle. It's not a death of the 'sinful self' as Christians would have us believe, as I don't believe that we are inherently sinful. I'm not even sure that I know what 'sin' is anymore, even if it exists at all. Dion talks a lot about the 'flesh' and this reminds me too much of the writings of St Paul in the New Testament, however, I do think that there's a letting go of that to which we cling. Where does my sense of identity have it's birth? What is it that defines me?
I can point to markers along my life path that have shaped me in some way, sense or form. I can point to life events, significant events, childhood trauma, teachers, school kids, ill health, many, many things that have shaped me - but who is the Me that they have shaped? This is simply the me that clings to this body, the me that sees death as a threat to survival, as an ending. As The End. This is not the me that connects to the One Divine Life. I think that part of what Dion talks about is the laying down of the Overcoat. The me that isn't me at all. The me that is simply a mass of adaptations from the myriad interactions that have molded me over the years into something unrecognisable. The me that clings to this body is all of the above and in the laying down of this illusion I will begin to open the door to the manifestation of the One Divine Life.
I hope this makes sense in the morning!
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