Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): Years ago I watched a video clip by a philosopher named Ken Wilber that I still find myself referencing from time to time. In it, Wilber is asked about the plight of our world and how the struggles of our species relate to the enlightened perspective, or "big mind".
Thank you for this, Caitlin. This piece really resonates with me and is very useful. For the past decade or so I've really struggled with this paradox, and it has also made finding community a bit tricky! The spiritual bypass, or the cumulative sink into cynicism and bitterness when you pay attention to the world. It's also a dance between personal action and acceptance.
The personal struggle is my utopian intuition and hope about how things should be, crashing headlong into the reality of so much suffering on this planet, and waking up to find things are WORSE than I thought and definitely not turning into a giant hippy festival, seeing the illusion that things appear fine because some many people are numb and can't care. Now I feel more revolutionary minded, but the conflict and soul heaviness it isn't healthy.
It's good to have a reminder to balance between those things by not being defensive to feeling. My own sense is that we should have a lot of forgiveness for ourselves because the transition to greater feeling and less defensiveness takes a while and is very difficult.
“The Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert talk about the two “hungers”. There is the Great Hunger and there is the Little Hunger. The Little Hunger wants food for the belly; but the Great Hunger, the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning...
There is ultimately only one thing that makes human beings deeply and profoundly bitter, and that is to have thrust upon them a life without meaning.
There is nothing wrong in searching for happiness. But of far more comfort to the soul is something greater than happiness or unhappiness, and that is meaning. Because meaning transfigures all. Once what you are doing has for you meaning, it is irrelevant whether you’re happy or unhappy. You are content - you are not alone in your Spirit - you belong.”
― Laurens van der Post
#2 . . .
A Letter From Beyond the Edge : The Shaman’s Song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am the bone-dance between birth’s first yell and
Death’s fingersnap.
I am that noise between the skin of my hand and the
One of the fundamental qualities I experience as I grow and expand my awareness is the coexistence of opposites. I grow in the capability to hold opposite realities at the same time. Holding opposite truths at the same time becomes a powerful component of my consciousness.
We make our own reality. Every single one of us. And because we do we have compassion for those who make a harsh reality for themselves. There are moments are “perfect”, when inner meets outer. And moments when perfection isn’t enough if I’m going to move forward. But no moment is “better” than any other moment, no pain that’s worse than some other pain, and no breathtakingly awful time that isn’t full of wonder and growth. That’s my humble fucking opinion anyway.
"He does this with a very simple phrase: he says that as you awaken, that suffering "hurts more, but it bothers you less.""
The reason for this is simple; once awake to the reality of this world one learns that suffering will always exist and we are limited in what we can do about it. But we have to try. i.e. it's a job not a crusade with some utopia outcome.
I recently wrote about “Service” to others as a meditation but also as an act of subversion. Perhaps Ken Wilber would agree. Evoking the “hidden hand of good “ does more than alleviate suffering but it transforms thinking in unknowable ways which in turn causes negative repercussions in the world of the manipulative classes.
"If enough of us can learn to look with both eyes, with both the absolute and the relative perspectives, with both inner and outer consciousness, the bastards will stand no chance. There will be nothing they can do to stop the end of their rule or thwart the creation of a healthy world."
To see the world with both eyes open is the work of the great writers. I think particularly of Dostoyevsky, his entire work, but if I have to point to one book, it would be "The Brothers Karamazov".
Every great book does this: to look as sincerely as possible into ourselves and the world around us. It is sometimes painful, sometimes comforting - when I meet the genius of a great writer, it comforts me -, but in any case, it deepens our humanity.
David Ray Griffin is a stellar example of what Caitlin is talking about. Having devoted most of his working life to process theology, he demonstrated his faith in God (not "Gawd") by seeking the truth about 9/11 and ultimately by seeking -- and finding -- the truth about US imperialism in his last, posthumously published book "America on the Brink: How US Foreign Policy Led to the War in Ukraine" (continuing and expanding the theme of his 2018 "The American Trajectory: Divine or Demonic?").
A subjective perspective is necessary to care for oneself; an objective perspective is necessary to care for others.
The subjective has supplanted the objective in many ways-the inversion of humanity during COVID, the idea of peace through violence, the understanding of gender, the idea of credential defining education, et alia.
Social extortion via influencers and authoritarians furthers the abandonment of the objective to empower the subjective, leading the unreflective to perceive preference as principle, the power of institutions without the commitment to ideal that inspired the institution.
Subjective is necessary because objective inescapable, but the needs of the few cannot overrule the needs of the many.
Lovely piece, Caitlin 😊 I was lucky enough that my first yoga teacher wasn’t a navel gazing bliss bunny . Her whole point was to make us live life with eyes wide open, to make our practice rooted in social change. Ever since, I seek similar people out in community, in teachers, in friends- people who are committed to doing the work on both sides, and not turning away from the pain or joy of any of it.
Your poem is exquisite and powerful, and I am so grateful that you have shared it with us.
Ken Wilber has been one of the people who have illuminated my life both intellectually and spiritually. I would love to hear from anyone who has heard Wilber speak out about the last three years of atrocities. So many of the people I most admired have been either strangely silent, or have to my dismay bought the lies wholeheartedly. That is one of the most painful realisations. It has inverted my world. I find it hard now even to quote them from the old days, knowing this.
Thanks, Caitlin, for another one of your philosophic gems. This article reminds me of a quote by Dartwill Aquila:
”With eyes wide open you see what is happening.
With your mind wide open you understand why.”
Thank you for this, Caitlin. This piece really resonates with me and is very useful. For the past decade or so I've really struggled with this paradox, and it has also made finding community a bit tricky! The spiritual bypass, or the cumulative sink into cynicism and bitterness when you pay attention to the world. It's also a dance between personal action and acceptance.
The personal struggle is my utopian intuition and hope about how things should be, crashing headlong into the reality of so much suffering on this planet, and waking up to find things are WORSE than I thought and definitely not turning into a giant hippy festival, seeing the illusion that things appear fine because some many people are numb and can't care. Now I feel more revolutionary minded, but the conflict and soul heaviness it isn't healthy.
It's good to have a reminder to balance between those things by not being defensive to feeling. My own sense is that we should have a lot of forgiveness for ourselves because the transition to greater feeling and less defensiveness takes a while and is very difficult.
I find this to be quite touching and hope and aspire to be one of those you describe as looking with both eyes.
#1 . . .
“The Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert talk about the two “hungers”. There is the Great Hunger and there is the Little Hunger. The Little Hunger wants food for the belly; but the Great Hunger, the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning...
There is ultimately only one thing that makes human beings deeply and profoundly bitter, and that is to have thrust upon them a life without meaning.
There is nothing wrong in searching for happiness. But of far more comfort to the soul is something greater than happiness or unhappiness, and that is meaning. Because meaning transfigures all. Once what you are doing has for you meaning, it is irrelevant whether you’re happy or unhappy. You are content - you are not alone in your Spirit - you belong.”
― Laurens van der Post
#2 . . .
A Letter From Beyond the Edge : The Shaman’s Song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am the bone-dance between birth’s first yell and
Death’s fingersnap.
I am that noise between the skin of my hand and the
Skin of the drum.
I have sailed over the edge
Of my flat Earth.
I have stepped over my own corpse each
Insurrection of my rebel soul.
At night, I am the he-owl flown to hunt among the
Stones of the moon.
© JSI 2012
One of the fundamental qualities I experience as I grow and expand my awareness is the coexistence of opposites. I grow in the capability to hold opposite realities at the same time. Holding opposite truths at the same time becomes a powerful component of my consciousness.
We make our own reality. Every single one of us. And because we do we have compassion for those who make a harsh reality for themselves. There are moments are “perfect”, when inner meets outer. And moments when perfection isn’t enough if I’m going to move forward. But no moment is “better” than any other moment, no pain that’s worse than some other pain, and no breathtakingly awful time that isn’t full of wonder and growth. That’s my humble fucking opinion anyway.
"He does this with a very simple phrase: he says that as you awaken, that suffering "hurts more, but it bothers you less.""
The reason for this is simple; once awake to the reality of this world one learns that suffering will always exist and we are limited in what we can do about it. But we have to try. i.e. it's a job not a crusade with some utopia outcome.
I recently wrote about “Service” to others as a meditation but also as an act of subversion. Perhaps Ken Wilber would agree. Evoking the “hidden hand of good “ does more than alleviate suffering but it transforms thinking in unknowable ways which in turn causes negative repercussions in the world of the manipulative classes.
"If enough of us can learn to look with both eyes, with both the absolute and the relative perspectives, with both inner and outer consciousness, the bastards will stand no chance. There will be nothing they can do to stop the end of their rule or thwart the creation of a healthy world."
Amen!
To see the world with both eyes open is the work of the great writers. I think particularly of Dostoyevsky, his entire work, but if I have to point to one book, it would be "The Brothers Karamazov".
Every great book does this: to look as sincerely as possible into ourselves and the world around us. It is sometimes painful, sometimes comforting - when I meet the genius of a great writer, it comforts me -, but in any case, it deepens our humanity.
David Ray Griffin is a stellar example of what Caitlin is talking about. Having devoted most of his working life to process theology, he demonstrated his faith in God (not "Gawd") by seeking the truth about 9/11 and ultimately by seeking -- and finding -- the truth about US imperialism in his last, posthumously published book "America on the Brink: How US Foreign Policy Led to the War in Ukraine" (continuing and expanding the theme of his 2018 "The American Trajectory: Divine or Demonic?").
A subjective perspective is necessary to care for oneself; an objective perspective is necessary to care for others.
The subjective has supplanted the objective in many ways-the inversion of humanity during COVID, the idea of peace through violence, the understanding of gender, the idea of credential defining education, et alia.
Social extortion via influencers and authoritarians furthers the abandonment of the objective to empower the subjective, leading the unreflective to perceive preference as principle, the power of institutions without the commitment to ideal that inspired the institution.
Subjective is necessary because objective inescapable, but the needs of the few cannot overrule the needs of the many.
The potentials for both sides is always there, with both eyes you find a middle path.
Even when life deals you a 💩 hand, making the most of it and finding a different path helps.
great poem Caitlin
Lovely piece, Caitlin 😊 I was lucky enough that my first yoga teacher wasn’t a navel gazing bliss bunny . Her whole point was to make us live life with eyes wide open, to make our practice rooted in social change. Ever since, I seek similar people out in community, in teachers, in friends- people who are committed to doing the work on both sides, and not turning away from the pain or joy of any of it.
Your poem is exquisite and powerful, and I am so grateful that you have shared it with us.
Ken Wilber has been one of the people who have illuminated my life both intellectually and spiritually. I would love to hear from anyone who has heard Wilber speak out about the last three years of atrocities. So many of the people I most admired have been either strangely silent, or have to my dismay bought the lies wholeheartedly. That is one of the most painful realisations. It has inverted my world. I find it hard now even to quote them from the old days, knowing this.