Waking up in the world

‘Before the TRUTH can set you free, you must first recognize which LIES are holding you hostage’ Prince Ea

When walking (and even crawling  at times) our journey towards waking up to more personal, social and universal reality, resources and support make a world of difference. Just knowing that many have walked the path before you and many in every corner of the world are navigating this journey right now makes a world of difference. Today I’d like to share a few links with valuable and relevant wisdom and information.

Waking up in the world: a series of webinars hosted by Sounds True, in which a group of diverse people discuss waking up in the world, the gifts and the challenges of waking up in our world and living as more conscious and awakened beings.

Steve Taylor’s article in The Psychologist (the journal of the British Psychological Society). Steve Taylor writes: ‘My own research has included two general studies of reports of awakening experiences (Taylor, 2012a, Taylor & Egeto-Szabo, 2017) and a study of transformational experiences related to psychological turmoil (Taylor, 2011, 2012b). This research has found three contexts that consistently show up as major triggers of awakening experiences, as well as a host of less significant ones.

The most common trigger may initially seem puzzling: around a third of awakening experiences occur in situations of stress, depression and loss….. The second major trigger of awakening experiences identified by my research is contact with nature. Around a quarter of the experiences take place in natural surroundings, apparently induced by the beauty and stillness of nature. People reported awakening experiences that occurred while walking in the countryside, swimming in lakes, or gazing at beautiful flowers or sunsets. These are the types of experiences that were often described by romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Percy Shelley……… The third most significant trigger of awakening experiences according to my research – with a similar frequency to contact with nature – is spiritual practice. This primarily means meditation, but also includes prayer and psycho-physical practices such as yoga or tai chi. The relaxing, mind-quietening effect of these practices seems to facilitate awakening experiences. …… After these three triggers, there are several slightly less significant ones….’ Read more at: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-31/september-2018/awakening

Two video clips by Prince Ea on light bulbs, cell phones and facebook…

Can we auto-correct humanity? By Prince Ea at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ

This is who you are by Prince Ea at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbO9K0tdhuU

Finally, two photos ……

 On the island where I live there’s a country road several meters above sea level that joins two beaches. Unless it is exceptionally windy, blustery as Winnie the Pooh might say, I like to take short walks there, especially, since my dogs died for they gave me both the excuse and the motivation to go on much longer hikes. I like the fact that the road is on a hill and very close to the sea at the same time, which offers a beautiful view and stunning sunsets. So, yesterday as I was walking I saw a couple in the distance walking towards me. I didn’t really pay much attention until I realised that the man, who was big and substantially heavy, was walking in a somewhat frenzied zig zag way pulling off leaves from the trees flanking the road. Narratives started taking shape in my mind about him and his intentions as I wandered on which side of the road to walk on and if he would crash into me. I momentarily paused but then intuitively took the middle path and just kept walking. When I passed by them I said ‘hello’. My greeting was returned and I decided to abstain from making him wrong or judging his behaviour or intentions. It might have helped that I remembered a somewhat relevant quote by Pema Chodron about the middle way. ‘Instead of making others right or wrong, or bottling up right and wrong in ourselves, there’s a middle way, a very powerful middle way…… Could we have no agenda when we walk into a room with another person, not know what to say, not make that person wrong or right? Could we see, hear, feel other people as they really are? It is powerful to practice this way….. true communication can happen only in that open space’.

 

By Carl Sandburg

I saw a famous man eating soup.
I say he was lifting a fat broth
Into his mouth with a spoon.
His name was in the newspapers that day
Spelled out in tall black headlines
And thousands of people were talking about him.

When I saw him,
He sat bending his head over a plate
Putting soup in his mouth with a spoon.

Tara by Patti Smith

She stood by the door / of her Virginia farm / pulling a sweater on / the branches / of the dogwood / she had tended / were bowed / blossoms loosened / tossed in sudden snow / the deer stood / in mute wonder / by her garden’s edge / she slipped the phone / in her pocket / her daughter / unharmed………

The Scent of Freedom by Anna Akhmatova

Wild honey smells like freedom, / Dust – like a ray of sun. / Like violets – a young maid’s mouth,

And gold – like nothing / The flowers of the mignonette smell like water, / And like an apple – love.

But we learned once and for all / That blood only smells like blood.

 By Clarissa Pinkola Estes

‘Sometimes, begging from door to door
is the only way
to find shelter for the Holy

Even when doors slam shut
One will open eventually
And the firelight inside
Will jump through the dark
So that light meets Light
Like steel sharpens Steel’

«Προσευχές ευγνωμοσύνης για τη χαρά που μας δίνουν οι επικίνδυνες γερόντισσες και οι σοφές κι ατίθασες θυγατέρες τους»  από το βιβλίο «Ο χορός των μεγάλων μητέρων» της Κλαρίσα Πινκόλα Έστες        (Μετάφραση: Άννα Παπασταύρου, εκδόσεις Κέλευθος, 2017)

«Γι αυτές… / Είθε να είναι πάντα τολμηρές / Και να μπορεί η ψυχή τους

Να προστατεύεται από άλλες ψυχές / Ενόσω αυτές προσφέρουν δύσκολα

Κερδισμένους θησαυρούς / Στον κόσμο μας, που τους έχει / Τόσο  ανάγκη»

Compare the Power and Control Wheel  (http://www.ncdsv.org/images/powercontrolwheelnoshading.pdf) and the Wheel of Nonviolence and Equality (http://www.kdheks.gov/dva/download/equality_wheel.pdf)