We cannot escape the dual nature of existence. There are some “spirituality” movements that have attempted to transcend the dual nature of existence, but it cannot be transcended while we are in physical form. Not completely. We always have to come back to our earthly reality, until we aren’t here anymore.
Some might think this a bold statement, and certainly there will be those who disagree. That’s alright; disagreeing with me is evidence that we exist in duality because there are two points of view. The nature of our physical as well as energetic make-up is duality, down to our atomic structure. The atom is comprised of the trinity of the positively charged proton, the negatively charged electron, and the neutral-charge of the neutron. This trinity is the model for our relationship with our Original Source (neutral charge), which then differentiated into the two polarities, the yin/yang, the negative/positive, the feminine/masculine. In order for physical creation to occur, the neutral had to differentiate into the two polarities.
The neutral, or union of opposites, the seamless whole and beginning and ending of the story, holds the polarity in a blissful container of dancing particles, a kind of ball in which the negative and positive charges swirl, come together, drift apart, come together again. A beautiful waltz of light with dark, feminine with masculine, left brain with right brain. We cannot argue with this…this is how it is. Nature is comprised of this logic, this duality. And as we know, we cannot escape the laws of nature.
And why would we want to? We are here, physical beings, after all. If it is true that we emerged from neutrality and traveled the coded lines of energy that make the positive/negative charges, then we took a long journey (and went to a lot of effort) to be here in physical form. From a biological perspective, we are the result of billions of years of evolution, nature perfecting itself in its continuing unfolding, the fractal of life unceasing. From a spiritual point of view, we took the trouble to come this far into density, so why not fully inhabit it instead of trying to escape it?
I believe this is the definition of heaven on earth…to fully inhabit our physical existence with our greater spiritual understanding. To bring the embodiment of the union into the duality of the physical world. In fact, I think this is played out continuously in our search for balance…the universe seeking neutrality (and therefore union) through the polar opposites. We even see this in the sex act (see my post, Praise the Friction)!
So, why is this on my mind today? Because my son Jess is learning the laws of nature through his brain injury/surgery and subsequent healing experience. Here at 60 days since, he is being profoundly taught that balance will prevail, and that there are consequences for being imbalanced. Not consequences in a punishing way (I don’t believe in the “universe-is-punishing-me” model of spirituality), but in a natural feedback loop kind of way. Do this, then this happens. A+B=C. Drop your glass of milk on the floor and you have milk to mop up (although, we do have a choice about whether to cry over it.)
His transformation has included becoming more receptive, allowing, self-reflective, and less giving, active, outer-focused. More BEING and less DOING. And interestingly, this falls down the yin/yang, feminine/masculine, right brain/left brain integration lines, which happens to be my life’s work. Working with natural law, the Greater Intelligence of the mechanism that creates all things, and that continues to infuse the world of creation, is my path. Balance is nature’s example, in a constant state of flux as imbalance and balance occur, but always within the container of duality. Always within that larger equation of two elements creating one, the push/pull of the energies of yin/yang. Always, always seeking union, the balance of the two which results in union or neutrality. If we can’t see that there is a balance afoot, then it means we need to expand our frame of reference.
And shamanism is the practice of working with natural law, or balance. The oldest medicine in the world, practiced by our indigenous ancestors, shamanic practice is NOT a religion, but an integrated path of earth and sky, matter and spirit, as-above-so-below, as-within-so-without, heaven-meets-earth-within-a-single-point-of-consciousness. To walk the path of a shaman is to work willingly with meta intelligence, the consciousness of All Creation, in order to bring balance. Absolute respect and reverence for the awesome natural order of All Things, for the Web of Life, learning how to bring balance through our acute awareness of where it is NOT, and seeing ourselves as the part of creation that we are, serving in our role. This is not glorious enough for some folks, but I can’t think of anything more noble. Shamanism is righteous healing, with a focus on justice (it is no accident that the symbol for justice is also the symbol for balance, the scales.) Shamanism is an advocacy to experience the consequences of our actions, to really feel them, and not to cheapen the valuable experience of being in a physical playground rich with learning opportunities by attempting to transcend it. It isn’t for wussies. The courageous heart is essential in the call to shamanism, where we are initiated by death of our old selves, a willing surrender to be consumed by the fire of transformation, so that we can be reborn. In fact, I believe that the beautiful portrayal of Jesus the Christ is shamanic in nature.
Jess has been initiated as a shaman. Following his mother into the center of the void, walking the line between darkness and light, the seam between the yin and yang, and dancing in the corpus callosum between our brain hemispheres…all with a desire to unite the opposites, to marry the feminine and masculine by fully experiencing them in their unique and separate wonder, and bringing them together within one point of consciousness, the true partnership of duality in cooperation and wholeness. His request when he was six years old to be my apprentice has come to fruition, although it is not me but nature that is his teacher. I’ll teach him what I’m guided to teach him, but truly his direct experience is his greatest mentor, and it is simply a matter of providing observations and questions that open him to meta intelligence, where the truth of All Creation lies within our grasp. This is what he is being asked to do.
*Read more about Licia’s experience traveling the light/dark road in her 2012 book, SOUL COMPOST.
