Have you ever noticed how many traditions ask you to start your exercise with the right side? “Now, reach out with your right hand …”
The right hand side is associated with action in the world. Sometimes, i feel sympathy for my left side. Like it always comes second, left out in the darkness, while the right side enjoys the limelight, the focus, the initiatory glow. While it shines for the world, my left side is left in the shadows, the unconscious realms compared to the conscious, the passive, the unknown. I always thought this was a patriarchy thing, but it seems to cross boundaries and occur even in the most goddess loving circles. Maybe it’s just an inherited trait, a cultural habit … but still, those come from somewhere too and they continue because they are supported and not undermined, dissolved, marginalised by a stronger habit, a better choice.
But it struck me as i stretched towards the sky with my right hand, that the left hand of darkness is not secondary, left behind or out, but the support for our action or work as we reach out. The left hand side is what holds us together as we go out into the world, as we seek aid and build alliances, as we stretch out beyond our comfort zone, as we test our limits. The left hand (and foot, etc) is what we rest in, rely on, hold to, act out of. We are grounded in shadow, whether we like it or not, when we present our light to the world.
And like all good spiritual insights, this also works vice versa; the right hand becomes support as our left hand reaches out into the world. Thus, we build confidence throughout our system, round out character, become more whole. It is a matter of balance; one side out, one side down. Then, the other side out, the other side down.
As above, so below; as right, so left; as in, so out … and so on. Let 2021 be your year of focusing on your inner world, as you act in the outer world, so that both act in consort, one grounding and supporting the other, in turn, until all paths become one, as they always were. An ecologically inspired politics, growing out of a deep sense of comfort with ourselves and with our role in the cosmic tragicomic drama; with our lives, with our deaths; with our feeling for what happens and with our dreams, with our breath and heartbeat and muscles and sinews and nervous systems and our entire bodymind and consciousness free of all limit as well. With everything.
How do we keep plugging away when the odds are against us? Whether we are environmental activists calling for climate justice or dealing with our own inner issues and challenges in life, we need to take care of ourselves if we want to keep going.This simple practice can do that in just a couple of minutes – or it can also lead to profound, long-term transformations and explorations of who we are.
We need to do two things on a daily basis:
stay grounded in the body and our own personal experience of life; and
expand our minds so that we also stay connected in the unlimited expanse and potential of the universe.
Both of these practices can be done at once, both are completely aligned with a scientific outlook (requiring no faith), and both can help us to feel both more liberated from worldly concerns and more inspired to defend our earth and what we hold dear from the ravages of capitalist exploitation.
To begin, get into a comfortable sitting position. Try to make sure you have as much chance of silence as possible. This is particularly helpful if you do not have a strong meditation practice behind you. Then simply focus on this with each breath:
Breathe in and feel the body; the way you sit, the shape of who you are, the fact that you are here. Allow your body to inform you of these facts: you are here, you were lucky enough to be born human, an intelligent, self-aware primate, consciousness manifest in mammalian form on a planet that sustains life. Out of the illimitable things that can happen in the universe, you being born was one of them. Against all the odds, you live, breathe and enjoy consciousness of this fact, every day that you wake up.
By breathing into the body and letting it remind you of who you are – a cosmic coincidence, a member of the community of souls on earth, a person limited and liberated by the very same fact of your humanity – you become more grounded in the everyday and more open-minded to the potential each of us is born with. To be at one with the universe, with our flaws and our passions, to be at home right where we are and to remain inspired to protect our home and all of life on this planet.
This perspective is both cosmic and existential at the same time and draws on two of my core foci over the past couple of decades: Zen meditation practice and the mythic dimension of life and consciousness. Both guide us to be in the body and free of its limits at exactly the same time.
Enjoy your wild life and this unrepeatable moment!
How do you feel in your body? Do you enjoy it? How does the way you move relate to the way your mind works? There’s no separation. Just as the universe is consciousness made manifest in physical reality – at least one kind of physical reality, which in itself is already insanely complex and diverse, let alone all the other possible dimensions lurking about within this one, or through intergalactic wormholes, or on the other side of a black hole, or laughing at everything from within black matter … so our bodies are consciousness, as countless messages sent from our pores, our internal organs, our senses and subtle perceptions. Our bodies make up consciousness, our minds feed off the physical sensations as well as the hopes and dreams within and all the infinite possibilities everywhere; but our minds can also roam endlessly, beyond physical limit and mortal frame.
Might as well enjoy it, hey? Walking should be a supreme pleasure. Being a self-aware primate, with the infinite potential of human consciousness – what an opportunity! Yet we too often allow the forces of socialisation to limit us. I’m an Aussie male, which means i have been entrained to keep myself pretty rigid; don’t dance with the hips (that’s ok for Latinos but not us) and definitely don’t walk with a rolling gait, as if you really enjoy it. Too gay! But I’m here to challenge the status quo, question the dominant paradigm, give it to the man (ooh that might be too close to the bone – ouch I’ve done it again!) … I’m here to Give It Some Mince! “Let the way that you move celebrate your life on Earth,” say I.
Now you all know what I’m talking about: walking. Walking like you mean it. Mince in Aussie slang is a kind of homophobic insult; it means waltzing about like a fancy pansy, probably with a limp wrist … but what if it feels good? When you get into your primate body and move about as if you mean it, you might find yourself using some muscles and moves that feel right, yet look … different. But if you are going to be true to what you are – “consciously evolving stardust, rising up out of the earth” – then you need to “front up in your body”, beyond socialised fears and tensions, so that we can “get a sense of our embodiment, as a part of the self-aware universe.” Coz “we’re living in an unrepeatable moment right now. Right Now!”
Hope you enjoy it. Please Like, Comment, and SHARE with everyone!
Put some bounce into the way that you cross that floor
Yeah give it some mince
Feel your way into your body and let’s explore
Give it some mince
Pump that walk, yeah
Let the way that you move celebrate your life on earth …
And give it some mince
Front up in your body, yeah
Give it some mince
Walk that talk
Get some pep into the way that you cross that floor
Yeah give it some mince
Sense the way that your body opens out through your pores
And give it some mince
Pump that walk, yeah
Let the way that you move celebrate your life on earth …
And give it some mince
Front up in your body, yeah
Consciously evolving stardust
Rising up out of the earth
Get a sense of your embodiment
As a part of the self-aware universe
And give it some mince!
Front up in your body, yeah
We’re living in an unrepeatable moment, right now
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If we have finally hit the point where we have to admit that our esteemed leaders are not listening – to us, to climate science, to the voice of hope for a peaceful, healthy earth – then it is probably also a good time to let ourselves synch in to a new way of evolving. I’m going to try to outline this in under 300 words, by using dot points, to illustrate that we are still capable of profound possibilities in a digital age hurtling towards some very uncivilised outcomes.
We are here.
This means our ancestors survived and evolved successfully, across a myriad of different environments, and we can do the same. But to do this, we need to …
Adapt to reality.
Our planetary climate is heating up, drying out in many places and flooding more in others, making every micro-climate more challenging. But …
It’s business as usual at the top.
Business and politics are following the military/industrial complex model of colonisation, appealing to the lowest common denominator of our worst tendencies like greed and fear, and consolidating their power over divided peoples at the same time. So …
We have to do two things at once:
We have to get organised, hold the powers that be to account, demand action that combats climate change by taking care of our environment and treating all people (as well as animals, plants and places) with dignity and respect – all of which sounds very boring but necessary; and
We can get back in touch with our ‘deep time’ selves, as well as our fleeting sense of being alive in this very moment, right where we are, in this mind and body. This could be the fun thing that balances out the serious stuff with a blend of timelessness and existential awareness: that realisation that we are consciousness embodied, a deep time experiment in primate bodies, with the capacity for self-awareness, able to perceive complex problems and solve them with win/win solutions, social animals with personal identities and mystic abilities and the ABILITY TO SEE THE ENORMITY OF THE UNIVERSE THROUGH INSANELY POWERFUL TELESCOPES AND IMAGINE OUR PLACE IN ETERNITY ALL AT ONCE!
OK, i got a bit excited there, but watch this video and be reminded of how incredibly, unimaginably vast the universe is. And that’s just the physical one we can sense with our limited beings. Life is beyond words. Let’s party like there’s nowhere else to go*
*The universe may be very large but we can’t get anywhere else in it. The scales are too big. This is home.
NB: sorry i went over 300 words. But hey, get off the internet and read some Virgil or Shakespeare. That’ll test your attention span 🙂
PS i tried to talk about this video once during a public presentation in Hong Kong and CHOKED ON MY TEARS! Egad. I’ve performed better, but at least i found out how i really felt about the universe – cosmic!
