Pondering questions springing from a disconcerting conversation last night (trying to phrase these in the most open-ended manner possible):
- Does the overlap between new theories of quantum science and ancient metaphysical and shamanic principles lead you to a perspective focused on personal desires, intention and goals, and/or to a mystical experience of awe, wonder, relatedness?
- What point on the spectrum of and/or resonates as a personal place of balance?
- What is the impact of that point on personal consciousness and action? On others, human and nonhuman? On the planet?
- How does this experience shape personal choices regarding responsibility and action?
Comments, thoughts, insights invited!
(As a p.s. – Thank you, Angela Blueskies, for your beautiful and profound meditation on these questions! )
Wow, such deep questions make my head hurt, why not allow ones self to just be? Do we really , really need answers or are they (the questions) an expression of desire to remain in a static world.
Hi Jack – thanks for asking! I don’t think these questions are based in a desire to remain in a static world…quite the reverse. It’s the and/or balance that’s dynamic and directs our ethical choices….and the profound impact we can have on each other, and the planet.
Hey Phila,
Could you rewrite these questions? I’m guessing they make sense to you, but I need a little help:)
Thanks for that input, Kathryn – from the fact that nobody other than Jack has responded, I’m guessing you’re not alone! Will do…tomorrow, I’m just back from a mind-bending lecture on the Evolutionary Christ in Ecology by avant-garde Franciscan theologian Ilia Dileo, part of my Independent Study (another part that just landed in my lap thru Rose Mary – who sends her greetings and love!)….
Go Phila… beautiful stuff here and thank you for your continued questioning, searching and bringing forth truth… an eco-spirituality based truth that is not heard enough…
big hugs!
m
Thank you, Mare – and thank you for your sharings in For the Earth. I was so touched by your recent account of readying the garden for winter, and tenderness toward the plants composting where they grew…wonderful lessons there!
ps. notice that I’m not answering the questions… too tired right now. ;~) and honestly there are several books that could be written as responses to your questions… for sure…
bigger hugs…. ;~)
m
Amen to that – and my goal is simply to put the questions out into the ether, unanswered, let readers find their own answers rather than depending on others to dictate what their choices and their balance should be….
Hugs back!
I have to say thank you, Phila; for the invite to this site and I agree with Mare, such questions are the foundation of a good book. As for the second question I am still working on that one, I mean how big of a fire does one need to tend?
Jack
Glad you’re enjoying it, Jack! And as far as the fire – I have no idea, that’s for you to answer!
Phila, I am going to play with these questions on my own blog tonight. The only one I don’t feel so clear about is the and/or – I’m not entirely clear on what you mean in that. Are you referring to the inclusiveness of both/and kind of thinking as opposed to the duality of either/or thinking?
Hi Angela – wonderful to have started this connection! Yes, you’re exactly right, the and/or is about “both/and” – realistically, I believe all of us fall somewhere on the spectrum between fulfilling personal desires and connecting to the All (much as we might want to identify completely with one or the other)…it’s a balance, never an absolute, and our values and ethics determine where we balance.