Reality

Recently I revisited two posts I published in May 2009 on “reality” (you can find those below this post).

Looking at reality today, it seems that it is a concept that is perhaps more fluid than it was then — and as it is changing, it seems to begin to mean different things to different people…

From a spiritual perspective it is said that we are creating our own reality, mostly through the choices we make in life. Other things that probably are in play are our wishes and desires, our overall outlook on life, and our attitude about (our) life in general.

So, if we embark on the adventure that is our life — say for this week — with a positive attitude, with wishes and desires that are truly important to us, and we make our choices accordingly… Chances are that our reality will bring us closer to make our lives even better in whichever way we define our lives to be “good”, or “better”.

Yet the moment we are starting to keep track of the things that are actually happening in the world around us, the bubble of our personal reality — that we are carefully building through our choices, attitudes, wishes and desires — may burst!

In other words, what we see happening in the world around us — or even on a global scale — seems to be a far cry from what we wish our personal reality to be, and it seems easy to “get sucked into the drama of the rest of the world”…

So, which one is the true reality? 

Does this mean that our personal reality is somewhat of a phantasy world, and should we “get with it” and be a full participant in the reality of the world around us?

Or is there value in maintaining our personal reality? Could it be that the example of how we are creating our own, personal reality can become a tool others can use also to make their lives easier and more fulfilling?

And if that is so, should we push the point, or rather continue to set the example?

They are all interesting questions, giving raise to interesting perspectives. It gives me pause to think about my personal reality. My personal qualification of how good — or perhaps not so good — my life is, and what I can do about it to make it even better…

Granted… It is not necessarily an easy path. It is a path that requires honesty, integrity, and taking responsibility for our words and actions — sometimes because something didn’t work out well, yet more often by giving ourselves a pat on the back, acknowledging that we did a great job…

In doing so, we are bringing more and more things that are happening in our lives back under our control — after all, they came into our lives through our own choices — and we are truly starting to live our own lives…

What does your reality look like?

Reality #1

In order to have a look at expanded, alternate, or even parallel realities, it is a good idea to first look at reality as we know and understand it. According to the dictionary, reality is ‘existence that is absolute, self-sufficient, or objective, and not subject to human decisions or conventions.’ It is the physical world around us.

But what if there is more to it?

Some of us may be aware of reality in a manner that allows them to know more about things that are happening or people they meet, than they could know from a logical, physical perspective. For instance, knowing when someone is telling the truth, when someone is not telling the truth or is holding something back. Or knowing the emotions that the other person is feeling...

This awareness of reality can be described as awareness of an expanded reality, in the sense that one is aware of things that are not physical (yet) or logical.

Alternate realities seem to be tied to a ‘what if’ scenario. What if I had decided to do things differently, for instance, different education, different job, different place to live or even a different relationship? What would my life, my reality, look like then? 

And looking at each decision that we could have made differently, another alternate reality is presented to us. However, in our lives, in reality as we know it, these alternate realities are exclusive in the sense that they do not all exist at the same time. Once the decision is made, the reality is set.

And herein lies the difference with parallel realities, as they exist next to one another at the same time. The most obvious perspective on a parallel reality is that this ‘other’ reality exists on a different frequency of energy; a less dense, less physical reality perhaps.

Maybe even a reality in which magic rules, where mystical creatures are alive and real...

If that is the case, the fairy tales we grew up with are more than stories that teach us moral values; they are stories that tell us about where we can touch that other, magical, parallel reality. How we can interact with it.

To a lot of young children this is not weird, special or far out; they have their physical friends they play with, go to daycare with etc. And they have their invisible friends. Sometimes in the shape of people, often in the shape of animals. And these, to the rest of the world invisible friends, are very real to them! Making it not a parallel reality, but more of an expanded reality...

All in all, reality has to do with what is real; which to some people is something different than to other people.

Personally, I like to revisit the concept every once in a while, if only to evaluate what is real to me...

First published in May 2009

Reality #2

Going back to the perspectives on reality the movie Star Trek presents us with, ‘reality’ is something a lot more flexible than what we might perceive it to be.

In our ‘real’ world, reality is set in an arena that is defined by time and space. And in this definition, time is seen as chronological, ensuring that events take place one after another, rather than all at once.

Research has shown that this is not necessarily how time functions in space; or in our reality for that matter! When we travel at great speeds, for instance in a drag car race, time seems to slow down. The line of thought a drag car racer can complete in the 3.something seconds of the race, is beyond impossible to recount after the race, when the person is interviewed.

Something similar occurs in space where time is concerned.

This opens the door to a perspective that says: maybe it isn’t reality that has so many different shapes and/or forms; maybe it is time that is so flexible that how we perceive time dictates how we see reality. Or which reality we see...

In the Star trek movie, when the Older Spock and the Younger Spock meet, two alternate realities are happening in the same arena ~ in the same place at the same time. And each version of Spock intends to live their own life from there, leaving the possibility to meet again ‘in the future’.

In the reality we are presented with at this point in the movie the place part of the arena of reality is fixed ~ both Spocks are in the same place. The time part of the arena is where past and future meet; where both alternate realities are folded into one: reality.

Here is where, at least to me, the whole concept becomes mind-boggling.

Because if time is so flexible that past and future can meet at the same place; being part of the same reality ~ then could it be true that all time is in one moment? (Certainly gives a different perspective to ‘being in the moment’)

Yet, if all time is in one moment, the only thing that defines the arena for reality to exist in is place. And in this place, in this moment, all physical, expanded, alternate and parallel realities are happening at once as part of one REALITY.

In this REALITY, we can meet our alter egos, interact with them, learn from them... This means that in this scenario of REALITY, we can change our lives and our experiences mid-stream as at any point in the experience we can chose a different alternate reality to follow.

It is a concept that says that when we are truly living ‘in the moment’, all realities become one REALITY that we can shape and mold the way we desire it to be...

Wow!

First published in May, 2009

The Hermit Inside of Me

It is time to honor the silence

To hear the whispers of the wind
The murmurs of the mind

It is time to be

The space that is

The energy that is me

The hermit inside of me

That quiet, secret, hidden part of me is needed 

To restore the balanced wholeness

The hermit inside of me speaks of different times

Other experiences throughout time and space

The hermit inside  of me listens with focused intent

To that which isn’t seen, or seems out of place…

The moment of change is here

There is a quiet energy in the air…

The temperature is neither cold, nor warm

It is neither light, nor dark

A breeze touches the trees softly…

People are going about their business

Yet the market square seems larger as they cross it

The path through the forest is longer than anyone remembered

As the wind clears out the last leaves on the ground…

The roads and pathways have an emptiness about them…

As if everything that used to occupy them has left

And everyone is waiting in quiet anticipation

While the wind picks up, and whispers: “Change…”

The space we live in is ready to receive all that is new

The soil is awaiting new trees to be planted

The air is fresh, and breathing is easy

As we are invited to step into this opening in space and time

To discover new things about ourselves

To express our newly recognized selves in new ways

To bring out the best we can be…

To build a world from Love, and Light, and Peace

The earth is cleansed, and ready to support us

To listen to our wishes and desires, our voices

Singing ancient songs that have never been heard before

That are carried on the whispers of the wind…

So fill this quiet energy with life, and dance, and song

There is no need to wait for permission

How you live the expression of your unique self

Is ultimately just your decision…

Return of the light

It is that time of year again when the light returns.

Whether we look at it from the physical, seasonal perspective of the Winter Solstice or from the perspective of the celebration of Christmas — these last days of the year are marked by the return of the light. Or Light as the case may be.

With that, it starts a time of new beginnings. The most obvious one the beginning of the New Year. And that often spills over into our lives when we start the year with our New Year’s Resolutions; our decisions to make the New Year even better than the old one has been. To set out to become an even better person than we have been up to now in our lives…

With the physical return of the light on the Winter Solstice, our vital energy starts building again, enabling a greater focus on everything we want to accomplish over the next year. At the same time the days are growing longer again, literally shedding more light on just about anything we focus at so that we can see it with more clarity.

With the return of the Light as we celebrate Christmas, the inspirational Light returns. This is the Light that guides us — and while some may see this Light as outside of themselves, others will experience it as the inner connection to the highest counterpart of themselves. As this Light returns, it brings us closer to the (higher) wisdom we need to make the best, the wisest decisions in order to move ahead on our personal paths.

It means that just over a couple of days, both the physical light as well as the inspirational Light come into our lives to give us that opportunity to set our goals for the New Year — whether these goals are personal or even global. Independent from our drive to come up with the best New Year’s Resolutions, or whether we have given up on those entirely (as we tend to forget about them, sometimes as early as January 2nd when ‘real life’ begins again), we are pushed to look ahead, to make plans and set goals.

The timing gives us all the tools to see clearly what we want to do, and why. It gives us the light and clarity to envision the structure through which we will achieve the goals we set out to achieve…

This makes this time of year — on top of all of the celebrations — a truly productive time of year as well. Even if you just use it to create a little list of the ideas and plans that come up so you can revisit them later.

First published 12/25/2016

Song Lines

Although I have never been to Australia, Song Lines are an intriguing concept to me.

Let’s start with a description of Song Lines…

For the Aboriginals all land is sacred and alive. Their ancestors gave it life in singing, and gave them life through song, and dwell in the land still. Therefore songs must be continually sung to keep the land "alive". In singing, they preserve the land, the story, and the dreaming of their ancestors, and in doing so recreate it in their oneness of past, present, and future.

For me this ties in with my shamanic path, as well as with the understanding that we are the creators of our own lives.

But how many of us actually create all things in our lives with purpose, in such a way that a oneness with past, present, and future is (re)created with every step we take?

Looking at myself, I tend to look at something — one thing — I want to create or manifest in my life. And depending on whether I just desire to have this thing, or whether I really need it in my life, the manifestation of it happens faster, or in some cases, not at all.

In my efforts, I turn all of my focus to this one manifestation. And in doing so, I let my Self, and the rest of my life, ‘roll with the punches’.

Through Song Lines, the Aboriginals recreate all that is with every step they take on the path of life. They not just recreate their Selves, they recreate nature and the path they are walking through nature. And in doing so, they remember the age-old pathways, the wisdom of those lines, and they acknowledge the sacredness of the land and nature.

I have often wondered what would happen if I would do the same thing. I would need to do it in a manner that fits our culture and that suits my life...

I might not actually sing it — although making up the songs would be a great deal of fun — but my singing is not that good (and this is just the first of a bunch of reasons not to sing these things out loud). 

But what if I started acknowledging all the parts in life that are good to me, that are working for me — all the things that enrich my life? They would include people, and that which provides my income. They would also include parts of me that I have ‘inherited’, like a family history, or values that are part of the culture I have grown up in…

However, I think I would start with acknowledging my Self.

Singing the song of how my body as the perfectly healthy temple of my soul. The song of how my mind is strong, and can give direction to my path. The song of how all my experiences are precious for what they have taught me...

I would start with singing “I am”…

First published April 23, 2009