As Above So Below

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We are living in a special time. Throughout the world there is a stirring and interrelation of forces never before experienced by mankind. Around us we see an unprecedented acceleration of the possibilities for change. Power potential’s have been released which threaten to upset cosmic balances.
Ironically, the more gigantic and astonishing our manipulation of these energies, the more puerile and insignificant our understanding of them.
Philosophers and scientists are coming to agree that not only do we need a deep acceleration in the present state of mankind, but that this radical shift depends solely upon our relationship to consciousness — the invisible, fundamental energy behind phenomenal existence.
As Juan walks the streets of the city, one is struck by the energies manifested through each human being — The results of the wishes, emotions, and physical movements, energies in incessant random motion. Inextricably bound to an entire fabric of events, we have no choice but to submit to the rhythm and momentum of our ordinary lives. yet, in the midst of the flux, a call to consciousness can be heard.
Is it possible to accept ones in evitable destiny, and, at the same time, open to the timeless, spaceless, essential movement? Can we microscopic entities, beset by our frailties and mal-training, initiate a radical transformation for ourselves and for the earth?
It is a sensitive task to open to the constantly changing patterns of inner and outer life. Although passivity prevails, possibilities are not limited. We have the help of ideas that can lead to the nurturing of openness. The secret is to use all that is offered, including life‘s difficulties, to remember the call to consciousness and to develop the world to respond. There are times when conscience alone, supplementing reason, can bring equilibrium and openness. The realization that one’s life is a waste for oneself and for others, that one lives here on earth without filling one’s purpose, brings the experience of conscience. Thus touched, one may be moved to another understanding. change, movement, liberation are possible. But until conscience, deeply buried in the subconscious, is aroused, one may never unveil the feeling needed to create and sustain the human link to another order of energy.

William Segal, The Structure of Man, 1987

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This story on Thomas Merton reminds us of how we make the world with our minds. How we see determines what we see, how we think, and what we decide to do.

If we see ourselves as destined to destroy the world there is no other possible future for us.

If we believe that we belong and are essential here, we cannot help but find how.

As the headwaters of all human action this is the place where the smallest of changes can have the greatest effects.

Macarius and the Pony
By Thomas Merton

People in a village
At the desert’s edge
Had a daughter
Who was changed (they thought)
By magic arts
Into a pony.

At first they berated her
“Why do you have to be a horse?”
She could think of no reply.

So they led her out with a halter
Into the hot waste land
Where there was a saint
Called Macarius
Living in a cell.

“Father” they said
“This young mare here
Is, or was, our daughter.
Enemies, wicked men,
Magicians, have made her
The animal you see.
Now by your prayers to God
Change her back
Into the girl she used to be.”

“My prayers” said Macarius,
“Will change nothing,
For I see no mare.
Why do you call this good child
An animal?”

But he led her into his cell
With her parents:
There he spoke to God
Anointing the girl with oil;
And when they saw with what love

He placed his hand upon her head
They realized, at once.
She was no animal.
She had never changed.
She had been a girl from the beginning.

“Your own eyes
(said Macarius)
Are your enemies.
Your own crooked thoughts
(said the anchorite)
Change people around you
Into birds and animals.
Your own ill-will
(said the clear-eyed one)
Peoples the world with specters.”

— from “Emblems of a Season of Fury”
New Directions, 1963

Repost from Joel Glanzberg, Patternmind

...and so, we must tend to the land along the ways we must tend to our bodies... in rhythm with the changing seasons, in sync with all that is current, and with daily awareness of balance and relationship to the web of life we rest within.

happy birthday, 福岡 正信 (masanobu fukuoka) (february 2, 1913 – august 16, 2008)

What are you planting this week, physically or metaphorically?

“The third and fourth quarters are after the full moon when the light is waning or decreasing, and the energy is drawing down.

The gravitation pull is high, creating more moisture in the soil, but the moonlight is decreasing, putting energy into the roots.
This is a favorable time for planting root time for crops, such as beets and carrots...”

https://www.gardeningbythemoon.com/moon-phase-gardening/

Moon Phases Planting by the Phases of the Moon Gravitational Pull Influences Moisture in the Soil Moon phase gardening is an idea as old as agriculture, popular

Where is the empty space in your day?
Where/How do you experience space in your life?

“Being intentional about creating spaces that allow for reflection and integration might allow us to better address some of the contradictions and tensions of modern life. Difference of opinion rarely seems to coexist peaceably, and transitions from home to work to home again are often marked by crowds and stress. There are therefore many ways we can make space in our lives.

Thinking about spaces in a ‘Japanese’ way can open up new ways of organizing our lives and focusing on the relationships that matter to us. Building spaces that deepen relationships (wa), generate new knowledge (ba), connect to the world around us (tokoro), and allow moments of quiet and integration (ma) can enrich our experience of the world and that of those around us.

Even the word for ‘person’ in Japanese, ningen, reflects differences in how interactions and identity are understood.
The first part (nin) represents a human being, and the second (gen) stands for space, or in-between. The understanding of a person isn’t distinct and atomistic, but rather is made up of the connections and relationships that people form as they interact with each other.”






https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1181019/the-japanese-words-for-space-could-change-your-view-of-the-world/amp/

The Japanese words for “space” could change your view of the world Do you view space as being empty or full?

"New ideas arise in physics not only because of experimentation & theory, but because our consciousness is ready to discover new aspects of the universe within ourselves... Training awareness, not curing illness, is the most basic task of medical practitioners.
Body symptoms are not only problems to be solved."

- Andrew Mindell, Quantum Mind & Healing

Our bodies are over 70% water. The Earth's surface is covered in over 70% water. Water is Life. The highest plant and animal biodiversity is found in areas with the highest moisture content.
Water is needed for the survival of all living organisms and living systems on the planet. It is a necessary component of cellular respiration, photosynthesis, chemical messaging, detoxification, vitality, etc.
We are a water planet.

The sun and moon affect our water bodies.
High tides and low tides are caused by the moon. The moon's gravitational pull generates something called the tidal force. The tidal force causes Earth—and its water—to bulge out on the side closest to the moon and the side farthest from the moon. These bulges of water are high tides.

As Earth rotates, the moon's gravity pulls on different parts of our planet. Even though the moon only has about 1/100th the mass of Earth, since it's so close to us, it has enough gravity to move things around.
As the Earth rotates, your region of Earth passes through both of these bulges each day. When you're in one of the bulges, you experience a high tide. When you're not in one of the bulges, you experience a low tide. This cycle of two high tides and two low tides occurs most days on most of the coastlines of the world.

When the earth, moon, and sun line up -- which happens at times of full or new moon -- the combined gravitational pull is amplified, leading to more extreme tides, called spring tides.

Happy Full Moon spring tides!





https://scijinks.gov/tides/

What Causes Tides? | NOAA SciJinks – All About Weather

When you observe a human or a group of humans engaging directly & in symbiotic ways with a natural environment, you find mutually healthy beings...

Soil bacteria and fungi serve as external "stomachs" for plants. They form symbiotic relationships with plant roots & exchange digested nutrients, providing nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients in a form that plant cells can assimilate. Reintroduction of the right bacteria and fungi facilitates the fermentation process in depleted and sterile soils. It is analogous to eating yogurt to restore the beneficial biodiversity of microbiota in your digestive tract.

The National Institute of Health’s Human Microbiome Project tells us to “think of ourselves as a ‘super-organism’, a residence for microbes with whom we have coevolved, who perform critical functions and provide services to us, and who outnumber our own human cells ten to one.”

Scale this up to a larger view, and the super-organism now becomes a part of a bigger organism’s functional ecology.

In this way, for mutual health of mind, body, & spirit, we must look at the relationships between humans and their natural living environments (which include communities of fungi, plants, insects, animals, water systems, landscapes, etc). When you observe an individual or a group of humans engaging directly in symbiotic ways within a natural environment, you find mutually healthy beings. And the sum becomes greater & healthier with its parts.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/276710/

Healthy Soil Microbes, Healthy People The microbial community in the ground is as important as the one in our guts.

“A church, to be a church, must be enveloped by a forest.”
—Dr. Alemayehu Wassie, forest ecologist

Take a 9-minute immersion with the church forests of Ethiopia through this film short. This integration of spirituality, nature appreciation & ecological preservation is a form of simple & creative solution-making any city and landscape could adopt and benefit from, regardless of religion.




https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/opinion/church-forests-ethiopia.html

Opinion | What Makes a Church? A Tiny, Leafy Forest In Ethiopia, church forests are withstanding environmental destruction — but just barely.

Why is it that the sounds of a rushing stream, crashing waves or rustling leaves help us to relax?

Fish aren’t the only ones who benefit & are attracted to the sounds of a natural environment, as is being discovered in experiments such as this.
The sounds of healthy, natural environments are beneficial to our health. They quell the body’s sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight response), allowing body’s restorative processes to revitalize. By resting adrenal response, the immuno-endocrine systems allow for cellular regeneration & repair.

On a micro-level, these healthy nature sounds are very similar to the sounds created within our bodies when fluid systems are functioning well. Aside from the belching pools of digestive juices and rushing bloodstreams which course our spiraling veins, there is the slow ocean tide of Cerebrospinal fluid, the winds of the lungs, the rolling of joints & such. Who is to say that our cells do not ‘feel’ healthy environments?

Harmony & Resonance...
In physics, resonance describes the phenomena of amplification that occurs when the frequency of a periodically applied force is in harmonic proportion to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts.

Underwater Speakers Help Revive Dying Coral Reefs, Study Finds As coral reefs die they become silent graveyards, however, the introduction of underwater loudspeakers brings new life and helps to rejuvenate the coral reefs.

In Gratitude to the Hopi people of the American desert southwest, the oldest native peoples of North America, who know & still hold these water ways so closely in practice and spirit.

Water is Life. It sustains people, plants, and animals. Scientists tell us that life began in water, and that both the earth's surface and the human body are about 70% water. When our bodies fade from this earth, our moisture once again becomes part of the great cycle of water... The sun warms the waters of the earth, the liquid evaporates into the atmosphere and becomes clouds. Clouds release life-giving moisture in the forms of rain, hail, sleet, and snow. Rain drops become aquifers, springs, streams and rivers which feed the lakes and oceans of the earth, and the process begins anew. Water connects all life together. It is sacred and essential to the well being of future generations. I pray that we recognize the stewardship responsibilities that we carry on this earth as human beings, and give thanks and honor the Wisdom demonstrated in the water cycle.

All thoughts originate from feelings,
And feelings are more powerful than thoughts.
-Nicholas Sand (1941-2017)

First to chemically synthesize DMT.
Co-creator of MDA & M**A, & “Orange Sunshine” L*D

The nervous system is an electro-chemical system, tying communications in both directions between the muscles, organs, and the brain.

The Vagus nerve, known as the 10th cranial nerve (of 12 cranial nerves), runs throughout your head and face down through your abdomen to your organs. It is the longest nerve in the body, and is considered an important influencer on the brain-body connection because of it’s ability to interface between feelings and thoughts. The vagus nerve affects parasympathetic (automatic) control of the digestive tract, lungs, throat, & heart, as well as turning off the ‘fight or flight’ stress response. Deep breathing (specifically the exhale) stimulates the vagus nerve to slow the heart-rate, lowering blood-pressure, & calming the body’s stress response. In visionary healing work, it is believed that the vagus is the divining center line of the intuition and empathy.

Physically, this branching nerve looks a lot like the fine roots of a plant. It is no wonder then, that practices such as ‘grounding’, Qi Gong, sitting under a tree, walking barefoot in a forest, or dipping under a cool waterfall can calm & strengthen the nervous system. When the nervous system gets fried (due to overactive stress response), it is like a an electrical wire short circuiting from putting out current without ground to discharge into.
Take moments throughout the day to create a conduit channel with the Earth or cycle slow deep breathing through your energy field to consciously allow electrical current to run a looping circuit. Additionally, there are many medicinal mushrooms that have been shown to benefit the human nervous system, much like how they benefit the roots of trees.

Tuning into the health of your nervous system can influence brain chemistry, feelings, and therefore your thoughts.

Like the earth, the human body is enveloped and permeated by streams of qi that link and enliven all its activities.
The human body is subject to similar rhythms and cycles as the garden. A person both embodies and interacts with the cycles - daily, monthly, seasonally, lifelong...

- Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese medicine, by Harriet Beinfield & Efrem Korngold