Articles for February 2010
4 February
Security
Nothing
exists in free form - everything is inter-dependent on other forms of energy;
plants react to sunlight, tides follow the tug of the lunar cycle, predator and
prey are eternally locked in a mutually compulsive interface. Things are never
as isolated as they may at first appear. While the interconnectedness of natural
life is well known, some of us fail to realise that all of us are part of this
matrix. Indeed it is not possible to be excluded, whatever your belief system,
due to the fact that we share the same chemical building blocks as all other
life forms in the multiverse (as Hawkins would have it), we therefore follow, in
many ways, the same laws, attractions and interactive patterns as the rest of
creation.
The
energy that forms this grid of life runs, as invisible as the magnetism that
moved the iron filings in the classroom at school, like a celestial railway
track. What we take as independent movement on the physical level is often just
physical form following a non physical template. Because we believe that the
external aspect of life is the only “real”
one we assume that security at this level will keep us safe and secure. This is
an illusion of safety only: we may feel secure in a “good” job but may loose
it in a moment, partners of a life time may leave us in an instant, and those we
cherish may loose their health, or even their lives in a heartbeat. Life can
seem very fragile indeed.
True
security can not be found in the external world but comes from our ability to
connect with the cosmic power that creates all things. This holds as true for
those of a religious inclination as it does for those who see life as a
“flow” of energy.
Namaste
11 February
Samain
This
coming weekend, the time that most of us know as Halloween, is seen by Pagans
around the world, as an intensely spiritual time. It marks the beginning of the
Celtic New Year and is celebrated as Samain (pronounced so – en). It is the
time when different dimensions of reality come closer together, traditionally
the ancient burial mounds were opened and the Celtic Underworld became visible.
It was a time of great introspection as the great wheel of the year turned.
Samain
was divided into the eve of the festival, which was regarded as the magical,
spiritual time, and the day of the festival where the celebrations and local
gatherings took place at a sacred site such as a holy well or mountain. A major
part of these festivals was the mating of the God and Goddess in what was known
as the sacred marriage, thus ensuring fecundity for the year ahead. Ivy was
planted as the tree of “resurrection” and a sacred fire was lit from which
all the other fires in the land were re-kindled.
In the harsh climes of northern Europe the druids would carefully work
out the maximum number of cattle they could feed throughout the winter. The
surplus were ritually slaughtered, the meat preserved and the carcasses placed
on what were called “bone-fires” (from which we get bonfire). As the sparks
from these consecrated fires ascended to the heavens the ancients believed that
the souls of the dead cattle were returned to the cosmos to become available to
them as new calves in the following spring. Life, death, and rebirth were seen
as a cycle which was epitomized and perpetuated in the Samain rites.
In the
rural West of Ireland, on all the megalithic sites and in secret glades there
will be fires lit, as there have been throughout recorded history, as the Celts
give thanks and celebrate the eternal cycle. I am privileged to have experienced
these fabulous rites and this year I will be again. Blessed Be.
Namaste
18 February
Fear – The Separating
Factor in our lives.
As far
as we are able to tell we are the only species on our amazing mudball that has
the ability to direct our thoughts in any given direction. We are free, or so it
may seem, to think whatever we choose. It is this very act of choice that
induces philosophers to postulate that we are part of our own creation process,
that we share an aspect of divinity. The paradox though is that this very act of
freedom of thought allows us to stop this creative outflow in a heartbeat; we
disconnect with higher, logical and finer thought and become swamped by all the
things that could go wrong in our lives. We have the potential to be stopped in
our tracks, simply by fear.
From
when we first arrive as newborns we are indoctrinated into a certain way of
thought, our parents taught us the things that seemed relevant to them, most of
which is valuable but some of which is not. At the top of the “bad
information” pile is fear and our relationship with it. When we are very young
fear expresses most often as an unknown terror lurking in shadows which, as we
grow and our imagination expands, we feed until it takes form in our phobias and
our perceived weaknesses. These continue to be fed by our belief systems
throughout our life time until by adult life most of us have a whole box of
“fear” that we manage by keeping it under control or ignoring it wherever
possible.
This
fear, if you take it out of the box and analyse it, is always illusory. It does
not exist apart from the mind that created it. It is fuelled by the belief
system that you are separate from everything and everyone else and it is this
basic misconception that is all that needs addressing. The moment you realise
that you are not cut off from the rest of the universe you will see that there
is nothing to fear except fear itself.
Think
for a moment of what has stopped you living life to the full, from being aware
of the abundance around you. You will always find that the culprit is our
separating factor, fear. Try, just for one day, or for one hour, to ignore the
fear in your life, the results will amaze you.
Namaste
25 February
Stop and smell the…
sheep?
We are
in such a hurry all the time; our journeys are very seldom without purpose and
are mostly conducted with a sense of alacrity and single point focus which robs
us of the peace inherent in the present moment. Every now and then, in an act of
seemingly synchronous grace, we are forcibly but gently reminded of this.
This
week I found myself on the back-roads of the Connemara National Park, driving
through the passes of the Maumturk Mountains - one of the most beautiful drives
in the world. I know the area well, and as my thoughts were preoccupied with the
planning of the coming week, I found myself unaware of my surroundings –
familiarity breeds… and all that. I was driving through the landscape as
opposed to in it.
Coming
round a fast right hand curve I found myself confronted with just such a
reminder, in the form of a flock of about a hundred sheep in the middle of the
road ahead – the classic “Irish rush
hour” of postcard fame. There was nothing for it but to pull over, as far
as possible on the single track semi bog road, and wait for them to pass. With
mild annoyance I switched off the ignition still in absent minded “planning”
mode, and then I heard it; a high pitched series of whistles which transported
me back to another time and school boy stories of Black Bob the border collie. I
was enchanted. Stretched out in the valley below and ahead of me was a pair of
working sheep dogs working in such harmony that the flock, in spite of their
scatter brained tendencies, seemed to move as a single entity. The whistled
signals from the shepherd strolling, crook and all, behind the assemblage seemed
totally unnecessary; the dogs looked totally in control of the situation.
I found
myself relaxing into the scene and the valley came alive; the rush of a myriad
rivulets running down the mountains to the pearl drop lochs, the sigh of the
breeze over the gorse, the deep background gravitas of the steep sided gorges
through the mountains and the light so otherworldly that in Gaelic it is
referred to as Solas and infers not
just light but blessing as well. I stayed and watched long after the dogs,
bright eyed and obviously enjoying their life immeasurably, had brought up the
rear guard and swapped pleasantries with the farmer.
The pace
of the rest of my journey was totally different and I arrived at my destination
very much better off than when I started out.
Namaste
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