GOLDEN AND DARK SHADOW REFLECTED IN OTHERS, WAIT WITHIN US, FOR OUR FREEDOM

All of us at some time in our lives, are confronted with parts of ourselves that get in our way, that limit us, and keep us from becoming more than we are.  It might be a manipulative behavior, or avoidance.  It might be an unexplainable attraction to bad boys, or even attraction to a “golden child” or person who seems to move in complete grace.  This is our shadow in action, and our ego instinctively looks away because shadow holds the limited portions of our personality and habits developed in the past that no longer serve, and are not part of conscious awareness. These are the parts of ourselves that we have learned to repress. 

Our dark shadow holds repressed negativity while our golden shadow holds our repressed potentiality.  These two aspects of shadow are the Guardians of the Threshold to spirit, to non duality, and to living in grace.  They prevent us from being all we can be, from reaching our highest potential, and from living our lives in the experience of heavenly, loving spirit. 

When we come to the same place with our science and our mysticism, the importance of understanding our viewpoint and our place in it cannot be denied.  That threshold of fear, where our own shadow keeps us from the non dual experience, is where I find most verbose folks whose need to rail against the world's ills might be threatened by taking responsibility for the world in a new morality.  This anxiety can be difficult to let go of, like the fear that guards the threshold.  Letting go of the need to find the world wrong so that we can feel right is releasing our own golden shadow.  What we cannot know without crossing the threshold, is that releasing the shadow is also stepping into it, and opening the door to infinite possibility for ourselves and our experience.  We choose possibility with our viewpoint, creating our experience, and when we cross the threshold and accept the will of God as infinite possibility, we accept all that is as our own.  The paradox can be unimaginable, especially to those who hold tight to fear, good and evil and its sweet fruit, me and not me.  The promise of the Kingdom and infinite possibility is just beyond, and so much more...

Excerpted from All About Living by Molly Brogan

Virgin Birth in the Human Heart

We are all born as animals 

and live the life that animals live:

we sleep, eat, reproduce, and fight. 

There is, however, another order of living,
which the animals do not know, 

that of awe before the mystery of being, the 'mysterium tremendum et fascinans,' that can be the root and branch

of the spiritual sense of one’s days.

That is the birth – the Virgin Birth - 

in the heart of a properly human,

spiritual life. - Joseph Campbell

Love Can Quicken

You surround me
With your voice,
 your smile,
 your touch,
And my limits
Dissolve.

You greet me
With your wisdom,
your knowing,
your caring,
And my heart
Opens.

You reach for me
With passion,
And strength,
And purity,
And the universe
Moves
To make room
For us.

We wait
Gathering energy
And love,
And combined faith,
For our time
To create
Destiny.

In the waiting
Eternal moments
Come one
After another.
In the waiting
Possibility opens
To connection.
In the waiting
Precious time
Opens eternally
And all is shifted
In the ways
That only love
Can quicken.

Listen:
the infinite echo
of all voices together
in waves of harmony
and disharmony
that create the aria
sung and heard
where union
is accomplished
and includes all
as individuals
in counterpoint
and concert;
a kiss
a touch
redemption.

Without a Word, an excerpt

Word

If only I could get into their minds, get to their words, since I cannot leave this chair to accept their offering.  If only I could understand, could know exactly how they color me, color themselves, then maybe…

Light

If only I could crawl behind their eyes and see what it is they select for their minds, select for the feelings that flow from their senses beneath their soft white skins.  The feelings that build and subside like ocean waves.  Together we could ride those waves.  And in this togetherness we could create a life for the ocean, a level for its motion.

Word

We would ride those waves as I do now, alone, in dream…Imagine – floating on top of the surf that rises, in rhythmic, undulating changes.  Rises to meet the white sky.  And as it descends, the sky is cast with the color of a prismatic sunset.  But now, in this space, my thoughts sink through coherent light, falling lower and lower into my darkness, searching for a semblance of time.  And as it sinks, my mind tells me that there is no connection.  That my thoughts cannot be theirs, even in word, in knowing, in screaming…for my scream is silent.

Dream

Space sinks in mink like a semblance of screaming connection, like a silent thought that falls to meet a final word, the word that sinks in sunset

Their my sinks in thought like darkness, searching the silent light for connection, for semblance like a scream searching for space

My mind sinks, searching for connection, searching for the light of thought in space, lowering the scream into a final, knowing heart

The connection sinks in word, a final, even darkness as in my heart a sunset screams for light, searching for a silent knowing

Shadow

During dream, shadow moves across the stage using her/his arms, in almost a swimming motion, reaches the door, and claws it with his/her hands like a dog paddling. 

Mirror

The door opens, mirror appears with a mask painted with the colors of a sunset.  Mirror rocks head back and forth a few times, then slams the door.

Shadow

 Shadow rolls back to the rug.

Word

Oh, that door…

Dream

That door that door that door that door that door that door that door that door

Word

Thoughts and visions

Dream

Thoughts and visions thoughts and visions thoughts and visions thoughts and visions

Light

Thoughts come in vision. 

Word

That’s it!  What is known is know through vision.  I take it from me, and give it to their words, so that they may have it.  But how do they take it?

Dream

Take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it

Word

Take this silent offering that screams in word.  How can this window be?  When what I see within, they see without.  Without me, but with me.

Shadow

Shadow stands and begins to shuffle in circles.

Dream

Within without within without within without within without within without

Word

I am within, I am without.  Here in this space, now looking to see the vision welling up inside in waves

Light

I see it, I feel it, I understand it, I know it, I take it, I give it, they see it, they feel it, they take it, they give it…

Word

Yes, I dreamt it last night.

Light

I dreamt myself sitting above a massive white sphere, with color revolving, the color mine, evolving around it.

Word

And in the dream I reached for the color and as I reached and touched, the color entered me, entered my body and rushed through my veins like a surging stream.  And as the color took shape in my mind, the shape of a million faces, color poured out of my eyes and returned to its orbit around the sphere.

Shadow

Shadow approaches the door in circular steps as dream:

Dream

I you he she it we you they I you he she it we you they I you he she it we you they

Mirror

The door opens, Mirror appears wearing a white, circular mask painted with orbital colors.  Shadow and Mirror meet in motion.

Dream

Me you him her it us you them me you him her it us you them me you him her it us you them

Mirror

Mirror recedes, the door slams.

Shadow

Shadow returns to rug in circular steps and stands while dream:

Dream

I me you you he him she her it it we us you you they them I me you you he him she her it it we us you you they them

Word

But what if…loathsome chair, I am not a child again.

Dream

Am am not am am not am am not am am not am am not am am not am am not

Word

But what if…

Artwork Robert Parker    Many thanks.

Excerpted from Without a Word by Molly Brogan

To Resist, or Resist Not - Does It Make a Difference?

RESISTANCE RECONCILES OPPOSITION AND GUIDES US FROM DUALITY TO NON DUALITY

Resistance itself is a tool for learning.  At the age of two, we learn the wonderful power of NO, and continue to use it until sometime as an adult we learn, that there isn’t no, there is only yes.  Because even when we use the word no, we are consenting to something – either feeding our ego by insisting that things go our way, or allowing our experience to flow with grace by offering “no” to others as a learning tool.  When we know the difference, we know that there is no other.  And no becomes yes.

Resistance itself is a measure of opposition, and there are enormous lessons to be learned and skills to acquire in reconciling opposites.  Indeed, many of the sacred teachings see the soul as having a function of reconciling opposites in fulfilling karma, repenting sin or mastering kundalini. On the conscious level, problem solving, conflict resolution and negotiating are all basic skills that are learned from childhood to adulthood.  They define our resilience and efficacy, and require mastery of resistance.  It is in the reconciliation of opposites as, often through paradox, as in the practice of Tao (“The cause and the effects are aspects of the same, one thing.  They are both mysterious and profound.  At their most mysterious and profound point lies the "Gate of the Great Truth.")  The practice of Tao requires that we can finally let go of our need for resistance and move in unity.

If we are living in a state of mind that is peaceful, does not judge, allows each their own view, and can hear and see spirit in all of experience - our direct experience will reflect peace, not violence to us. Each step of the process is formed by who we are in the moment.

Artwork Wassily Kandinsky  Black Violet.  Many thanks.

Excerpted from All About Living by Molly Brogan

Imagination is THE Key

AWAKENED IMAGINATION IS OUR CREATIVE AWARENESS AND ACTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS

Our imagination is our biggest asset and tool for creating our lives and daily experience.  If we limit our imagination, we limit our lives.  Although our imaginations are unlimited, there are different stages of imagination, from the more mechanical memory and fantasy, to the more creative awakened imagination.  All play an integral part in our lives, but the awakened imagination really holds the key to our quality of life.  We use it when we are experiencing vivid dreaming or creative dreaming.  It ramps up the quality and functionality of our dreams.  We use it when we are in the witness, seeing ourselves doing, thinking, feeling and living.  We use it when we are praying, unifying the one and the many within us.  We use it when we move our subtle energies through our chakras in meditation.  In other words, when we step out of our mechanical functions and move into our creative functions, we do so by using our awakened imagination.

I reached a point in my life where I understood unity consciousness, meaning that I am connected to everything in life, and everything in my experience is of me. After this, I developed a greater awareness of my role in creating this experience, and what it reflects to me in each moment.  Imagination is the key to this creative process.  As feelings arise that tell me I am limited or separate from everything and everyone, I have learned to habitually evoke my awakened imagination to create feelings like joy or rapture.  These feelings allow me to realize that I am part of the infinite wonders of creation and completely connected.  If I find myself with negative thoughts about another, I can recognize them and then evoke my awakened imagination, to think of something wonderful for myself and another.  Using this tool of imagination to corral thoughts and feelings allows me to create an internal environment according to my highest potential by maintaining a resonance of creative good, thus bringing what is good into my experience.

Exercising my awakened imagination has become a daily routine for me.  I think that the most efficacious times are right before sleep and upon waking.  Before sleep, if I can imagine the qualities and experiences that I desire in my life with awakened imagination, the quality of my sleep and dreaming is dramatically improved.  I engage more in vivid and creative dreaming and feel better rested during the day.  I truly believe that in this way, what I imagine my life to be, will become my experience.

 Excerpted from All About Living by Molly Brogan

Guardians of the Threshold

OUR OWN FEARS GUARD THE THRESHOLD TO SPIRIT AND OUR ENTRY

I love Rudolph Steiner's story about the Guardians of the Threshold, who guard our entry into spiritual awareness, until we understand that one Guardian is the golden part of us who's beauty is too blinding and we must look away (or accept our self worth) and the other Guardian is our dark nature that holds the archetypes of the thief, whore, and all other undesirable natures that we look away from and cannot own up.  Until we do, we cannot cross the threshold.  Once we do, the guardians vanish, because they ARE us. 

I think it is worth noting, that according to the Steiner teaching, once the threshold is crossed, the experience of the seeker changes to one who's experience does not contain direct violence and chaos - because duality is transcended, harmony can rule the day.  It does not mean that duality no longer exists, only that it is no longer the experience of the seeker who has crossed the threshold. 

You cannot cross the threshold into integration until you know that you can illuminate darkness yourself.  The first Guardian contains all of our fears in aspects of good and evil. These fears prohibit our crossing the Threshold until we reconcile all good and evil within and see them interwoven into our whole being.  The unseen then becomes seen. 

The second Guardian, our golden shadow, is a sublime, luminous beauty impossible to describe.  It holds our highest potential, and our low self image and our perceived limits keep us from embracing this Guardian and crossing the Threshold.  To embrace the second Guardian we must realize that our highest possibilities (unseen) within ourselves creates our character and that our world of sense is a seed ground for the higher world.  By embracing the second Guardian, everyone is redeemed and all are connected.  We cannot cross the threshold in separation.

Excerpted from All About Living by Molly Brogan
Artwork by Alejandro Silveira Bruno.  Many thanks.