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A Glimpse of the Cosmic Field

(The following is courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope website.)
“Thousands of galaxies flood this near-infrared image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. High-resolution imaging from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope combined with a natural effect known as gravitational lensing made this finely detailed image possible.

First, focus on the galaxies responsible for the lensing: the bright white elliptical galaxy at the center of the image and smaller white galaxies throughout the image. Bound together by gravity in a galaxy cluster, they are bending the light from galaxies that appear in the vast distances behind them. The combined mass of the galaxies and dark matter act as a cosmic telescope, creating magnified, contorted, and sometimes mirrored images of individual galaxies.

Clear examples of mirroring are found in the prominent orange arcs to the left and right of the brightest cluster galaxy. These are lensed galaxies – each individual galaxy is shown twice in one arc. Webb’s image has fully revealed their bright cores, which are filled with stars, along with orange star clusters along their edges.

Not all galaxies in this field are mirrored – some are stretched. Others appear scattered by interactions with other galaxies, leaving trails of stars behind them.

Webb has refined the level of detail we can observe throughout this field. Very diffuse galaxies appear like collections of loosely bound dandelion seeds aloft in a breeze. Individual “pods” of star formation practically bloom within some of the most distant galaxies – the clearest, most detailed views of star clusters in the early universe so far.

One galaxy speckled with star clusters appears near the bottom end of the bright central star’s vertical diffraction spike – just to the right of a long orange arc. The long, thin ladybug-like galaxy is flecked with pockets of star formation. Draw a line between its “wings” to roughly match up its star clusters, mirrored top to bottom. Because this galaxy is so magnified and its individual star clusters are so crisp, researchers will be able to study it in exquisite detail, which wasn’t previously possible for galaxies this distant.

The galaxies in this scene that are farthest away – the tiniest galaxies that are located well behind the cluster – look nothing like the spiral and elliptical galaxies observed in the local universe. They are much clumpier and more irregular. Webb’s highly detailed image may help researchers measure the ages and masses of star clusters within these distant galaxies. This might lead to more accurate models of galaxies that existed at cosmic “spring,” when galaxies were sprouting tiny “buds” of new growth, actively interacting and merging, and had yet to develop into larger spirals. Ultimately, Webb’s upcoming observations will help astronomers better understand how galaxies form and grow in the early universe.”

Thanks to the many scientists from around the world who helped bring the James Webb Space Telescope to fruition, continue to monitor its activity, and publish to the public the extraordinary images.

Awe is a fundamental constituent of Presence and this ‘mind-blowing’ image of distant galaxies and star clusters is just the beginning of a whole new wave of understanding and revelation and ultimately awe at the powers of creation at the root of existence. In your meditation practice, allow this image to sit like a seed and just ‘let go’ into open spaciousness, soaking in the awe, dissolving boundaries, being wholeness.

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Psyche, Soma and Stillness: Part 2: Boundaries, Other Ego Structures and Flow

Boundaries

In the previous post we examined the cosmological nature of forms, their cycles of creating, sustaining and dissolving, and saw how our embryological origins display the bio-physiological expressions of this dance. All healthy organisms can birth, sustain and dissolve structures as necessary in the ongoing flow of life. We also began to look at the ego structures involved with boundaries and how they relate to authenticity.

All types of boundaries found in living systems and serve a necessary role in allowing any and all unique beings to fully thrive in a complex and interconnected world. We see boundaries everywhere in nature, where dramas are constantly being played out between and among individuals and groups over territories for food, mating and place in the social hierarchy. But because the totality of nature is involved, a dynamic balance is always sustained.

(At the level of collective consciousness, human societies have, through ignorance, greed and total dissociation from the natural world, turned the useful and necessary role of boundaries into a global disaster. For millennia, the rich and powerful have misused and monopolized the natural resources of the planet to the deficit and degradation of all members of the ecosystems of Mother Earth. They have accomplished this through both overt violence as well as the more subtle expressions of violence and abuse of power such as the legalization of arbitrary property lines and other geographical boundaries such as towns, voting districts, states and countries. All sorts of conflicts including war arise from these boundary violations.)

Certain boundaries, like those created by the immune system to defend the organism against outside challenges, are not pyschological/emotional in nature and not part of the ego structures. These are naturally maintained as part of the life intelligence and never dissolved. However, our psycho-physiological structures, known collectively as ‘ego’,* can, when healthy, dissolve and re-configure in response to new circumstances and continually evolve.

One of these is the capacity to establish, monitor and modify clearly defined emotional boundaries. This key ego component in developing emotional maturity is crucial to keeping the awakening process on track, and not as common as it should be in the spiritual world. One can have a powerful awakening experience without a clear sense of personal boundaries and this leads to the sad and dangerous phenomena of cults and ‘spiritual’ teachers behaving badly. We will discuss this topic in more detail in the next blog post.

Healthy boundaries require: the ability to differentiate our own emotional states from those of others; the ability to recognize and honor the boundaries of others; taking ownership of our own emotional states and our own emotional development; developing self esteem; and becoming grounded in our own personal authenticity. Interestingly enough, to further our own maturing and spiritual awakening, we also need to learn how and when to dissolve those boundaries. To experience true intimacy with another human being or even life and the totality of creation, we need to relax and dissolve our emotional sense of separateness into the boundary-less-ness of Being.

None of this is easy as at the level of human emotions very little is clear. In infancy and early childhood, the emotionally charged components of the ego are emerging and evolving, as are the capacities to monitor and modulate them. But they are also heavily influenced by both the cultural conditioning and the emotional maturity of our parents, siblings and others in our social group. Because we are so open when young, dysfunctional habits and beliefs about who we ‘are’ and ‘are not’, and what we are capable of what what we are not, are easily absorbed and unconsciously added to our self sense.

The result is that we can stop growing and evolving emotionally, leading to a very confused sense of boundaries. Most children will assume they are at fault if the adults around them are upset. Their boundaries supporting their self sense are not strong enough to distinguish their personal emotions from those of others. In healthy or emotionally mature parenting, adults will own up to and apologize for their emotional outbursts, and acknowledge and validate the emotional states of their children. Unfortunately, this is not as common as we would like.

Therefore, most of us reach adulthood with layers of unresolved trauma trapped in our infantile or early childhood ego structures and these can play a major role in shaping our adult responses to emotionally challenging situations. We have all felt in ourselves, or observed in others, the raging 2 year old, the depressed and withdrawn 7 year old, or the angry frustrated adolescent.

When the egoic structures*, including boundaries, become dysfunctional, they usually fall into one of two categories. First they can become ‘stuck’, leading to rigid and inflexible states and stances. Or, they become chaotic and unpredictable leading to confusion and relentless stress in all relationships. Unresolved trauma is the most common reason for the dysfunctional behavior structures, and traumas can run the spectrum from mild to severe. The skills to recognize and evaluate these dysfunctional patterns are not part of our educational process, but with good karma we may stumble onto a good therapist, or learn meditation practices and thus gain some tools for healing, evolutionary growth and deeper awakening. *(see below)

It is important to note that unhealthy boundaries are a major issue in both psychotherapy and spiritual teaching, as there are often hidden power imbalances. Growth and transformation through relationships requires trust from the client/student and deep inner personal insight on the part of the therapist/teacher. When both parties have unconscious and unfulfilled needs, disaster awaits. The next post will look at this in more depth.

Life is our practice field. Emotional energy is the root of all relationships and human emotional fields are constantly overlapping. Walk into a crowded room and all levels of emotional energy can be recognized, from joy and delight to anxiety, fear, anger and disgust. As you move through and interact with this field, can you know which of these emotions are yours and which belong to others?

If you walk through the room with a healthy sense of boundaries, you can, for the most part, seal off the outside negative emotions and, when possible, physically walk away from the trouble. When meeting a friend, you can then relax the boundaries and open up to establish a relational field of friendship and exchanged love. However, as we know, there are times in relationships where difficult emotions have to be addressed and not avoided. Here healthy boundaries allow us to be present and grounded with our own inner state while allowing others to have their own experience, as the emotional storms swirl around us.

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Exploration: Track your own boundary process over the next week or so. When do you feel your boundaries active, as if you are defending your territory? When do you you feel them relaxing? Where in the body do these feelings manifest? Be aware of others boundaries as well. Can you feels others opening or closing and how does this make you feel?

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Flow

In Chinese Medicine, one of the 12 main meridian lines is the ‘heart protector’, whose role it is to protect the powerful and yet vulnerable heart. It governs the opening and closing the ‘heart gates’, so we can be nourished by healthy relationships and protected from unhealthy ones. When functioning well, we can say the heart protector is rooted in the dynamic, creative, spontaneous natural state of the Cosmos known as flow. As a gate keeper, it can choose to let energy in, or keep it out. And it can choose to let energy out, or keep it in.

The heart field is the center of our meditative attention as it links our psychology, emotions and soma with spirit. A key component of meditation is learning, through direct perception, how the fluid process of creating, sustaining and dissolving works in the dance of life. We begin to recognize that thoughts, sensations and even emotional states are transitory phenomena. We can sustain them by feeding them with the energy of attention, or let them run their course by not feeding them and just letting them be. We discover awareness, the vast, accepting, open spaciousness in which all thoughts, sensations and emotions dance. And we may begin to feel the innate organizing, discriminating and compassionate intelligence of the organism as flow ‘before forms arise’, the boundless potentiality of creation.

In the meditative flow state, unhealthy patterns are recognized but neither repressed (the ‘stuck’ state’) nor re-stimulated, (the chaotic state). Their karmic momentum is allowed to flow through us, like a river flowing between the banks, with the micro bits of trauma dissolving into the flow. Or we may feel the excess energy slowly dissipating like a bouncing ball gradually coming to rest.

This process may take a few moments, or many years, depending upon the depth and intensity of the energy field held in the pattern. In cases of trauma, an outside therapist may be required to help sustain the flow state while processing intense emotions, as traumatized fields are usually isolated and organized to sustain themselves, manifesting as pyschological and emotional ‘stuckness’ or chaos. Safely transforming traumatized emotional energy is usually quite difficult on our own.

The open receptivity of awareness and flow is quite different from the impulsive reactivity triggered by our dysfunctional habits, and unfortunately quite rare in the beginning stages of meditation. Patience is required and we may discover that awareness also openly accepts the inevitability of reactivity. We notice we have become reactive and distracted and gently come back to open receptivity, giving the reactive urge space but not the energy of focused attention. Meditation practice is difficult because of the power and momentum of habit.

The reality is that the mind has a mind of its own. As Arjuna tells Krishna in Chapter 6 verse 34 of the Bhagavad Gita: “The mind is restless, Krishna, impetuous, self-willed, hard to train; to master the mind seems as difficult as to master the mighty winds.” Krishna agrees, but adds in verse 35 that the mind can be trained with constant practice and freedom from emotional reactivity (passion). The two pillars of practice Krishna mentions, abhyasa and vairagya, are the very first practices Patanjali introduces in the Samadhi Pada of the Yoga Sutras.

With time, practice and the reining in of of our emotional reactivity, we learn to become grounded in the alone-ness of inner stillness, ‘one with’ creation, and authentically unique. We embody this in flow. When the egoic boundary structures are fluid and adaptable, we come to know that we are simultaneously ‘no-thing’, ‘all things’ and a unique expression of Divine love and wisdom. We learn to live in the depths of paradox as a feeling of being in a continou spacious flow state, neither stuck nor chaotic. Through practice we can learn to assess the utility of our ego boundaries and assess whether they are healthy or unhealthy.

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Ego Structures and Spiritual Awakening

Sigmund Freud was one of the first Westerners to describe the self-organizing components of mind by dividing this process into three layers or functions, the id, the ego and the superego. In very general terms, Freud’s ‘id’ is the most primitive and governs instincts and basic biological drives. It is also driven by the ‘pleasure principle’ where all desires for pleasure must be immediately gratified or else tension arises. The superego is the conscience or moral compass, defining what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in behavior. The ‘ego’ functions as the mediator between the instincts and morality, trying to find an acceptable middle ground, that is neither rigidly moral, nor chaotically impulsive.

Over the years, we have come to understand that there are many layers, voices, parts and roles that comprise the ego structures. Some helpful models describing these include ‘Internal Family Systems and ‘Voice Dialogue, which I briefly summarize here.

Another approach comes from Buddhism and describes five stages of development known as the skandhas. You can read more about them here, or here, here and here.

Hameed Ali, founder of ‘The Diamond Approach’, (writing as A.H. Almaas,) offers this unique insight on ego structures and the importance of emotional maturity in choosing to do the inner work.

First, experience and recognition of true nature, regardless on what dimension of subtlety and completeness, do not automatically dissolve all ego structures. It is our observation that ego structures, and for that matter psychodynamic issues, are not affected directly by enlightenment experiences. This is due to the fact that these structures and issues have mostly unconscious underpinnings. Unconscious elements of the psyche are not impacted by conscious experience directly, except maybe in exposing them to consciousness in some occasions. These structures are impacted only by awareness of them and complete understanding of their content.

The enlightenment experience may give the individual a greater detachment and presence that makes it easier for him or her to confront these structures and issues without becoming overwhelmed by them, and hence have a better opportunity to work through them. The greater presence that may result might make it easier for the individual to abide more in true nature, and this way have a greater detachment from the influence of the structures. But the structures will not self-destruct simply because the soul has seen the light. We understand that this view is counter to the claims of many individuals who profess enlightenment. The actions of many of these individuals should speak for themselves.

The Inner Journey Home, pg. 194

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The Developing Sense of Self: Psyche, Soma and Stillness (pt 1)

In the previous posts we have been exploring ways to find/feel/embody the components of the psyche that fall under the category of ego or self-sense. These I – me – mine patterns of mind activity (citta vrttis) have their origins in infancy and continue to develop and strengthen through childhood and on into adulthood.

The ego structures themselves are actually quite necessary for our navigating the world of time, space and forms, and only become a problem when their root assumptions about self and reality are flawed and their functioning becomes chaotic or stuck. Because the imprinting onto the ego of the cultural conditioning known as parenting and socialization is so powerful and mostly unconscious, discovering and healing these flaws is highly challenging. However, if we can discover the deeper pre-cultural, pre-conditioned roots of the ego structures and learn how they might function in a more healthy manner, we can find ways for healing and continued growth. This takes us to embryology, somatic intelligence and the origin and nature of all forms.

Studying the universe by observing the macrocosm through telescopes, the cellular realms with microscopes, and the microcosmic level of atoms molecules and smaller particles through particle accelerators, clearly demonstrates the essence of all forms, including life, is dynamic fluidity and impermanence.

Forms arise, remain relatively stable in their outer expression amidst the continuous internal changes, and eventually break down into smaller forms or dissolve into pure energy. Birth and death are a continuous and intertwined dance throughout the cosmos. Through meditation we discover this same truth at the psychological and emotional levels as well. Thoughts, sensations and emotions arise, and in time their transient nature is discovered. As we learn to rest in meditation, the unchanging primordial stillness that is the source and support of all forms may reveal itself as our own True Nature.

Resting as primordial stillness is mentioned by Patanjali in sutra I-3 and the goal-less goal of the direct path practices in Buddhism such as Dzogchen, mahamudra and shikantaza (just sitting). The reality is that much preparatory work is necessary before ‘resting as Stillness’ can become a ‘stable knowing’ and that is where our work with the egoic structures can be very helpful. Knowing Stillness comes through knowing birth, death and impermanence, and when our egoic structures learn how to dance with the cosmic music, we can let go into eternity .

The Vedic culture of India expresses the cosmological processes of birth and death clearly and elegantly in their sacred trinity, the Divine Beings Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The cosmic role Brahma, the creator, is to bring forms into being, from sub atomic particles to galaxies, from butterflies to human thought. Vishnu, the preserver, is in charge of sustaining the existence of all forms throughout their allotted time period. Then Shiva, the destroyer, comes along and dissolves the form back into mystery.

As we dive more deeply into our somatic forms and explorations, we find the sacred process of creating, sustaining and dissolving in the embryological development of an infant. Here biological structures emerge and dissolve along as fluids, tissues and cells slowly complexify and grow to create a unique human being. By studying this somatic process we can discover insight into how our egoic structures might evolve into healthy expressions of the psyche.

At conception, the merging of egg and sperm, the yin and yang of life, gives birth to an ongoing and complex dance of development, growth and learning, through molecules, cells, organs and organ systems.

All forms arising throughout creation follow the Taoist dance of yin and yang. By definition, forms are yin, with yang supporting as the shadow or hidden dimension. All movements, whether arising, stabilizing or dissolving are yang, with the yin supporting in the background. Healthy forms exhibit both yin stability and yang flexibility. In unhealthy forms, stability becomes stuckness, stagnation or rigidity, and flexibility degenerates to chaos and disorganization.

Early on in embryological development, forms arise and dissolve. Not all of the cells arising after conception become part of the fetus. Some become part of a protective shell (the zona pellucida) that breaks open and dissolves after two or three days, ‘hatching’ the inner cells. The ball of inner cells is still not exactly the embryo. It eventually implants into the uterine wall and some of the cells become the placenta, some the amniotic cavity, and the rest the embryo itself. At birth the amniotic cavity and the placenta are released and the infant emerges.

The developing embryo also gives birth to transient structures. The kidneys, as seen to the right emerge in three overlapping phases. The original protonephrons are no longer necessary when the mesonephrons appear and they degenerate and dissolve. As the metanephric structures appears, to become the mature kidneys, the mesonephrons are slowly dissolved. Quite amazing!

By the end of the first trimester the yolk has disappeared, having given birth to the early digestive system and the vitelline circulation has been taken over by the heart-body circulation. At birth, the most of the umbilical arteries and veins become obliterated and become ligaments, while others are taken over by the heart-body circulatory system. Also, at birth, a new circulatory system comes on line when the lungs become engaged with breathing and the heart begins to pump blood through them. The conception vessel in the Microcosmic Orbit carries the memory of these older circulatory patterns and they make a wonderful somatic exploration that we will pick up in the fall session of Embodying Presence.

For every unique soul-being this dance of stability, adaptability and change continues through embryological development and birth to the grave, and beyond through other evolutionary cycles of birth and death. Of crucial importance to note for our inquiries into soma and psyche is that in the early stages of embryological development there is no brain. The body knows itself as a vibrant open space with moving fluids embodying and carrying the cosmic intelligence that governs growth and development and transformation of the cells, tissues, organs and organ systems. The fluid, cellular somatic intelligence is available to us now, in our practice and lives if we can only learn to find, feel and nurture it. But we have to ‘bypass thought’ through deep listening to do this.

By birth, the brain has become the dominant modality of knowing and cellular intelligence recedes into the unconscious. Most of the physiological structures have completed their differentiation, are outwardly stable (the liver remains the liver) and continue to grow in size into adulthood.

Within the stability of form, impermanence continues as cells and tissue infrastructures (fascial configurations) continuously wear out and die to be replaced by new ones. This physiological intelligence, the body ‘knowing itself’, continues to govern the flow of aliveness but remains unconscious and unseen.

At birth, with the infant’s physiological separation from the mother, new psychological and emotional structures we collectively call ego begin to emerge as patterns of mind-body activation. A key component of the ego structures are the boundaries between self and other. On the most tangible level of reality, the boundaries are obvious. A tree is a tree, a rock is a rock. If we are hungry, watching someone else eat is not going to satisfy our hunger. All expressions of the world of form can be differentiated from each other in some way.

As living organisms, we do not want to become one with the traffic as we attempt to cross the street. On a more subtle level, as infants and young children, we want to be developing a more clear sense of what emotions and thoughts are our own and which belong to our parents. Psychic/emotional boundaries are necessary to help us clarify our individuality and authenticity while surviving in a complex and challenging world.

This emergent process of individuating is complex and challenging as we also want to be able to dissolve our ego boundaries and merge with other beings in a state of shared love and wholeness. This skill allows us to feel and sustain deep connections to other beings and the fullness of creation while simultaneously retaining our own authenticity and capacity to be at home with the innate alone-ness of our inner world.

Ideally, the embryological dance of dissolving (yin) and re-configuring (yang), even though unconscious, can continue to inform and shape the evolution of the ego structures and boundaries of the self as we move through life. Mental and spiritual health involves the dance of adaptability, stability and impermanence.

However, the reality is that because the brain has become the dominant mode of knowing, the cellular/fluid intelligence is soon overridden. The brain absorbs the cultural coding and patterning known as parenting and socialization and these become the dominant force on the developing ego structures. Thus, they can easily become stuck in dysfunctional and pathological patterns.

Because fundamentally, all forms are emergent expressions of impermanence, the capacity to dissolve and recreate boundaries is natural. In other words, the boundaries do not have to be solid, fixed or permanent but can actually be both stable and in constant flux, as are any and all aspects of creation.

We can see that a tree has boundaries and is differentiated from the world around it. That tree! But, because of our culturally conditioned blindness, we do not see the flow of energy, minerals and nutrients, from the sun, air, soil and waters, moving through the tree and back out again.

We miss the role of the birds and squirrels, insects and lizards that are a crucial components of the ecosystem that nurtures the tree. Any tree can be differentiated, but never separated from its environment. And that environment extends from the earth to the sun, the galaxies and the Cosmos as a whole.

Differentiated is another way to say unique. Every expression of Divine Creation is unique, never seen before its emergence, unique in all the stages of its life journey, and never to be seen again after its dissolution. In the world of the living, this is true for individuals as well as species. The most important quality of uniqueness is authenticity, the capacity to be fully and honestly yourself, with all of our human imperfections, without needing to pretend to be someone or something else, no matter what outer pressures may be arising. Psyche and soma, rooted in stillness, expressing the moment, just as it is. No more, no less.

Humans seem to be the only species that has a major problem with authenticity and this comes back to how we create, sustain and confuse the role of the ego boundaries and build a world view from this distorted perspective. We will continue this story in the next post.