Elemental Balancing: AIR: Lightness of Being

Transcription

1 Elemental Balancing: AIR: Lightness of Being And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. (Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher and poet) The Inherent Heaviness of Life We are going to begin this session by considering the complementary opposites of heaviness and lightness. The alignment of Earth and Air. As Air is partnered with its mighty balance of Water, it is also aligned to Earth and Air, side by side. The quote I started this session with is from Friedrich Nietzsche. I do not profess to be expert regarding his philosophies. Aside from the in-depth meaning of his work, though, when reduced to simpler concepts I have found inspiration there. Let s consider, for the moment, heaviness as seen through his mind. At the extremely simplified level, his concept of heaviness centered on Earth and existence and its eternal cycling, his doctrine of Eternal Return. This is the concept of the eternal recurrence of the universe. That everything that is, existence and knowledge, will continue to be, repeating in its set pattern. And, indeed, his philosophy is that it has always been doing just that. We might first think Not so! But minds other than his (and ours) have explored this territory. Consider how often existence is envisioned as a cycle. The endless cycling of: Night and day The seasons Birth, death and rebirth The lunar phases Planting, harvesting and lying fallow The incoming and ebbing tides The circadian rhythm of our body Everything cycling again and again through an eternal circle; an eternal return. How many more beautiful and natural cycles could you add to that list?

2 We might consider there is no heaviness to these cycles of the Earth. As Seekers we train to recognize the repeating structure, order and pattern of life. Within this natural cycling we learn the power of balance shadow/light, birth/death, leaving/returning and so on. And it is one of the most powerful routes to seeing ourselves and our gods within that series of overlapping circles. We explored this early on as we captured the patterns we witness and what our relationship to them is. These might not seem heavy and as anything that pulls us down. If anything these things would seem to nurture us. Nietzsche, though, touched on the endless loop of the cycles of life in his theories on eternal recurrence. In his most morose times he felt we were, in effect, doomed to repeating cycles. Can you feel heaviness creeping in now? In his more positive moments he saw grace in our human ability to accept repeating cycles and go with the flow of those, in a way to go with the flow of fate; and, as we see in the quote that began this session, he saw that this capturing of ourselves within the cycles of life made it incumbent upon us to find our moments of joy and beauty within them. We can certainly relate to the quotation: And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. His philosophy was in the face of those cycles and everything that is going to return we find our bliss. And yet, we can also understand the heaviness that is also the experience of cyclical living. We can see at the personal and global level the menace in repetition the Vice aspect of cyclical patterns: Destructive personal behaviors and habits that we continually cycle through those which disconnect us from a healthy and balanced life. Damaging communal behaviors and habits which threaten the worldwide habitat, the environment and the health and welfare of communities and countries. Tides of political dominance through intimidation and war. Even the beautiful cycle of birth and death becomes menacing when the cycles of poverty, malnutrition and disease follow on. How many more harmful and aberrant human cycles could you add to that list?

3 When the time comes for us to journey with Earth, we will experience the beauty of its heaviness (stability) and its ugly side (uncertainty). This heaviness of Earth is in relationship to Air and its lightness of being. Lightness of Being We will always have, though, the promise of dancing and laughing, the movement and breath of Air to balance its Earthly neighbor to the north. Air provides us with the perspective to view the cycles and overlapping circles of our lives from that outward looking view that is its power. It distances us from those patterns, for once we witness them and understand their cyclical nature we can choose to move in their circles or spirals or we can choose to fly straight as an arrow. At the personal and transpersonal level we can honor the power of the linear rather than the cyclical. Living within the Element of Air we are not concerned about source and destination (who knows where the wind begins and ends?). We are concerned with an external view and a chosen alignment to it. We look outward, and we look at us from the perspective of Air and the perspective of Air within us. There is a Simultaneous Holding within the perspective of Air that is connection and distance. Using the wings of our soul we fly in spiraling updrafts and join in the oneness of all, and as well we become the celestial navigator within our personal universe that charts a unique and bold course. We are lifted by the wind and we also are the wind. Holding the perspective of Air as that which lifts us and separates us from the cyclical and directs us upward, outward and in other ways away, I experienced a bit of synchronicity when I found a poem by David Bottoms (a former poet laureate of the State of Georgia in the US). The poem is entitled Coasting Toward Midnight at the Southeastern Fair, and I first read it in the book Armored Hearts which is an anthology of his poetry. It captured the perfect essence of freedom which is Air s ability to break us free of cycles and send us skyward and outward. From your perspective of Air, imagine it is midnight and you are looking down on a brightly lit fairground. David sets the stage for us in the first stanza, noting the perspective from that view: Stomach in my throat I dive on rails and rise like an astronaut, orbit this track like mercury sliding around a crystal ball. Below me a galaxy of green and blue neon explodes from the midway to Industrial Boulevard, and red taillights comet one after another down the interstate toward Atlanta.

4 He offers quite a vista there. He then zooms in, like a poetic version of Google Earth, honing it down from witnessing afar to witnessing at the intimate level. He then provides us with examples of the Earthly heaviness of life through the emotions of some of those at the fair. The Lions (in this case, not the animal but very human members of the Lions Club, a charitable organization whom we would assume from the poem are attending and/or running the fair), the strong man, the fortune teller and the tattooed woman. He zooms in from a high perspective to a close, almost microscopic view: In the hot dog booth the Lions are sick of cotton candy. Along the midway Hercules feels the weight of his profession, Mother Dora sees no future in her business, the tattooed lady questions the reason behind each symbol drawn indelibly beneath her flesh. He has described for us the heaviness of the lives and experiences of the member of the Lions Club, Hercules, Mother Dora and the tattooed lady, each caught up in reflection on repetition. And then and then! he provides us with a stanza that is our relation to the Element of Air as wildness. We all want to break our orbits, float like a satellite gone wild in space, run the risk of disintegration. We all want to take our lives in our own hands and hurl them out among the stars. And with this amazing image we are gifted with another aspect of Air to consider for our compendium. We might consider, from the perspective of Earth, that we are born into a cycle of life which while perhaps not truly heavy we can at times perceive as such. And at times in reality it will be so. We are trapped at those times within the structure, order and pattern of life. But aligned with the infinite possibility of Air, we might consider from its perspective that we are born free of that weight when we have the courage to take our lives into our own hands and hurl them out among the stars. The bravery to do that is the alignment of the Element of Air with the Element of Fire to overcome the fear of flying, which we will visit in our next session.

5 Pathwork Journaling Capture in your journal and share with your discussion group as you are comfortable a time when you broke free of a destructive cycle in your life and flew in a new direction. These cycles can be large and dramatic and small and less obvious. If I were to use examples of each from my life I would choose my taking my taking life into my own hands when I stepped outside a cycle of domestic abuse I was living in and, borrowing from David Bottom s poem, hurled myself into a new direction (into a women s hostile and into counseling to deal with my physical and mental hurts). That was a rather dramatic breaking free of a cycle. Our cycles aren t always that dramatic. In fact, our life is filled with smaller cycles we find ourselves captured and spiraling within. For example, on a much less traumatic level, I remember one night a very long time ago watching TV and suddenly attaining the perspective of Air, which is to witness from a distance. I saw myself watching TV: a tiny human speck in front of a glowing screen. And I realized I was in a life pattern that repeated those hours of mindless TV watching every night. Over and over again. In this case, what went hurling was my TV; and I spent a decade without one in my house. These cycles we find ourselves in, sometimes knowing we are in them all along and sometimes having a moment when we see ourselves in them can be dramatic or quiet. When have you separated yourself from a cycle which had turned heavy? Signpost: We align to the power of Air within us that watches and witnesses and knows when a cycle must be broken. We in no way deny the positive aspects of Earth those of structure, order and pattern. There is immense beauty in time as cyclical. Air, though, permits us to see ourselves within that pattern and to determine if we are in right relationship to it or being carried away through habit, rote or influence in a way not conducive to our highest good. Air hurls us towards our better self through the power of breaking free. Exercise Small Rite Straight As An Arrow You will need: The token you have been using to represent yourself.

6 The token you have been using to represent the Element of Air. Your compendium for the Element of Air. You might be taking in something you have written or printed out, or you could be taking in your tablet or lap top. For this exercise they will be your partner. A piece of paper with these markings on it (a full-sized copy is appended to this session s text): The rite: And something to write with. This is a real-time ritual, one meant to align the Element of Air to something you are dealing with in your life in the here and now. The spiral symbol represents a cycle you are in that you would like to break. It could be something as immense as dealing with an unhealthy relationship, or it could be something as simple as wanting to break the nuisance of a bad habit or the reasons you have not kept a promise you have made to yourself or to another (did you keep the promise you made to yourself earlier in these sessions?). See your challenge clearly, aligning yourself to the power of Air that sees from a distance and witnesses. Acknowledge what is. If you struggle with viewing yourself objectively, begin by telling yourself a story. It begins with This person and then goes on to describe the challenge that person (you) is experiencing. Place your personal token on or next to the spiral symbol. Envision where you will be in relation to the challenge within your spiral at the place of having dealt with it and resolved it. Imagine your life changed by your release from that cycle. The symbol on the right, of the circle and wholeness, represents that. Hold the token you have chosen to represent the Element of Air and imagine that you are holding all of the powers of Air in your hand. Don t hesitate to use your compendium, and in fact I encourage it. It is a powerful and intimate source of

7 inspiration, and in this Small Rite consider it an ally in an act of divination. The act is to determine which powers of Air you will align with. If none come to your mind immediately as you meditate on the challenge you have acknowledged, then spend time with your compendium to see what presents itself as inspiration. Place your token for the Element of Air on top of the circle. Beneath the Circle write the powers of Air that will assist you to break free from the situation you have aligned to the Spiral. The hash marks between the spiral and the circle are the steps you must take to become free of what is holding you back and to, in the face of it, become whole. Beneath the hash marks list the steps you will take to address the situation. Refer to the influences of Air you have listed below the circle to inspire you and guide you, especially when you begin thinking I can t. You were guided to those words, whether you thought of them or let your compendium inspire them in you; you were led to them for a reason. The heavy influence of Earth will often capture us within a circle or a spiral, and it will constantly whisper in our ear the impossibility of escaping. You can t! Work magic for yourself. From the heaviness of Earth and the weight it has given to the situation you are addressing, use your connection to the lightness of Air to distance yourself enough to see a way forward. Align to Air s powers of observation and logic. And then let the break-away power of Air within you remind you that: We all want to take our lives in our own hands and hurl them out among the stars. Shift from living within a self-perpetuating loop into the expanse of Air where your horizons are limitless. If you cannot get to this place now, then the hash marks become a form of your loving yourself enough to align to the powers of Air which are those of honesty. List what is holding you back. What is the weight that is anchoring you and resisting your pull to move forward? You have acknowledged you want to, and you have envisioned yourself on the other side of that. You have the urge to move forward. What is keeping you from getting there? Return again to your compendium and seek inspiration from it regarding Air s inspiration. Go to your spiritual landscape and seek inspiration there. Go outside, stand in the wind in the here and now and open yourself up to what comes to you and what you have a deep instinct to hold close to become your power. If you are left struggling, revisit your symbols and the words you have captured over the upcoming days. You may receive fresh insight (Air brings that to us). You may also find our next session on courage and the fear of falling helpful. Be

8 kind to yourself; you might just need more time for the breeze to carry you onward. Signpost: This Straight As an Arrow Small Rite reminds us of the power of aligning to any of the Elements. We experience their wisdom and what of them lies within us. We are not separate from them. We again revisit that our compendiums should not be empty words. We turn to them for reflection, guidance and resolution; and we honor the role the Elements play, if we choose to let them, in our relationship to our highest and best selves. They are our conscience, our ally and our inspiration. This Small Rite is an exercise in holding ourselves to our highest selves. It is not always easy to be objective, to be honest and to be blunt with ourselves. To view our situation and to see what could be if we behaved in a different way. It is not always easy to work with the Elements at the level of the psyche, but we learn and we grow and, always, we are kind to ourselves.

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