The Dangers of Dysconnection
For more than thirty years my work has been driven by an understanding that many – if not most – of the physical, psychological, social, spiritual, ecological, financial and energetic problems facing us have been caused by a profound dislocation: a failure to remember who and what we are, and to keep in touch with our fundamental Essence.
Though many others have had similar insights, the most important issue has always been to understand how to do something to help people to re-establish a healthy balance between each of these inter-linked components of ourselves. Not only so that we feel better but also so that we can unleash our own Innate Freedom.
This is a powerful statement that supports what I’m saying:
“When man loses the heavens, he loses himself. By far the most important elements of man’s being belong to the universe beyond the Earth and if he loses sight of this universe he loses sight of his own true being. He wanders over the Earth without knowing what kind of being he really is. He knows, but even then only from tradition, that the word ‘man’ applies to him, that this name was once given to him as a being who stands upright in contrast to the quadruped animals. But his scientific view of the world and technical culture no longer help him to discover the true content of his name, for that must be sought in the universe beyond the Earth, and this universe is considered to be nothing but a great system of machinery. Man has lost himself; he has no longer any insight into his true nature.”
–Rudolf Steiner (Croatian-born Austrian Mystic, Occultist, Social Philosopher, Architect and Founder of Anthroposophy, 1861-1925)
Integrating The Masculine and The Feminine
“The evolution of the Western mind has been founded on the repression of the feminine – on the repression of undifferentiated unitary consciousness, of the participation mystique with nature; a progressive denial on the anima mundi, of the soul of the world, of the community of being, of the all-pervading, of mystery and ambiguity, of imagination, instinct, body, nature, woman – all of which the masculine has projectively identified as “Other.””
–Richard Tarnas (American Philosopher, Cultural Historian and Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, 1950-)
The Silent Pulse
“At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm, a complex of wave forms and resonances, which is absolutely individual and unique, and yet connects us to everything in the universe. The act of getting in touch with this pulse can transform our personal experience and in some way alter the world around us.”
–George Leonard (American Aikidoist, President Emeritus of the Esalen Institute and Writer, 1923-2010)
Aligning Your Thoughts, Words and Actions
“Your thoughts should agree with your words, and the words should agree with your actions. In this world people think one thing, say another thing, and do something else. This is horrible. This is crookedness.”
–Sri Swami Sivananda (Indian Physician and Spiritual Teacher, 1887-1963)
Notes on a Musical Score
“Each individual life is as special as a note on a musical score where…each fills a designated space….When such individual musical notes are played together, a melody emerges; when nature, including man, responds appropriately through the intertwining of all its unique vibrations, harmony of life emerges.”
–Meredith L. Young-Sowers (American Writer and Creator of the Stillpoint Model of Integrative Life Healing)
Seeing the Whole
“We cannot possibly see the whole of what we are, if we persist in seeing the parts of our nature and nature’s parts as disassociated entities. Defining things without considering their relationships with other things is a fatal flaw in descriptive analysis.”
–Todd Siler (American Visual Artist, Educator, Inventor and Author, 1953-)
A Cause of Disease
“Disease of the body as we know it, is a result, an end product, a final stage of something much deeper. Disease originates above the physical plane, nearer to the mental. It is entirely the result of a conflict between our spiritual and mortal selves. So long as these two are in harmony, we are in perfect health: but when there is discord there follows what we know as disease.”
–Edward Bach (English Physician and Creator of the Bach Flower Essences, 1886-1936)
The Challenge of Our Nature
“Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature.”
–Dennis Gabor (Hungarian-born British Scientist, Developer of Holography and, in 1971, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1900-1979)
Don’t Read: Absorb Key Books
“If you merely read this book you will not reach the Way of strategy. Absorb the things written in this book.”
–Miyamoto Musashi (a.k.a. Shinmen Takezō, a.k.a. Miyamoto Bennosuke, a.k.a Niten Dōraku, Japanese Samurai, Swordsman and Founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of Swordsmanship and Author of The Book of Five Rings (五輪書 Go Rin No Sho), on Strategy, Tactics, and Philosophy, c.1584-1645)
“The Book of Five Rings (Shambhala Classics)” (Miyamoto Musashi)
Becoming Fully Alive
“These are the visionary, mystical moments, when a man ‘completes his partial mind’. His everyday conscious self is only a small part of the mind, like the final crescent of the moon. In moments of crisis, the full moon suddenly appears.”
–Colin Wilson (English Novelist and Writer on Philosophy, Sociology and the Occult, 1931-)
