As I sit in prayer this morning, I hold our Beloved Community in the Love and Light of Spirit, knowing that each of us is moving Gracefully through this time of change, this time of global and Spiritual Transformation.
I have been contemplating the idea of Spiritual Liberation, Enlightenment, and last week I spent quite a bit of time writing about opening to possibility as a necessary first step for humanity’s evolution into a Higher Truth. These are not new ideas… the mystics of all times and cultures have presented such concepts, each in his or her own language. This week I want to dig a little deeper into what lies beneath our seeming inability to fully open to a greater possibility for our lives… what lies at the root of why we have so much difficulty in fully opening to Spirit.
We live in a things-in-space universe and a thinking-thing model of human life; this is humanity’s current paradigm. What is a paradigm? In simple language, it is our world view, our set of ideas about how things work. And our paradigm serves as a framework, and a set of limitations, for how things can show up in our lives and in the world. This current paradigm that I am speaking of, the things-in-space/thinking-thing model, has been the Western paradigm for only a few hundred years. Prior to that, during the Middle Ages, we lived in a God-centered universe, one in which the earth was flat and surrounded by a perforated sphere. At night, the light of heaven, which was outside the sphere, shone through the perforations… yes, what we know to be stars, or burning gaseous clouds, were believed to be “holes in the heavenly spheres.” (Jeff Carreira, Paradigm Shifting)
The Renaissance and Enlightenment periods brought a shift in paradigm, the beginning of the current world view that says we live in a vast, maybe infinite, expanse of empty space. This space is filled with things, some of which are living things. And of all the living things, human beings are special because we have learned to think… we are thinking-things. This may sound funny, but it is this paradigm that has led us to where we are now. And even though the most current science is pointing to a very different world view, we are still living from a paradigm that began in the mid-1300’s! Paradigms have consequences. Much as we might like it to be otherwise, each of us is bound by the prevailing paradigm… until we decide that it no longer makes sense and do the work to shift it.
Philosopher and author Jeff Carreira, in his book Paradigm Shifting, says this: “Our desire for spiritual release and liberation is part of a universal awakening that we are being called to participate in. I don’t believe we live in a universe of empty space. It makes much more sense to me that we are part of a universe that is vast, living, intelligent being that is becoming more conscious all the time. The universe is waking up, and our awakening is part of its awakening. Our desire to awaken beyond the limits of separation and find our true place as part of a larger wholeness is how we experience the universe’s desire to realize its full potential.” Again, we see glimmers of what the mystics have been sensing and teaching for centuries… that there is a non-material something, we’ll call it Consciousness, the Ground of All Being, or simply God or Spirit, that is the Eternal Source of all that is. It is the Essence, the Substance, the Process… and truly, It is beyond words. This is why, as human beings, with our currents means of communicating, we have so much trouble moving beyond the current paradigm – we try to think our way through it, when what is being called for is more of an experiential process. As seekers of a new paradigm, this is where meditation and prayer come in.
Meditation is the process of allowing ourselves to simply be… to be still, to do nothing; and to release our attachment to our thoughts, our beliefs, our feelings, and to who we believe ourselves to be. Through meditation, we create the space for true prayer (the process of listening for Infinite Intelligence or God) to emerge. It is through this process of being and listening that we are Guided gently but steadily into our new paradigm.
My invitation today, as I move toward this week of looking at the current paradigm and how a shift could benefit humanity, is that each of us spend time looking at where this things-in-space/thinking-things paradigm impacts our personal experience of life. How might we have a more expanded experience, one infused with possibility consciousness, if we could loosen the grip that the current global paradigm has on our lives? Take it one step further… ask the Infinite Wisdom within you, “What area of my life would benefit most from shifting my paradigm? Rather than living as though I am bound by the material, what if I lived as though the material was only an effect of my use of Consciousness, or the Infinite Possibility that I call God? What if I lived as though there were nothing limiting my experience?”
I look forward to a week of deep exploration and expansion as we enter into the great shift being called forth at this time. Spirit awaits our response… our willing participation.
May we all choose to be Awake to the Infinite Possibility, available here and now…
May we be well…stay in touch…know our unity…and thrive!
And may we know the Absolute Beauty and Wonder of this Grace-filled, once-in-a lifetime day…
