(Check out the previously published parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Cate’s “Sacred Anatomy” series. Part 6, the final article in the series, comes next week…)
Dear You,
Today is sacred anatomy in action. As our perspective expands, our care expands. And… our actions will reflect this expansion if who we are is aligned with how we act. Our sacred anatomy gets lit up by purpose – when our actions expand our worldview. We become active agents of positive change. When we optimize our physiology to sustain greater purpose – we wake up to another level of being fully human.
If it’s dawning on you that there is a lot learn… and you really want to move into your Sacred Anatomy before you die, I suggest you apply for the course that guarantees your sacred anatomy evolution.
Now, get on your superhero cape and let’s jam.
At this juncture we pulsate the microcosm/macrocosm conversation into how we show up in the world. What are the underlying implications of our sacred anatomy? We’ve dove in deep to someof the basic tenets of holistic thinking – or the reality that we are simultaneously a whole and a part of the universe. We wake up to the idea that our sacred anatomy is a tiny universe – and we can’t be separate from the laws of this universe without violating our very nature. Now we investigate the practical implications in the laws of self-governance.
I’ll keep the conversation zooming in and zooming out, so get ready to adjust your lens.
As we wake up we get connected to the community of holons that we are. Molecules make up our cells. Cells make up our subsystems. Subsystems make up the larger system that is us. Us-es living together are the family, the household. Households make up a community. Communities make up a state. States make up a planet. Planets make up a cosmos. And so on and so forth – from infinitesimal into the infinite. Greater care is simultaneous with greater sensitivity. Care goes from self- to family – to community – to state- to planet to cosmos. As our perspective expands our care expands. And… our actions will reflect this expansion if who we are is aligned with how we act.
For starters… there is no “them”.
In the body, this means there are no “bad” cells. There are no “bad knees” or “bad shoulders” or “bad eye”. In Ayurveda many diseases are considered diseases of mistaken identity. Simplistically put, every cell has a self-sense, or Ahamkara. When the self-sense is plugged into Buddhi, or higher awareness, then intelligence, intellect, mind, memory and prana work together to create optimal function. When there is disconnect there is dysfunction and disconnection. Unconsciousness breeds dysfunction within the cell, and we disown parts of ourselves. The war with disease is on.
If we buy into the unity precedes duality version of reality, that the duality of war is healed by understanding the greater field of unity. How does this apply to the world at large?
There is no “them”.
I was raised in a household with duality consciousness. I was raised with a quiet prejudice to regard other races and religious groups as inferior. I was raised to experience other people’s as “them”. When we blow out our consciousness as we did in Lesson 2 – the “them” concept appears absurd. At this point in planetary consciousness, many people into yoga realize just how absurd the concept of “them” really is.
So, the question is – what changes when we embody “us” consciousness?
When we embody “us” consciousness we start to think in terms of partnerships. Just like your liver cell and your red blood cells work together in different systems, you recognize and strengthen the naturally arising partnerships in your life. Perhaps you smile more… and be nicer to the checkout girl. Perhaps this means you treat your child’s school teacher to a massage. Perhaps you remind others of the nature of our partnership situation here on planet Earth in hope that we can get ourselves out of the dire straights ecological issues facing ours and all future generations.
You start to think in terms of unitive strategies. Unitive strategies are strategies united by common interest. The sum is the whole of it’s parts – so get the parts connected around their common interests.
Citizens and City. The system and the members. Partnerships. Citizens and leaders. Consumers and producers. The more we get each others needs and the needs of the whole -the more informed we are to generate a better conversation… and a better action plan. Where to begin?
Get curious. Know that you are wired for connection and have an imagination to imagine the next wave of connection culture. Ask yourself – how do you build better partnerships?
Ask youself what can you share more of?
Press pause. Take a moment. Ask yourself whichever of the questions above. Then… write your next action step to build a better partnership. When we awaken to acting on our potential positive impact we become an active agent of evolution.
This bring up the term evolutionaries. Carter Phipps wrote a seminal work unpacking those embodying the bigger version of sacred anatomy. Evolutionaries aren’t trying to overthrow a system. Evolutionaries are tapping into the growing edge of the past moving into the future. Evolutionaries are awake to being the evolution of natural and cultural history moving forward into the future with eyes wide open and hands ready for work. There is an understanding of working with life at the next growing edge. This translates to the next place of growth and opportunity around a change issue. What is already in place, and how can we grow with it.
Up until now in the Sacred Anatomy series I’ve been unpacking the basics of our bio-chemistry from Ayurveda. In the unpacking we’re reaching the conclusion that the sensitivity that yoga brings about is good. And right. And just. And indeed, the sensitivity is the essential component to the awakening our sacred anatomy.
I like how guru Dr. Lad plants the idea, ” “The root cause of
disease is not listening to the body. Intelligence is the flow of awareness, that tells us what we should and should not do. To purify the blood means to listen to the intelligence of the body. A sensitive body is the abode of God. WIth a sensitive body, life becomes a ceremony, because it is the action of awareness.” Dr. Vasant Lad, Textbook of Ayurveda, p.122.
The sensitivity needs to be directed outwardly as much as inwardly. Too many yoga peeps I know get a little self-absorbed in the inward applications of their sensitivity. You know the story… the person who lets you know just how sensitive their digestion has become… and exactly what substances they can and can’t ingest. It’s really a disease of too much inward focus and not enough outward focus. An Ayurvedic practitioner might diagnose tamas in the manomayakosha.
The spanda, or pulsation of our awareness needs to be balanced inward and outward. The more sensitive you become with your 5 jnanendriyas, or ways of perceiving the world the more positively powerful you can be with your karmendriyas – or organs of action. As we get more sensitive, more responsive, we need to engage the next amplitude of personal response-ability. If we don’t… we’ll feel this weird shadowy narcissistic deficit of shallowness or loss of deep passion and being “on purpose.” From the potential of evolution… what a waste of a sensitive human being.
Here is an example – you get serious about yoga. You shop at the farmer’s market and become more sensitive to the prana in the food there. You start to talk to the farmers or their work-shares. You build new relationships around where you food comes from and strengthen your local economy. You sign a petition for GMO labeling. You hold a local action group on the topic. Because you’re experiencing greater transparency within your sacred anatomy, within your physiology you are awake to the expanded worldview that you are your ecosystem. Your politics start to reflect this worldview. The more yoga you practice the more your actions in the world should reflect non-self-absorbed behaviors.
And yes… I used the “s” word.
This is a viscous question. Obviously, everything that is alive is a consumer and producer of something, but in the world of your personal economics – how are you operating? What can you do to step into your growing role as a connector? A connector of possibilities, people, policy, future potentials?
Where are you trapped as a consumer? What should you be boycotting – that doesn’t match up to your ethics or worldview?
As we break out of the consumer trance we wake up to simplicity, connectivity, and technology. We simplify our lives and our needs. We see the want behind our superficial want which leads to better, more connected investments in our awareness, our time, our money. We take jobs that make make a difference. We make jobs that make a difference. We pursue right livelihood. And if we can’t put our core energy in the world that moves our planet in a positive direction – we start to create opportunities to line up a more on a purposeful future.
For those, like myself, that have continually taken risks and chosen to plug core energy into making a difference – we need to seek out and commit to opportunities that have more leverage.
And remember- in a democracy the most important person is the citizen. That is me and you… and them.
I’ll leave us with another reflection:
What is the next step of amplitude that is a reflection of how much you are awake and connected?
Pause. Expand. Ponder. Produce. And step into your role as an evolutionary. As a connector.
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