The Healing Power of Attention

What is attention? If you’re interested in spirituality you may have heard it called consciousness or presence.

If you have an interest in psychology or are more on the hard-science side of things you may have heard it called mindfulness instead. Mindfulness is a useful term if you read it as “what you are mindful (aware) of,” and not so helpful if you consider it to be concerned primarily with the mind, that is, what you are actually thinking.

There is a subtle difference. You may be thinking about what you are mindful of – it may even be helpful to do so at times – but thinking is not the key component of mindfulness. Awareness is. That’s why I like to call it attention. What are you paying attention to? What are you making yourself aware of?

We all needed attention at some time. Especially as children. The younger we were, the more we needed it. In fact, studies have shown that babies who are not touched simply die! Attention is so important to children that if they can’t get positive attention they may act out to get negative attention instead: admonishments, yells, timeouts – even beatings in extreme circumstances. For the desperate child, the old adage ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ applies – any attention is better than none, and so neglect is the worst form of abuse. Of course negative attention will never really help a child grow into an adult in the long run, but a child who gets plenty of positive attention will learn to give it to themselves and others.

Dogs are pack animals who may tear up an entire house for the need of attention if left alone. Why? Because attention is life-giving.

Everything is a reflection of how much attention has been put into it, is it not? The pen I first wrote these words with arose from the attention of the factory assistants who moulded it and the bureaucrats who marketed it. A Song is the product of the attention the songwriter put into learning their instrument, practising their skills as a lyricist, and sitting down to combine the two creatively.
A song which is not given the attention it requires never gets written.

A building is the flower of the architects who designed it, the lecturers who trained them, the builders who laid the cement, the truck drivers who shipped it. A derelict building reflects a lack of attention.

How derelict are we?

A houseplant lives or dies based on the quality of attention it receives, and it follows naturally that the areas of your life that are most unsatisfactory are the ones that are the most in need of attention. Proof for this can be found in the fact that so many of us are familiar with the feeling of being put off by the amount of attention some things appear to need! (This is where a good friend, counsellor or therapist can help jump-start the engine.)

You will notice, again, that attention does not simply mean “thinking about.” If you’re anything like me you will find that thinking about a task makes it bigger, and bigger, and bigger – and the bigger it gets the harder it looks to accomplish. Thinking relates through past and future, and so the mind looks forwards and says “there is so much to do!” Attention, on the other hand, is given entirely to the moment. “There is only one thing to do, and doing it will naturally lead on to the next thing.”
We must treat ourselves, and our projects, like the house plant. It needs the correct kind of attention. Water is one kind of attention, and water is good – but too much water will drown it. Thinking is one kind of attention, and thinking is good – but too much thinking will drown us.

How do you know what the right kind of attention is? How do you get more of it to dish out to yourself and your projects?

By hanging back. By not rushing. By taking the time to know what you are trying to do before trying to do it. By giving your attention instead of distracting yourself from the challenge with thoughts. By giving your attention instead of putting extraneous things into your head like tv, video games, social media, books – all the beautiful fruits of other people’s attention which are wonderful in their own place but are used too often by us to escape working in our own orchard.
In essence, you gain attention by not ignoring yourself.

Next week we’ll be looking at what ignoring yourselves entails, why we do it, how to stop, and how we can improve the quality of attention available to us, then we’ll move on to putting our attention outwards so we can truly heal the world.

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The 7 Primal Archetypes of the Awakening

Are you playing the innocent child, full of unsullied love for the world, the jackal-like jester who laughs at others’ expense, the witch who has had her heartbroken so many times that she becomes cold and aloof, separating herself from society? Or how about the inventor and scientist, the visionary who brings ‘new’ information to the world’s consciousness through their uncanny ability to lead the pack?

Hopefully, you are also the hero, having battled all the monsters, most of them arising from your deepest, darkest, tossed-aside self, who has slain the villains and having seen the world for what it truly is, arrive home again, wiser and more conscious than ever before.[1] There are literally thousands of archetypes that we utilize to evolve spiritually, but there are seven that are so common it is beneficial to understand them.

Both Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell have outlined archetypal patterns that we fall into while in manifest form. You can think of these as myths or stories that we tell ourselves in order to process the experience of living.

Campbell described the ‘hero’s [heroin’s] journey,’ as one we must all take in order to separate the ‘ordinary world’ from oneself, and to sacrifice oneself to righting all the wrongs we observe in the world. We answer a ‘call to adventure’ in order to begin this journey into the ‘out there,’ but really we are exploring what we have to learn inside of ourselves in this incarnation. The hero [heroin] is, in fact, the first of the of seven archetypes. He or she is the protagonist. Without them, the story would fall flat, and so it is our experience in flesh and bone. Though some will argue that the mono-myth falls short of describing all the characters within the play of life, they certainly are helpful in understanding that we all play a role and that we can choose a different one, just as easily as changing a costume in a Shakespearean play.[2]  in a nutshell here is the seven other primal archetypes in which we all find ourselves playing a part (of thousands of possibilities). In many cases, others will play their part too, so that we can continue on the journey:

1. The Hero

The hero [heroin] is everywhere. It appears in every ancient myth, popular culture, ancient culture, and epic story. Gautama Buddha is a hero, just as the Iron Man is a hero. So is Amelia Earhart and Joan of Arc. The hero or heroin is often born under unusual circumstances, either under unusually precarious conditions or into royalty, and once they receive the “call to adventure” they leave their homes to continue their journey. They often have supernatural gifts (clairvoyance, and clairaudience, among them) and must face many trials in life in order to atone with the father archetype, thus annihilating their egoic selves, to gain spiritual boons.

The hero[in] serves as an idealized person who can deal with trials and tribulations in ways that the average person cannot.

2. The Mentor

Sometimes the mentor appears as a teacher or a sage. Their purpose is to test the hero’s will, their commitment to the task at hand, and their ability to stay the path on their epic journey. The mentor can guide the hero, but they can also guide any of the other archetypes represented in the play of life.

3. The Shadow

This is usually the antagonist of the story. You may find that depending upon your relationship to another person, you are their antagonist. Someone else might be yours. The shadow’s function is to get in the way of the hero or heroine obtaining their objective, but more importantly, represents subconscious detritus that has not been brought to the surface to deal with consciously. Just as Carl Jung explained, the shadow is not all bad. It is simply the unknown ‘‘dark side’’ of our personality–-dark both because it tends to consist predominantly of the primitive, negative, socially or religiously depreciated human emotions and impulses like sexual lust, power strivings, selfishness, greed, envy, anger, or rage, and due to its unenlightened nature, completely obscured from consciousness. It is when the shadow comes to life that we realize our hero’s journey and succeed.

“Whatever we deem evil, inferior or unacceptable and deny in ourselves becomes part of the shadow, the counterpoint to what Jung called the persona or conscious ego personality. According to Jungian analyst Aniela Jaffe, the shadow is the ‘‘sum of all personal and collective psychic elements which, because of their incompatibility with the chosen conscious attitude, are denied expression in life.’’[3]

4. The Ally

Think of Batman’s Robin, or Huck Finn’s friend Jim that traveled with him down the Mississippi. These are the companions that help us on our journey. They show faithful support, and often reflect the positive aspects of ourselves we forget about, but that need reflection during certain meetings with other archetypes like the shadow self.

5. The Shapeshifter

This is the element of the story, your story, that provides doubt. It is the non-believer, the cynical mother-in-law, the voice in your head that tells you the story cannot proceed. The shapeshifter will make it difficult for the hero [heroin] to stay the course, providing all manner of diversion and questioning about the hero’s true purpose.

6. The Trickster

Also known as the clown, or the jester, the Trickster is similar to the shapeshifter, in that its purpose is to throw the hero off-balance. The trickster has the directly opposite role as the Guardian or Mentor. They represent temptation. Think of the steaming hot man or woman at your office who would tempt you into an affair, or the time-consuming, clowning friend that tempts you away from your responsibilities.

7. The Seeker

Also known as the wanderer or the dreamer, the seeker is perpetually looking for answers. They can seem like a ‘lost’ soul that never finds an anchor, but they also help to drive the story forward, by all manner of inquiry. The seeker is so driven for answers that they will even put themselves in danger, and act in spontaneous or knee-jerk ways just so that they can ‘seek’ more. Think of Siddhartha. The seeker is very valuable, but only the hero finds the ultimate truth.

Final Thoughts

Campbell wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces because there are so many roles we can play. His archetypes have been so profound that they’ve been used in films, including George Lucas’ Star Wars, as well as almost every Hollywood movie to speak to audiences that will identify with whatever archetype they are currently playing in their own lives.

The goal is always the same – to endure trials, to escape the belly of the beast, to live a great adventure, and come back all the wiser to share this knowledge with fellow human beings. Also known as the departure, initiation and return cycle, this great journey is one we are all participating in – which is your archetype?

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Take a Chance, Make a Choice, Be the Change

Remember, we are a part of this planet.

It is a new year; the living spaceship we call Earth has completed yet another successful revolution about the sun. The orbiting process seems to have been pretty uneventful from a distance, but looking closer onto the surface of the ship tells a very different tale.

The human race is at a crossroads; we as a species are undergoing a shift that is reflected at every level of our society and the larger system that we have created for ourselves upon this planet. Our consciousness is expanding, and with this comes a growing awareness of how not only ineffective but dangerous the dominant paradigm is towards our continued survival as a species.

The Malthusian-Darwinian paradigm preaches competition, consumption, and survival of the fittest. It suggests that this is the defining characteristic of existence, that this is what happens throughout the rest of nature, and that we as humans are now fitting into the mold. It serves as the justification for our egocentric, materialistic, capitalistic existence, attempting to convince us that this is what nature programs into our cells.

This is a lie. This is misinformation, perpetuated by the people who benefit from the system in its current state. A society truly modeled after nature is no new concept, humans have been living this way for thousands of years, and it is one based upon harmony and mutual cooperation. Numerous ancient civilizations have lived in harmony and sustainably with the Earth. We know that it worked then, and we know that it can work now.

In nature, most animals spend their lives living in harmony, with brief periods of competition, not the other way around. Competition does exist, but this only happens when animals are competing after the same resources or are attempting to occupy the same niche. The level of competition present is also dependent upon the scarcity of resources within an environment.

If one’s intent is to destabilize, divide, and conquer in order to establish a small fraction of controlling elites, what way could be more effective than the tactics currently being implemented? By creating a focus upon scarcity, upon competition, upon the ego, upon consumption, and upon fear, the control system successfully influences the choices that we make in order to harness our energy and funnel it towards their own corrupted endeavors.

It’s not that this mentality is outdated, for never was there a time in our history where this could actually be deemed an acceptable or effective modality of existence. This mentality is poison, it is fundamentally flawed, and it is the time that we apply not only our feelings but our logic to the situation that we have let carry on for too long.

We do not need the system to survive, the system needs us. It needs the constant influx of our energy to continue spinning and to stay in motion. It is short-sighted, benefits few, hurts many, focuses upon unbridled consumption, constant production, and is highly inefficient. Technology and quality of life is great but is not worth sacrificing our planet, our freedom, and our lives. We can have all of these things. We do not need to give this fractured, failing system our power.

Let us return to the Earth, let us return to the rhythm of life that we feel the pulse through our bodies and fills every cell of our beings. Let us return to our home, let us make all our decisions based upon how it affects us, others around us, the planet, and the entire universe. We get to choose where we express our energy, and the more of us that choose sustainable living practices, harmony, and quality over consumption, fear, and quantity, the faster we shall make the change come about.

The organic vessel Earth has been around for a long time. If we want humans to continue to be a part of its journey through the cosmos, and to step into our next evolution of consciousness and our place within the universe, it is up to us. Choose, wisely. Choose love. But ultimately, each and every single one of us must choose.

Unconditional love, and gratitude.

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Everything I See is Me

I AM . . . life.

In life, every single instant and interaction exist for the growth of the self and the universe into the highest harmony of All That Is. Taoists like to refer to this as the Tai Chi, or the Supreme Ultimate, which can also be described as Unity. At the center of all existence is the infinite singularity of All That Is Here and Now, the roar of Ohm, the spark of transcendent being-ness that permeates the entire universe.

This is the universal substrate from which you and I and every single being of energy in the universe arise. An amazing thing about the Supreme Ultimate is that it holds within itself all of the infinite potential and possibilities in the universe, yet it itself is beyond differentiation. In this way, it is referred to as chaotic unity and is at the center of all being.

What happens next is the story that is told in countless different cultures in countless different ways, yet with one penultimate constant. Creation, differentiation, the unfolding of the tree of life, the fractioning of the whole into the boundless possibilities of existence in the universe. In this process arose the myriad forms and states of being that energy manifest in and occupy.

At the center of being lies a paradox, for Unity contains within itself the possibility of its own negation, its own opposite. This is the perspective of separation, the linchpin of the ego mind, and is the root of all injustice, negativity, pain, and darkness in the world. And it is completely necessary. As infinite beings of consciousness within Unity, the illusion of separateness exists for us to understand the difference between the two.

This is the penultimate question, penned so simply by William Shakespeare in ‘Hamlet.’ To be, or not to be.

These concepts appear to be contradictory, appear to negate and deny each other, yet they are only different perspectives, different manners in which to view the vastness of the universe. Duality is not a static state, as our dominant cultural and scientific paradigms would have us believe. For from this separation arises the constant integration and balance between these two ‘opposing’ perspectives.

We are in the midst of this process, called the moment, which is the endless integration of duality into itself. We are a part of the endless ebb and flow of energy in the perpetual, dynamic equilibrium of existence.

The mechanism that allows us to navigate and experience the boundless aspects of the universe is called choice, a concept that we are all aware of. This is the free will that is fundamental to all being, and this is what allows us to experience the universe from different perspectives. Some may be darker than others, some may be more comfortable, and there may even be a particular flavor in infinity that you enjoy more than others.

No matter which way we choose to view the universe, our perspective is valid. It may, however, not be the most effective or the most harmonious. It may only encompass a fraction of the infinite being-ness that is present, and that is ok. In fact, it’s great. Yet it is still a part of the whole as well, an integral factor of Unity, and an essential part of the journey home into All That Is.

To be infinite is our natural state of being, it is where we come from and where we always are and will be. We don’t need to do anything to be in this state. On the contrary, we actually need to un-do, we need to no longer choose to be fractured and separate. We need to let go of our attachments to specific outcomes and moments in space and time.

We allow ourselves to be infinite by not creating any limits upon our being.

In doing so, we return to wholeness. In All That Is, we are all of the infinite potential and all of the infinite form. We relax, we let go, and we enjoy the glorious dance of existence through the endless eternities of the now.

Unconditional love, and gratitude.

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