One of the hardest concepts to convey in my work is the notion of how large the universe is in the context of dreaming and visualizing the potential for understanding who we are. The size is so large most people can’t grasp idea. It is the conflicting diversities of finite and infinite. The shear vastness of space and time. As well as the realization that our tiny view has only a small understanding of the complexity and eloquence of its existence.
To comprehend very large things one has to let go of small thinking. For many the small thinkings are the very mental structures that keep their daily world together. Today’s social/cultural dynamics also help to shape the way the mind is forced to move through complex things without the time to deeply explore. Today’s technology also adds to the mix. This processing of anything bigger, deeper, different, or curiosity producing more than what is need in the moment is dismissed as not useful, distracting or even taboo. We can call this the autonomy of ordinary reality. The mundane. The process of being functional and productive for usually a greater good or common vision.
The opposite of this way of being would be something that shatters the mechanics of the mundane and shows the extraordinary…. the magical. Most people live with an institutionalized filter called religion, government. Or some other power of control that manipulates the gateway to the mystery and enshrouds this knowledge in equal parts fear and violence…. because to know the mystery is to know your origins and the universe. That is a powerful thing….
Education is the great equalizer it can show the mystery of the universe. It can open the door way to the microscopic world and to the billions of galaxies that are accelerating away from rhe center of this known universe. To learn and free the brain from just surviving is the the greatest fear of the greedy, the controlling and powerful. Knowledge is empowering. With knowledge comes choices and options. With knowledge comes the nuance that allows for diversity and divergent ideas…. knowledge kills the paralysis of ignorance and the polarized divisiveness of fear that leads to hate.
In the wisdom of great cosmic diversity and the enormous complexity of how things come together and fall apart in the universe….. The great Whatever… The Power That Be…. created the scruffy, curious, artists, teachers, mischiefmakers, shamans, and scientists. We asked questions and observed the many beautiful and amazing things all around us. We saw beyond the mundane… into the mystery and instead of holding that mystery hostage and away from the rest…. Or calling it a Diety to manufacture the prevention of communion by restrictions to a hierarchical class of elites and priests….. We invited all who wanted to see and experience the magic…..
The problem though was how to express the largeness of it all. The big, vast, amazing of all it’s beautiful knowns and unknowns.
Traditionally, people get tossed out of their small thinking when something shakes their world up. Grief. Sickness. Natural disaster. Trauma. Something that disturbed the entire base of ones reality. Something so shattering that it tears the very fabric of what you know.
That tear in thd fabric becomes the door way to other worlds and deeper explorations of the seem and unseen universe. This awakening is also the moment one chooses to be alive and part of this experience of living. The inner language changes from ” I know” to ” What do I see, hear, taste, touch….?” The world grows in size and is less polarized by the taboos of power. The seeking is not to find worthiness but to find deep connections…. the fear becomes curiosity and kindness the vehicle to love.
And from that place of love we find belonging and purpose.
More doors open…. more things become known and the universe becomes accessible…..
Shaman @ Large 