Embodiment as Path to God

Our bodies, long vilified by traditional religions and yes, even science, is taking a renewed place of importance in the scheme of our evolution. Candace Pert is one of the pioneers in this field of thought, as a scientist who long has preached that "molecules of emotion" reside in our bodies, not our minds.

More recently, she has written a book that brings God into this sensory picture ("How to Feel G(o)oD"), and published CDs titled "Your Body IS Your Subconscious Mind."

Here is what she has to say about consciousness, choice and free will, and the infused power we own to create our reality:

"If mind, and its emanation 'consciousness', suffuse the body, and in fact extend beyond it, we may consider the role of our personal choices in the creation of our reality for it is the physicists we have informed us of the primacy of the observer. I don’t see that this leads to a “reduced”, scientifically verified, “objective” reality. Thought, and the emotions, are co-created, in a process that uniquely defines our bodyminds, and in fact our reality. And as all our consciousnesses intermingle, we, at least the sentient among us, are continually co-creating our reality, our evolutions, and our destinies. This is the fundamental free choice we are called upon to exercise. And as information seems to be transduced in 'non-local', ways, that is not bounded by space and time, 'creation' seems instantaneous."

Pretty heady stuff! I do believe that when my mind says one thing, and the body is telling me another, the body is the truest outpicturing of my subconscious state. Have you ever had someone tell you they are not angry, and yet you are seeing anger reflected in every feature and gesture in their body? Or how about fear? Are you trying to convince yourself fear is not real, and yet your body is clenched and ready to react to some unexpected threat? We must listen, and work with those trapped energies in order to more deeply align the conscious and subconscious.

Peace is Not the Answer?

Andrew Cohen challenges seekers of what he calls "21st century evolutionary enlightenment" to transcend our narcissism, our "relentless self-concern" and our "ambivalence and restlessness" and take responsibility for the challenges inherent in human existence, to participate in the life process in a deeper and more authentic way. He is surprised, he says, that spiritual seekers are still seeking for peace as the ultimate goal. He sees that as seeking an escape, a way out.

He is particularly surprised that in the developed nations, where unprecedented wealth, education and personal freedom abound, people are seeking peace -- "the ultimate relief and release from the unrelenting grind of day-to-day existence." So he challenges us to consider that perhaps suffering, at the existential level, "has been an integral part of the developmental process from the beginning."

As long as peace (or release, escape, a way out) is all we seek to achieve spiritually, we are missing the point, he asserts in his editorial in the Spring issue of What is Englightenment magazine, "Peace is Not the Answer." He even goes on to underscore the fact that, indeed, we won't be of much good to the intelligence that created us.

"In order to be truly available to the energy and intelligence that created the universe, we do have to transcend our angst-ridden separate selfs. But the motive for doing so is not so we can abide in a state of peace and freedom beyond the process. Our motive is to become passionate egoless vehicles for ongoing evolution."

Do you want "peace" today, or do you want an egoless existence that is fully-engaged with others and with Life itself?

Welcome to this Blog

This blog will be dedicated to an exploration of the evolution of human consciousness. We stand on the cusp of a new era, at a crossroads that will lead us in one of two directions: either to the destruction of civilization as we know it, or firmly on a path to conscious evolution as a unified species. Change is happening. It is inevitable. The question is -- will we be "victims" of that change, or take full responsibility for the direction that change will take?

I have been asking myself these questions for years now:

• what does it mean to be (fully) human?
• what is our relationship to the divine?
  
• what is "free will"? is there truly such a thing?
  
• are we responsible for what we have created?
• can we CHANGE what we have created and CREATE a new world?
• do I have a "conscious choice"?and what does that mean?
  
• am I responsible for alleviating suffering and creating "peace on earth"?

Of course, there are no easy answers. Philosophers, mystics and great thinkers have been attempting to answer these questions for millennia. I don't pretend to be one of them. What I want to do is use this forum to explore these ideas and post the writings of others on this topic.

I do believe in freedom of choice, personal responsibility and accountability, and the embodiment of divine ideas in our human experience. If every one of us can move beyond our personal "dramas" (the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves) and creates an intention to see the bigger picture, we have the capacity to "change the world."

A year ago I saw the picture posted above in my local newspaper. Antonio was three-years-old and starving to death in rural Guatemala. I decided that for as long as there were people suffering to that degree in this world, I had a responsibility to at least CARE. Otherwise, if I could turn my face and ignore the pain of a starving child, I was less than human. I recognize that there are other forms of "starvation" that also need notice. There are lonely and isolated people everywhere "starving" for attention, affection, and connection.

In fact, if there is something we as humans are "craving" more than ever is a sense of connectedness, to ourselves, to our families, to our communities, to physical nature and to the transcendent. We know, at the deepest levels of existence, that "things" will not fulfill that need. We are running on empty. That is the real "fuel crisis." I am asked to pay attention, and respond to that crisis.

I will try to post something each day, and quote both ancient and modern mystics who can say it better than I can. I hope you'll also contribute your thoughts.