Musings: Sacred Circle
Of all my treasures, my relationships are the most cherished. Having little enthusiasm for most entertainment venues, shopping or travel adventures, I channel my energy mainly into people and ideas, always in search of resonance with the elusive truth. Truth means it’s true for everybody — a balanced, fair and impartial path to follow. Earth revolves around the sun; all people are created equal. Although some may try to dispute it, the truth always holds up under scrutiny. You will feel more balanced and empowered being around people living the truth; their steady vibration makes your energy want to resonate with the same stability.
Long ago I accepted the truth that my relationships are a mirror of myself. As yoga teacher Julie Rost writes in this issue’s article “Yoga Wisdom for Modern Relationships”: “In short, we attract to us the people and situations that match our existing thoughts.” When you are innocent and filled with beauty and magic, naturally a hummingbird appears, traditional harbinger of joy and love, as seen in Claudia Tremblay’s artwork on this page. Who wouldn’t want to see a magical hummingbird reflected back in self-image?
But all too often we’ll encounter more unflattering reflections. Even though I might think it’s my neighbor who is loud and disturbing to me — I don’t blare outdoor speakers every weekend all summer long, he does — just listen to the relentless inner critic of mine who has disturbed my peace day and night for over five decades! Apparently, I am as ignorant about noxious noise as my neighbor. But if I only focus on his behavior that annoys me, I will miss my cue to notice the more sinister noise culprit within myself. And, of course, I won’t be able to like my neighbor very much either! Instead of allowing stress and frustration to define the situation, I can choose to appreciate the gift-in-disguise opportunity my contentious neighbor offers me to grapple with my own inner critic…and make sure to check out the local noise ordinances, as well!
This brings to mind Deepak Chopra’s ice cream cone manifestation metaphor: You can imagine holding an ice cream cone, you can see someone else walking by on the sidewalk holding one, you can find the cone actually in your own hand by preparing or purchasing it or having someone place it there for you. Manifestation occurs on many levels. Casual and intimate relationships, as well as chance encounters, all reveal valuable clues to help you reclaim the mystery pieces of your own identity. Every encounter you manifest potentially holds the gift of truth.
According to James Allen, pioneer of the self-help movement and author of the 1902 motivational classic As A Man Thinketh, “The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears.” In today’s world, we are faced with many terrifying and many exciting possibilities, all of which are reflected as potential choices we will make in our relationship to Earth and each other. It is no accident that social media and the Internet have exploded onto the scene at precisely this moment in time to enable alert and receptive people all over the planet to learn about, publicize and address pressing global issues such as climate change, women’s rights and sustainable food production.
The brave new world ruled by social media and the Internet that runs our lives through apps downloaded onto little plastic boxes called smart phones is like any new technology introduced to society and resisted by the old guard. Or is it? Author Susan McNamara writes in this issue, “…our children have turned to technology to give them what they need in terms of guidance and connection. We are putting them in the hands of something that does not, cannot, and will never, ever truly care about them.”
This could rewrite human evolution. What happens as children become more dependent on technology and less familiar with how to care for others who care for them? Just as disturbing is the withdrawal from nature and the outdoor world in favor of interacting with a screen. Most troubling is a screen set to a steady stream of interactive violence. How can we let our young people do this to themselves and our future?
Ideally, we will use this new technology for all its worth to clean up the planet and lift humanity out of its poverty, war and disease. Big goals, which must first be imagined and reflected back millions of times between believers before they can even be possible, so the small efforts of every individual doing their best counts plenty. As novelist Barbara Kingsolver notes:
“We all would rather believe that we can go on using our cars and our computers and our hair dryers and everything we turn on everyday, because it’s a great inconvenience for us to stop guzzling carbon-based fuel…For most of our [ancestral] existence we probably spent a large portion of our waking hours looking for food. Women did more of the foraging and men did more of the hunting, so women have subverted the foraging drive into shopping and men have subverted the hunting drive into sports. In the distant past you would have been the best forager in the village, but today you’ve got three hundred pairs of shoes.”
Eventually we will reach the tipping point in our disconnected, consumer-driven, technology-addicted culture and tap back into the power of the sacred circle that will have us looking towards each other and seeing hummingbirds again.
Carol Bedrosian is the publisher of Spirit of Change holistic magazine. Visit www.spiritofchange.org.
