Thursday, July 30, 2015

INSANE IS THE NEW NORMAL: POST EIGHTEEN

Two of Wands



     At the age of fifty-five, I discovered that I’m left-handed. I had done just about everything with my right hand for over fifty years and for all that time I never suspected that I would manifest this physical tendency of the right-brained person. In a world dominated by right-handers, I eat and deal cards and open doors and turn on lights now with my left hand. My right hand and arm are stronger and more dexterous after years of conditioning, but even though my left hand is a bit clumsy at some of the finer things, like writing, it can maneuver on the fretboard of a guitar in a way that my right hand will never do. I’ve always suspected that I’m a right-brainer because I’m one of “those” artistic types, but I only finally accepted that I was truly a lefty about a year ago after I learned that I have celiac disease. 
     Some of you know that I have had to eliminate gluten  and stimulants, such as caffeine and alcohol (which affects the body at first as a stimulant), from my diet because of irregular heartbeats and debilitating stomach issues. Because I also have allergies to eggs, milk and corn, and I am sensitive to many chemicals, my diet now consists mainly of brown rice, chicken, fish, yams, potatoes, peanut butter, and fresh greens. I have never felt better in my life.
     Suddenly an aspect of my true nature has surfaced, but why did it happen? I attribute my unexpected left-handedness to self-purification. When I discovered that I was seriously ill, I changed my diet and also went through a period of intense mental and emotional purification. In other words, I regularly eliminated negative energies from my mind through ritual and meditation. (See previous posts.) I have discovered that you cannot separate the body from the emotions or the mind or the spirit. If one aspect is diseased, all aspects are adversely affected.
     My mother recently confessed that she suspected when I was very young that I was left-handed, and consequently she would always hand objects to my right hand. It was a right-handed world back then (and still is), and she thought it would be easier for me in the long run if I fit in. 
     The right brain, seat of creativity and psychic abilities, controls the left side of the body. According to Craig Weiler, “A dominant right brain naturally produces different thought patterns; specifically, those who are possessed of this feature tend towards more holistic, creative thinking than is ordinary.  Right brain dominance is a matter of degrees and it follows that those who are outliers in this area will have substantially different modes of thinking than is ordinary.  In other words, there are physiological reasons for psychic people to experience strong feelings of being different.  (Because this is physically true.)" 
     Without knowing it, I have always been a right-brainer in a left-brained world, which explains my “different thought patterns,” as well as my rebelliousness and my difficulties fitting in. It may also explain why I have some of my problems with allergies as well as my ability to heal myself quickly through the power of intention. According to Weiler, “Psychic people are referred to...as anomalously sensitive people (ASP’s) because the sensitivities go far beyond psychic ability....As a group, psychic people are more vulnerable to allergies and autoimmune diseases and those who are left handed are more prone to accidents than the general population.  However, ASP’s also possess the best neurology for self healing and have a better ability to reduce key stressors and their negative effects through intention.”  


Path 26
     Unfortunately, this tendency to think and act differently has led to the stigmatization of left-handers. For thousands of years, there has been a superstition that the left hand is the hand of the devil. According to anythinglefthanded, the Devil is normally portrayed as being left-handed. In the seventeenth century it was thought that the Devil baptized his followers with his left-hand and there are many references in superstitions to the “left-hand side” being associated with evil. It is interesting to note that there is a belief that you can only see ghosts if you look over your left shoulder. Moreover, it was believed that evil spirits lurk over the left shoulder and that you should throw salt over that shoulder to ward them off....In Roman times, salt was a very valuable commodity, giving rise to the word “salary” and was considered a form of money at the time. Spilling salt was considered very bad luck, which could only be avoided in the future by throwing some of the spilled salt over the left shoulder to placate the devil. 
     While dealing with celiac disease, I became a walking, talking, left-handed, gluten-free case of cognitive dissonance, morose about the unfairness of it all. I had been conditioned to believe that I’m a right-hander, only to discover that I’m left-handed, and I’ve also been told to eat foods that are “good for me”  for as long as I can remember--only to discover that they are killing me. Innumerable packages weighing down grocery store shelves contain ingredients that seriously threaten my well-being. I have never met a doctor yet who believes that common foods items, supposedly good for everyone, can cause serious harm to millions of people like me, which has only made me doubt everything even more. I began to believe that left-brainers would never understand us or even believe that we are telling the truth about our physical problems.


Two of Swords

     Coincidentally, around the same time that I became left-handed, I also started to become free of limiting beliefs instilled in me by my parents and society. After my lefty tendencies surfaced and my health dramatically improved on all levels, veils dropped from my eyes. After so much self-purification, I felt free of left-brained social conditioning. I realized that I am happy being right-brained. I do not need to compete with anyone because as a right-brainer I know that I am essentially a magnificent spiritual being, capable of inner harmony, love, and abundance in almost any circumstance.  I do not need to live in fear in an interminable and cynical left-brained battle for survival, status, power, and money. Somehow, so far, in all circumstances, I have survived attacks by left-brainers on my right-brained person, whether physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual, and I know that I can stand alone as a human being, if necessary, because I am connected to field upon field of divine energy throughout the world and the cosmos. I am resourceful. I am creative.
     Due to my cognitive dissonance and self-purification, I have not only freed myself from the “mind-forged manacles” of social conditioning--I have realized a few surprising truths. I have conformed from the beginning to please the people who have held my fate in their hands. I have conformed again and again, sometimes without knowing it, even though it was against my true nature and against my best interests. I have been conditioned to be a worker and a consumer, and I have never honored my true nature as a creative, magnificent spiritual being until now. I have always been afraid of it. I’ve felt guilty for being myself. 
     The left-brainers in charge maintain a fear-based system for their own benefit and do not necessarily tell the truth or act in anyone else’s best interest. What if we are so conditioned that we are allowing them to use up the last resources and poison us out of existence? Will only the most serious crisis snap us out of our conditioning? 


Two of Cups

     On the brighter side, I also realized that right-brainers and perhaps even some left-brainers can exalt consciousness enough to develop a deep reverence for all of creation. Despite all of my negative experiences with left-brained people, I do not believe that left-brainers are essentially corrupt or that people cannot or will not change. I have changed in a radical way for the better as I have become a left-hander, on the emotional, mental, and spiritual levels, which means that others can change too, if they choose. Right-handers and left-handers can become ambidextrous, which is essentially what I am now, thanks to my mother.
     Even though I am essentially now a head-in-the-cloud right-brainer, I am not saying that we should stop maintaining basic rules of conduct. The smooth operation of society requires that people have boundaries, and fear plays an important role in establishing and maintaining rules for children and those (usually left-brained) adults who have not developed reverence for others. 
     With this knowledge about right-braininess, I wish to help humanity. Since I believe the artist, to have any relevance, needs to help establish balance in the world, I have created a new religion that moves beyond social conditioning--what others might consider a non religion, perhaps, or an ambidextrous, gluten-free spirituality.
     We don’t need an exclusive religion just for left-brainers anymore. We have all the symbols and archetypes we need to exalt consciousness; all the miracles we need exist in the world. We just need to comprehend the miracles and connect with the archetypes that exist. The divine energies of Earth and Heaven connect us all. For most now, unfortunately, only suffering connects us. 
     A simple process enables right-brainers and perhaps even a few left-brainers to free themselves of social conditioning and move beyond weariness and pain to greater abundance and harmony of spirit.

Tree of Life

     Throughout the centuries, each culture has revealed an awareness of the archetypal energies behind existence, which is reflected in religious symbolism and the diverse pantheons of Gods and Goddesses (no doubt fashioned by right-brainers). Gods and symbols represent unseen forces that exist both within the cosmos and the individual: As above, so below. 
     Every major religion has presented its own set of symbols representing the archetypal energy. On the surface, those symbols from culture to culture might appear wildly different to the left-brainer. However, they are actually similar in many ways because they reflect the basic subtle energies of the individual and the cosmos. All the major religions, however outdated, reveal the archetypal energies and spiritual principles in their own way, emphasizing different aspects of them.
     All the symbols and Gods throughout the ages fit on the Tree of Life because it represents the basic energies in humanity and the cosmos. The Universal Waite Tarot dovetails with the modern Tree of Life in every respect.
     With the Tree of Life as the map, the seeker can simply use a process that involves purification, immersion in nature, contemplation, meditation, and ritual, choosing the symbols and archetypes as tools of exaltation and enlightenment. The process does not require money, only time and dedication.
     
Two of Pentacles



A Process


  • Start with mental and physical purification. Sickness and negativity on all levels interferes with health and spiritual development. Harmonizing the psyche, besides establishing spiritual balance, leads to stronger connection with divine energies.



  • Choose something to contemplate. Using your imagination, become what you are contemplating, whether its a tree, an animal, an inanimate object, or another person. Feel divine energy within whatever you are contemplating and within yourself.



  • Meditate on the different pantheons of Gods and symbols, allowing the mind to follow an association chain of related symbols. All Gods are aspects of the one God revealed within the archetypal plane, just as all life in the physical world is energy within field upon field of One energy.



  • Perform rituals, with a focus on exaltation and understanding principle and developing your potential. Ritual focuses the mind and channels the ideal, archetypal energies into the psyche. Remember that the archetypal energies operate within the law of polarity; in other words, they each, except for the highest, contain a balanced and an unbalanced aspect. Strive for the balanced aspect but understand that missing the mark is common for everyone. The emphasis is on learning from mistakes--which often stem from a lack of balance--not on failure.


  • What the Gods truly are remains a mystery, but for the purposes of spiritual development, treat a God as a principle or potential that can be activated by you or a group of worshippers through invocation and meditation. Meditate and invoke, in other words, for the purposes of understanding principle or of realizing potential through the influx of the archetypal energy into the psyche. Avoid insisting that there is one savior or a specific God or pantheon of Gods to worship or invoke. Each person is free to make choices, so honor the choices of others.


  • Let the mind drop into the void during meditation. Sometimes if you have purified your mind enough, the higher self will speak to you through symbols or voices that reveal spiritual principle.



  • “Follow your bliss” to improve and exalt the mind. No one can force moments of exaltation, but those moments are extremely important for expanding consciousness to attain the vision of harmony: the understanding that all energies are connected.



  • Immerse yourself within nature to experience the divine energies of the Earth. Open your heart and mind to the miracle of a plant or insect or animal or stone or another person--in order to know the energies of Heaven.


     And if your a right-hander, try to use your left hand more often.




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