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Duality and the
Order of Life and Energy

(From: ‘Earth People’ Volume 1 Number 5)

Now Playing: 'E Te Ariki '
By: Mihirangi

This subject of the duality of life should not be confused with Dualism, which acknowledges the duality but declares that one side is “good” and should be embraced, while the other side is “evil” and should be rejected. Also this subject is inexhaustible and in its unity is beyond comprehension. It also covers other subjects that will hopefully be addressed in future issues such as Sacrifice and Bliss, Life and Death, Suffering and Compassion, Freedom verses Habits and Belief Systems, Emotions of the Body Consciousness and Thoughts of the Mind.

To introduce this subject I would like to quote Joseph Campbell who talks about God:

“We want to talk about God; God is a name, God is a thought, God is an idea, but its reference is to something that transcends all thinking. He is beyond all categories of being and non-being. He neither is nor is not... [both is and is not. Ed.]

“Whenever one moves out of the transcendent [Universal Spirit of God. Ed.], one comes into a field of opposites. One has eaten of the tree of knowledge, not only of good and evil, but also of male and female, of right and wrong... Everything in the field of time is duel: past and future, dead and alive, being and non-being, [love and hate]. But the ultimate pair in the imagination [psyche] is that of male and female...

“One of the problems of life is to live with the realisation of both terms, that is to say, “I know the centre and I know that good and evil are simply temporal aberrations, and that in God’s view, there is no difference.”

(Joseph Campbell ‘The Power of Myth’)

Fred Alan Wolf, in ‘The Eagle’s Quest’, speaks of the electrons of subatomic matter as having a tendency to avoid each other, which is called “exclusion”, and he equates this to hate, the ultimate cause of illness. But he says that without this pattern of exclusion, “all electrons would tend to form tight orbits about their respective atomic nuclei, thus making Chemistry and life impossible.” On the other hand he knew that subatomic particles of light, or “photons”, had the tendency to cohere, seem to become one, which is called “inclusion”, and he equates this to love and healing energy. Saying that: “Between these two forces of exclusion, which enables atoms to form all of the molecular structures needed for life, and inclusion, which allows atoms and molecules to communicate with each other and vibrate sympathetically, human life exists.”

Also Fred Alan Wolf says that the material, physical being operates in the thinking-sensation world, which is ruled by Chronos, our ordinary chronological clock time. However the human spirit operates in the intuitive-feeling world, which is ruled by Mythos, the symbolic, metaphoric world of metaphysics, which has a sense of timelessness. It is only by realising that both worlds are constantly affecting us and are therefore necessary, that we become healed, all one again. And he says that in Chronos we use our five senses of sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell. But we have another five senses, that the shamans use in the world of Mythos, which have been removed from Western education. These other five senses he calls the Imaginal Senses, which are:

1. THE SENSE OF SELF-HEALING.
“When you cut yourself, your body heals... It is possible to recognise when you are healing yourself. I remember that all of my healing took place with a great sense of emotional release. But to fully realise this sense... I had to release my controlling mechanical mind and, in a sense, “go crazy”.

2. THE SENSE OF SELF-DESTRUCTION
“I was certainly aware of this sense. It overcame me in times of depression, times when I felt my self-worth was extremely low. During this time I would feel very much alone and isolated, regardless of where I was and whom I was with. It was only now that I recognised that this too was only another way of “seeing” - another way in which I “went crazy”.

3. THE SENSE OF PENETRATION
“To be able to penetrate other levels, other worlds, other dimensions. I had only a dim awareness of this sense... when I noticed, for example, extraordinary synchronicities in my life. These were messages from the mythic time of my own life. I would feel this only dimly at such times as when I fell in love or when I became aware of deep intuitive ideas. My ability to penetrate depended only, again on my willingness to release any preconceived ideas about what I thought the “real” world consisted of.

4. THE SENSE OF PERCEPTION
“To be able to perceive events and the surrounding world in a different light... Here, again, once I was able to release my mechanical mind, any event could be perceived in an extraordinary manner. To fully realise this sense, one had to trust one’s intuition even if the concepts one realised were totally “off the wall”. There were many times I ignored this ‘inner sense. And invariably I made mistakes when I did. [And so did I. Ed.]

5. THE SENSE OF REVELATION
“To be able to understand what you have perceived in these other worlds. During those times when I had perceived events as extraordinary, I was able to grasp the information I had received and use it when my mind once again entered into mechanical thinking. In other words, I was able to bring my feeling-intuitive self into my thinking-sensation world. I was able to put into words my understanding of what was revealed to me.”  [This is like breaking through the symbolism of a myth, dream, or vision and understanding the message. Ed.]

In all of the worlds’ different mythologies there can be seen a cosmological split of one into two. For example in Genesis, when God said, “Let there be light”, he then separated the light from the dark. And in the Garden of Eden, from Adam’s rib God made Eve. This story of first man and first woman is identical to those in other cultures, like the Bassari Tribes in Africa. But I feel the best mythological story that expresses, not only the duality and it’s source, but also it’s relevance in my own life, and the source of my own life, is that of the ninth century B.C. Upanishads.

“In the beginning, there was only the great self in the form of a person. Reflecting, it found nothing but itself. Then its first word was: “This am I!” Hence arose the name “I.” Which is why, to this day, when one is addressed one first says, “I,” then tells whatever other name one may have.

“That one was afraid. Therefore anyone alone is afraid. “If there is nothing but myself,” it thought, “of what, then, am I afraid?” Whereupon the fear departed. For what was there to fear? Surely, it is only from a second that fear derives.

“That person was no longer happy. Therefore, people are not happy when alone. It desired a mate. It became as large as a woman and a man in close embrace; then caused that self to fall in two: From which a husband and wife arose. Therefore, as a sage used to say, “This body is but half of oneself.” He united with her; and from that human beings were born.

“She thought: “How can he unite with me, after producing me from himself? Well, let me hide.” She became a cow, he a bull, and united with her. From that cattle were born... In this way he projected all things existing in pairs, down to the ants.

“Then he realised: “I, indeed, am this creation; for I have poured it forth from myself.” In that way he became this creation. And verily, he who knows this becomes in this creation a creator.”

(Joseph Campbell: ‘The Way of the Animal Powers’)

Carl Jung, in 1961, wrote in his book, ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections’, about the two opposites thus:

“It may well be said that the contemporary cultural consciousness has not yet absorbed into its general philosophy the idea of the unconscious and all that it means, despite the fact that modern man has been confronted with this idea for more than half a century. The assimilation of the fundamental insight that psychic life has two poles still remains a task for the future.”

I think that all the above has indicated that every experience, every act, every thought, every intention and every thing in this time and space continuum yields pairs of opposites. Energy and consciousness is the same thing, they are the movements between the two opposites, which are orchestrated by man and Shaman, using conscious and unconscious thoughts, actions and intentions. And how we choose to see any situation depends on which opposite will be revealed to us. This energy or consciousness is the third element in the threefold order of life and energy. This is also the principal of Lha, Nyen and Lu, found in ‘Shambhala - The Path of The Warrior’ by Chogyam Trungpa.

Teresa Moorey, in her very concise and informative book on Shamanism, explains that most shamans have a concept that describes the universal order of three worlds, The Upper, Middle and Lower. This order appears in most cosmologies as a world tree. In discussing the upper section of the world tree she has this to say:

“This is the dreamed-about, sought-after realm, sung of by the mystics and yearned for by all those who seek enlightenment... This is the realm of the gods and angels, home of the blessed, of all that is beautiful and transcendent.

“This sounds wonderful, of course, but upper world has been subject to as much distortion as lower world, called Heaven, and reserved only for those who have been ‘good’. However, this section of the world tree, it’s fruit-bearing branches, the place where we hope to gather the harvest of our plantings, is nourished and is totally dependent for it’s existence on the under world roots...

“It is not always remembered by seekers of the “New Age” on a quest for enlightenment that neglects source and shadow. However, no true access to upper world is achieved without acquaintance and appreciation of lower world. Reclaiming the hidden powers of lower world is the true meaning of “redemption”.”

Brooke Medicine Eagle, in her book ‘Buffalo Woman Comes Singing’, says:

“The attitude of oneness requires something of us that has not been popular in New Age circles. In fact it has been denied by most of them. And that is the embracing of the dark side of life, in our own lives most especially. We have wanted to be all light and love but have overlooked one of the necessary means to attaining these qualities: embracing the dark. Darkness often implies evil to many of us. Yet, a part of me knows there is no evil; there is only fear and separation. When fear and separation have been bridged into peacefulness and unity, then the dark is as beautiful as the light." [Bridged by our consciousness. Ed.]

This finding the beauty of the dark side is a classical aspect found in dreams, visions and spirit journeys. It consists of entering the personal unconscious and meeting a monster or dragon, and once you can confront this monster, asking it what it wants, it will most likely transform into an angel or some other energy of beauty that is much needed.

And in Robert Lawlor’s book ‘Voices of The First Day - Awakening In The Aboriginal Dreamtime’ he says that: “The plant is the dream of the seed. A movement from subjective to objective and back to subjective in a conceptual process has counterparts on many levels of existence.” As follows:

Joseph Campbell translated the Sanskrit; Sat, Chid and Ananda to their meanings; correct being (actions), correct consciousness (intentions or thoughts) and correct rapture (bliss). He thought: “I don’t know if I have correct being or consciousness, but I know when I have my bliss, so if I hang on to that, maybe the rest will come.” And they did. So he says to “FOLLOW YOUR BLISS”, but reminds you that: “The realisation of your bliss, your true being, comes when you have put aside the passing moment with it’s terror, temptations and it’s statements of requirements of life, that you should live “This Way”.” In other words: Your BLISS (which is your true being) comes when you can live every passing moment, or second, of your life without being influenced by FEAR, DESIRE or SOCIAL DUTY.

If anyone is wondering why I have included hate with love, it is because really we can't hate anyone or anything unless we also love them; otherwise we are totally indifferent.

The word AUM also fits this order of life and energy, and represents the spiritual energy of the Universe. When pronounced properly, all vowel sounds are contained in this word and represent the mortal part of the spiritual self. Consonants are interruptions, and equate to the silent pause at the end of AUM, which represents the immortal part of the spiritual self, from which AUM comes from and back into which it goes.

It is as vital to be physical as it is to be spiritual.

BUT NEITHER SHOULD BE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.

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