As I'm tooling around the whole bloggin' world I'm thinking that there has to a be a purpose that connects the whole thing together ... something larger than ourselves that contains us, supports us, nurtures us and even gives our lives meaning ... and yet doesn't constrict, condemn or control us. Those of you who are familiar with my banterings know I'm referring to what I call ... G.T.S. .. or the relationship with "that which is Greater Than Self" ... some people think of this as G-d ... others think about this as Nature ... or even the Universe ... and some others think about this as simply as their Family or the Community in which they live. In any case the relationship and state of being suggested by G.T.S. represents the essence of an idea that is central to virtually all my thinking ...
What catches me so often continues to be as I think in terms of G.T.S. in how many place and in how many ways this idea shows up. I simply cannot think of a spiritual system, from formal religions to the most secular approaches, that do not include a mention of and direct reference to a relationship with something greater than ones self. In most spiritual systems the central theme focuses on this relationship. Then as I stretch the boundaries where I spend my time and do my wanderings to areas as diverse as literature, film, fine arts ... even sports ... I find mention after mention and reference after reference to this relationship as central to what it means to be human. In some cases this references suggests that this relationship represents the most human of all characteristics ... what in fact "makes" us human.
Neuroscience suggests to us that we are 'hard-wired' to have this desire for and experience of G.T.S. ... that a drive to experience G.T.S. ... was built into the deepest circuitry of humanity sometime during our primitive evolution. The question remains and begs answering, "Are we hardwired to experience G.T.S. or are we hardwired so that we are aware of the experience of G.T.S.?" Regardless of the answer it seems we are driven to have this experience to the point of sacrificing virtually all else to attain it ... even at the cost of our life itself.
What has become more and more true of this drive most recently concerns the way in which it continues to become more and more secular in terms of the way we consider it, pursue it and manifest it in our modern lives. Yet the drive itself never wanes or withdraws ... it lingers however weakly at the periphery of our collective awareness just waiting for the smallest breeze to pick-up up on it ... ready to explode in a fervor of activity and excitement in regard to the next wave of humanity searching for a way to make the connection.
We've seen these waves come and go ... come and go ... the search for the holy grail of Enlightement ... from the birth of religions ... to the migration of and proliferation of methods ... Zen ... meditation ... yoga ... tai chi ... sweat lodges ... to the most modern of all ... the replacing the search for the holy grail ... with the search for the silver bullet of enlightenment ... and the self appointed priests of Harvard Yard annointed to spread the word ... "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" ... at the alter of LSD. And we moved on from there ... keeping much of the attitude and desire intact ... coming back to the tried and the true ... again and again ... and some of us even finding what we were searching for in the practices we adopted and now call our own.
Yet at the heart of it all remains the single, simple idea ... "making the connection" ... it would be most accurate and true to say the soul of the search for spirituality in our times resides in this ... "making the connection" ... and we most find in this connection ourselves ... unadorned ... and unfettered ... and here residing in this simplest of all forms ... making the connection with others ... with all that surrounds us and ultimately with ourselves ... we find what we were looking for ... we find ourselves complete ... whole and satisfied.
This then suggests to us the essence of community ... how we come together ... one to one ... one to many ... and the many together. The community evolves a culture of it's own ... the markers and signals that identify us as members ... draw us together ... keep us together ... and ultimately attract even more folks to the tribe ... increasing the ranks of the committed. A dream of this community may be to see the day when the tribe includes us all ... embraces the entirety of humanity ... with all it's variation and diversity ... into one great family once again ... as we must have been when the first humans appeared in the world.
However, for now we can be content with the idea that this community continues to spread ... that the connection becomes more available ... more accessible ... more present ... each time we put our attention on it. This simple realization then can be the most profound realization regarding the essence of communicating and connecting with others as well. This realization forms the foundation for massive edifices of persuasion, influence and motivation to be built ... the desire we all hold to truly and fully know the experience of making the connection ... and the profundity of this realization includes the awareness of allowing this to become the basis of how we organize and operate ourselves ... and like this we willnot ... we cannot be conned ... or misled ... and like this we will choose both our leaders and when to become leaders ourselves wisely as well.
Only the true of heart and strong of spirit need apply to this school of communication so to speak. Only those souls willing to do the work required to become an authentic and genuine person can gain access to this kind of profound illumination ... and yet in the end what they gain ... the boon ... the elixir ... the gift ... and reward ... remains with them to their dying days ... they get to find and keep themselves ... standing in the world complete ... and whole ... satisfied ... both independent and capable of being interdependent ... leaving behind all sense of dependency on any one or anything other than the massive truth they have found in making the connection for themselves.
We live in a time of great change ... great opportunity ... interesting times as the ancient Chinese Taoist sages would say ... and maybe now more than ever before in the history of mankind ... when we have in our hands the means for such destruction and also for such potential ... on a scale unprecendented in the history of this world ... contained in the hands of a species seemingly so ill-prepared to hold this power ... that we most need to remember the greater purpose ... why we're all here toolin' around together ... each of us for a little while at least ... and become willing to create the possiblity for greatness in ourselves as both the led and the leaders ... and the hope that we can find in ourselves that which is Greater Than Self ... and connect to one another from there.
That's all for now ... until we meet again ...
Joseph Riggio
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3 comments:
Josie:- Maybe this is our collective learning at this point in time…to return home to a sense of community.
Perhaps as a western society we are transiting the “teenage years�….the years of independence of an “I� culture. Is our learning to begin again to know and understand the true meaning of interdependence? The surrender of the “I� in order to become the “we� of community. The sense of humility and servitude to that which is greater than self.
Have our G-ds become the shopping malls and the discos. Do we need to enter more fully into the rites of passage that will guide us through to that moment of eternity that will last forever.
When our time on this particular planet is finished how do we want to be remembered? For our achievements in the material sense or for the relationships and connections we have made? For the people we have touched by our presence for just being who we are. For reaching out and making a connection with others so that our essence can live on in their hearts and minds long after we have passed away.
To the previous commenter, Josie, it sounds like you've passed away already. Who gives a fuck about being remembered. It's about fucking now... That's all that there is, and if it isn't juicy, if you aren't doing it right. What do you need to do to come alive? Most people live lives of quiet desperation, keeping themselves busy with the meaningless shit of a worthless life… Then numbing the pain by alcohol of some other drug of choice.
With a life like this who’s going to bother to make a connection, the only community are those that can share in the pain, those that can complain together to reinforce the boundaries of lack.
And yet maybe somewhere deep inside there is still the wonder, some half forgotten fragment of a dream that more is possible. Faint embers barely still aglow. Some foolish notion that faith in something GTS might make a difference to how the rest of life might be lived. But why bother to answer the call to adventure when the comfort of the armchair calls and you could watch it all on TV anyway.
And yet, the call is still there…
Tugging at your soul.
What drug to try next, will it bliss me out or numb me out, and can I tell the difference anyway…
And still I burn to make connection, but not to someone half asleep, I really don’t fancy the woolly fleece of a sheep… That’s what they are or is it lemmings…
But the hungers still there… I want some real juicy meat.
Though I fear I’m neither authentic or genuine, or have the courage of my convictions… So I’m damned to hell, or maybe already there… So the only way is up, reaching out to make connection.
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