The Edge of the New?

We tend to view the approach of key milestones like the New Year as marking a transition for us, as though they had some objective reality. In fact, outside of major astronomical events, such as the solstice, their outward or objective aspect is a constructed thing. Their subjective significance is another matter, and the New Year, in particular, marks a reiteration of our belief that we can effect real change in our lives.

The ancient wisdom, in all its forms, has taught us that our real being – our Soul if you like – has its place and its growth in the now. Regardless of the constructs  of time and event our society places around things.

The now is a simple thing to say, but quite a complex concept to grasp, if we want to use it for personal transformation. To examine the now from the mind’s perspective is a bit like sawing through a tree to see its inner flow!

The reason we have such trouble living in the now is that there is a constant jostling between the mind and the soul. We live in an age dominated by the intellect. We may not all view ourselves as intellectually-driven, but the ‘psychology’ of being a ‘me’ is so dominated by the human thinking machine, that we don’t even notice it.

The mind has great intelligence. We can think of such intelligence as foresight – the ability to say “If I did that, then this would happen . . .” This great gift is a wonderful blessing in our physical existence; but can be a curse from a spiritual point of view, as it leads us to exist in a constant state of planning. This is because, habitually, it leads us away from, and makes us mistrust, the very powerful ‘now’.

We come to live in the now when we can step away from the mind’s constant chatter and just be . . . This doesn’t mean that we have to be stupid in the flow of the now – very much the opposite. In the flow of the now, of being, we connect with a higher form of intelligence that pervades all creation. This higher intelligence includes all of us in its flow of unfolding creation, and shows us how limiting our little island of separate intelligence can be.

It is our spiritual immaturity that leads us to surmise that we can ‘out-think’ the intelligence of the cosmos. In so doing we try to create a little island of ourselves, one whose walls will help us in avoiding pain and discomfort, but one that also takes us out of the flow of the world, using our mind as a shield from what is truly reality.

Working back along these walls is one of the methods used by the Silent Eye School. As humans, we all share a common foundation in how we react to the world, from our earliest point of physical awareness onwards. How each of us reacts to the world becomes our personality – and we are all unique, though built on similar foundations. The resulting patterns of ‘me’ can be mapped in many ways. The Silent Eye School uses the enneagram to show how the purity of the soul is covered in layers of ‘dust’, thereby obscuring the view of the ever-alive now.

Mind, body, emotions and soul were meant to work together, under the latter’s command. This has always belonged to us, so the journey is not one of building the new, but of uncovering that which we already possess.

To recover that is not a rapid process, and quick-fix methods simply don’t work. Instead, they produce a hunger for constantly new ‘paths’ as the next quick-fix promises that elusive goal that the last one failed to deliver.

We can think of the empowered soul, working with the mind, as a pair of swans in the flow of a river. The water is cold, and to our delicate skins, is shocking. But its reality is undisputed and its constantly changing patterns are the real truths of our lives.  By living in them, and seeing them for what they are, we open the partnership for soul and mind to work together in graceful harmony – each in its domain.

As we approach the new year, we wish you grace, harmony and purpose in your own journey and on your own wonderful river.

Happy 2015 from all at the Silent Eye School.