Hexagram #29, The Abysmal, has become one of my most instructive hexagrams from the I Ching. How odd to be drawn to the abysmal!
The image is water on top of water. I imagine being stuck at the bottom of a deep well. The water level is low but slowly rising, fed from below.
Instinctively, the hero attempts to climb up the steep walls of the well. Perhaps a couple of attempts are made, but they result in slippage back into the water below. Resurfacing from the unwelcome dive, the hero sees that there’s a place on the wall to hold onto and stay afloat, buoyed by the pressure of the rising water from below.
The realization comes forth to rise with the water as it reaches new levels, finding new places to nestle, in awkward balance with the water pressure from below. Acquiescing to the Tao of water, going with its flow, rather than climbing without support, is the true staircase to eventual freedom.
The water, in its own time, will rise, filling the vacant space in its container of well walls and ultimately move on when it reaches level ground. And when it reaches ground level it is indeed time to act, time to move on.
The Tao is a combination of waiting and acting, yin and yang. When we act we are subject to the karma of our action. Climbing up the well walls resulted in falls into the water and the struggle to get the head back above the water; cause and effect.
Decisions to act are at the level of ego consciousness, which holds the power of choice. Erroneous decisions at this level result in necessary consequences. The question for ego is: What truly is right action?
Often, ego acts precipitously, based upon fear, or opinion, lacking alignment with truth and right action. Even so, these are necessary actions, as one must learn the art of surrender to right action; action in accordance with the truth of the circumstance one is in.
Learning the patience of waiting, which is being receptive to the higher power of the truth of the Tao, conserves ego’s energy to act decisively at the right moment when action is truly required.
Likewise, we may be seized with the impulse to act for what we perceive as a greater good, and act we do, only to discover that it was not the right time nor the right action to take. Ultimately, as mentioned, no action is wrong action, as all actions lead to necessary experience and knowledge.
However, with experience, we begin to realize that there is a deeper dimension of wholeness in motion at all times, with actions best exercised from the perspective of this broader view.
Taking in this broader view, we open to the necessary times of patient waiting, which sometimes means bearing tension until things become clearer, as in my image of the hero waiting patiently in the well. This is alchemy taking place in a sealed container, where necessary actions, sometimes powerfully destructive, must be completed before things can advance to a new level.
Such is the state of the world now, where we are being challenged to bear the tension and to not act precipitously. Have faith in the rising water in the well, that it will eventually rise to the level of freedom, to nourish us all.
In the waiting time, despite all the tension, remain in the calm of knowing that the right time to act will show itself, and when it does, we will act rightly and with precision.
Quantum physicist, David Bohm, came to the realization that the underlying fundamental truth of the universe is that we are all one interconnected energetic whole, as expressed in the qualities of a hologram. If you shine a laser on any individual part of a hologram, the whole hologram will appear. Shine the light of consciousness on any one of us, and the entire world will appear. As within, so without.
At the solid level of physical life we experience ourselves and our world as separate objects that function according to the Newtonian laws of classical physics. However, as the nagual, don Juan Matus, put it, yes, we are a world of solid objects, but beneath that we are a world of energy. We are both particle and wave. In particle form we are simply concentrated configurations of our underlying energetic essence.
The current state of the world is actually a war between these two dimensions of self. One dimension sees reality exclusively as a solid world of separate beings where the competition for the riches and resources needed for survival and pleasure are the primary goals of life. The other dimension sees the world as an interconnected whole, best served by the mental processes of reason and intuition.
This same opposition is reflected in the individual, in the relationship between the human physical body and its underlying energy body. The connection points between these two bodies are at the nerve plexus/chakra centers where these bodies connect and innervate each other.
The lower three chakras, located at the perineum, pelvis and solar plexus, house the primal, instinctual functions of our physical animal selves. They address issues of basic safety in rootedness, as well as sexuality, digestion, elimination and our experience of personal power.
For many humans, their world view reflects the survival imperatives governed by these centers. Intense passions and emotions such as anger, aggression, fear and desire can dominate life at this level.
As a consequence of this emphasis, the energy at these centers can tend to coagulate and solidify, which actually can result in excess weight concentrating at these centers. Life focused at these levels keeps one in vigilant states of anxiety and fear, with basic survival needs front and center in daily life.
At the higher centers of the physical body, such as the heart, throat, third eye and crown of the head, the world view broadens beyond the self, with emphasis on the mental functions of the rational mind and higher mind of intuition. The heart center, for instance, has the capacity to expand beyond the needs of self, focused at the solar plexus, to include the needs of others, beyond one’s self.
Sometimes people can be so focused on the upper energy centers that they lose touch with their physical bodies, get lost in thought, and struggle with a myriad of physical issues while the true needs of the body are neglected. Ideally, all energy centers are firing and flowing in a coherent, integrated rhythm.
To stimulate this kind of coordinated flow among all the energy centers, one can focus on mechanically initiating such a rhythm by literally squeezing the lower energy centers, with the intent of raising their stuck energy to flow into the upper chakra centers, where it is progressively refined to a higher energetic charge, which it then brings back down to, and revitalizes, the lower chakra centers.
For example, one could perform a Kegel exercise where the perineum is squeezed and held, while mentally calling for the energy at that center to rise to the crown chakra at the very top of the head. While holding the contracted perineum, one feels energy collect at the crown for as long as one feels comfortable.
Upon releasing the contracted muscle, the breath passively releases, as well as the transformed energy at the crown, naturally flowing down and dispersing through the entire body. The sensation is quite vibratory and relaxing, like the gentle flow of water downward from the top to the bottom of a fountain. Emotionally, one might experience that the prior heaviness and intensity of fear and anger has transformed into the lightness of joy, humor and love.
One can also include in that squeezing effort the pelvis, stomach and all the glands and organs in the abdominal cavity. As these centers are contracted, focus on raising the energy from below to be refined and accumulate at the crown of the head. Upon release, allow that gentle waterfall of vibratory energy to descend and spread throughout the entire body.
These bodily movements and intentions perform an alchemical operation. The body serves as the sealed retort that allows no leakage of energy. The coagulated energy from below is transformed into a higher frequency of charged energy, which accumulates at the crown before it disperses, enriching the entire being.
Sometimes the intensity of energy might be such that one might decide to direct the energy accumulating at the crown to release through the opening of the door, at the crown, to the outside world. This release of accumulated tension might serve a better balance before sealing that door and doing the movements in a closed system, that transforms rather than simply releases the energy.
For those who listen to Joe Dispenza’s Morning Meditation, he utilizes inhalation to accompany this drawing up of energy to the crown chakra. I do encourage that one do a full exhalation that contracts the lower chakras in advance of the inhalation that brings energy to the crown.
One can experience this flow of energy as well by simply imagining the organs to be held in contraction, with the intent to rise to the crown and then be released downward.
Achieving this kind of energy flow within the body integrates body and spirit in a very balanced way. Spirit refines bodily emotions and appetites as body provides the fuel and instinctive energies to power the higher centers of the mind.
This kind of rebalancing, within one individual, cannot help but create shifts in the hologram of the self, which is also the hologram of the world. This is the hidden power of the hologram. Rebalance the self; rebalance the world.
Ultimately, Gaia, as the hologram of our world, is rising from her own fixation at the solar plexus to her heart chakra, which will land our collective hologram on solid footing for all. Empower yourself to join in this colossal shift of rebalancing the self, and the world.
Yes, we are the world. Be sure to see the outer world as a mirror of the self. Seal off the alchemical self as you perform the movements and change the balance within the self, which is indeed the hologram of the world.
I am deeply optimistic about our world’s survival. The challenges we face represent a grand adventure in the evolution of consciousness and the refinement of love.
Currently we are in the grip of a global mental virus that has undermined the cohesion of our consensus reality, evident in the extremely polarized interpretations of reality competing throughout the world. Conflicting views on the treatment of the physical virus, Covid-19, clearly illustrate this point.
The mental virus that is afflicting us has even fatally wounded many intimate family relationships, the bedrock of civilization. Most disturbing has been the failure of communication even between friends and family to bridge this deep divide.
As a therapist, I have experienced this failure of reconciliation with even the most caring of relationships. At this stage, calm, rational communication is trumped by this mental virus. Individuals are so sure of their interpretations of reality that communication is limited to argumentation and the intent to convince.
The time for successful communication to promote communion of polarized opposites has not arrived. Indeed, communication, however well intentioned, is simply not effective at this time. Other processes are currently in motion that must be completed before the ingredients for effective communication can be joined.
Earth itself is engaged in a major transformational process. Transformation requires first a course of breakdown of what is before a reformation of those materials can be accomplished. In alchemy, two major operations that accomplish breakdown are calcinatio and solutio.
Calcinatio is the destructive force of fire. Currently we have a winter fire burning in Big Sur. Last week we had the volcanic explosion that devastated the island of Tonga and was felt around the world.
Solutio is the dissolving power of water as it floods the Earth. Currently, Iran and Zambia are dealing with severe flooding. January 2022 has already seen flooding in South Africa, Madagascar, Uruguay, Peru, Brazil and France. Will Russia dissolve the autonomous country of Ukraine, with its military might swelling at its border, portending the flood of invasion?
The operations of calcinatio and solutio, in human terms, are the expression of passionate emotions that seek to break down the status quo through heated verbiage and flooding of emotions. Humans, physically constructed of the materials of Earth, are behaviorally reflecting her transformational process, currently in the destructive phase.
Separatio is an alchemical operation that separates the broken down materials into their component parts. This is a process of differentiation that values the purity of unique ingredients. On the human front, these are the separatist, or xenophobic, movements that seek to cleanse their enclosed borders of those who seem different from themselves.
In human relations, all three of these operations are concurrently active. These forces of breakdown and separation are all precursors to coniunctio, the alchemical stage of union, where all previously broken down and separated elements are rejoined in a new chemical bonding.
The forces currently active in nature, and human nature, will eventually reach this stage of union. However, that stage has far from arrived as we are still in the midst of breakdown and differentiation. How does one then hold together, with self and other, in such a time of disintegration and separation?
Do not try to force union. Reason cannot contain the forces of destruction and differentiation. Nonetheless, love—the ultimate glue that holds together the oneness of everyone, and everything, at the subtlest energetic level of being—is ever-present, regardless of the alchemical processes currently dominating the world stage.
Rather than bad rap, laugh at, marginalize, or hate those who passionately oppose me, can I see myself in all others? Every attitude, emotion, thought, and belief that I see expressed by another, that I personally differentiate myself from, is actually in me too, somewhere, however dormant. Can I find it, examine it, value it, and include it in my own wholeness? This, I can certainly accomplish within myself.
Though we may not be at the place of union without, can I hold onto the most subtle truth of our oneness within? In wholeness, all belong, none can be eliminated. This ultimate truth is expressed clearly in the revelations of transpersonal psychology and subatomic physics.
Thus, those who heap aspersions upon me are as much a part of me as those I asperse against. Though we might at present be quite separated and unable to communicate, I can still feel love and compassion for all in our interconnected oneness.
Union, like separation will have its day. In the meantime, hold onto love, especially for those you must now oppose.
Calcinatio in the retort of the body… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
My Spirit sees everything from an evolutionary perspective. Thus, even the sobering truth of Maureen Dowd’s editorial, Apocalypse Right Now, is not a dealbreaker for my optimism.
All are encouraged to examine the truth, to the extent that that is possible, but then to exercise Carlos Castaneda’s number one dictum, Suspend Judgment, in order to reach the deeper truth of the soul’s fantastic voyage.
Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos sought to actualize achieving such a high level perspective in their respective launches into space these past couple of weeks. I see their journeys as transcendent attempts to free their spirits from the gravity of the mess on the ground of planet Earth.
Indeed, the thrust of the Spirit now is for the human race to up its Olympian game. This does not require that all go in search of transcendent out-of-body experiences. In fact, though I am impressed with the recent space adventures, they appear a bit compensatory to the truth on the ground. Good to be reminded of the potential of the human ego spirit to rise above the mess, but can it apply itself to the needed changes below?
We are all in this world on missions of growth. Most are born with a blank slate to protect those intended missions from confusion and interference from their Spirit’s prior journeys in infinity. Though the soul brings with it the fruits of its prior adventures in the form of its innate intelligence, it temporarily releases the memory of those experiences to be fully available to the life at hand.
Thus, the purity of Spirit’s intent imbues one’s life with purpose yet becomes clouded over by one’s material DNA and physical life circumstance. Nonetheless, one’s physical life remains the playing field for the Spirit’s intended growth.
We could say that the purity of Spirit becomes muddied and weighed down by the imperfections of material physical life. The journey then, in this earthly life, is one of working through the impurities of our physical trials to further add to our Spirit’s clarity, knowledge, and growth.
Carl Jung spent much of his adult life unearthing and studying ancient alchemical texts. Most modern psychological researchers question his sanity for having wasted so much time on such obscure nonsensical pre-chemistry texts. Jung, however, discovered that the alchemists were deeply engaged in a series of operations seeking to release the Spirit from its material impurities.
Psychotherapy, for Jung, was the application of a series of alchemical operations upon the psyche, seeking to free one’s Spirit from the bindings of illusion that overshadow one’s life and block fulfillment—the refinement of one’s Spirit.
The alchemists began their operations by choosing a substance to work on. In psychotherapy, one chooses a core stumbling block in one’s life to work on.
Alchemists used a retort, a vessel that the substance was placed in and then sealed, while they performed their operations upon it. In psychotherapy, the retort becomes the introspective ego that is asked to stay in body and be with the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, memories, sensations and dreams that arise as one works with an issue.
In psychotherapy, the sealed retort is equivalent to the body and psyche containing the intense energies of a conflict that has arisen, which is so tempting to release through blame, rationalization, a new illusion, or an emotional catharsis. Like the pot of water that never boils if we keep lifting the lid, we will never achieve the desired transformation if our retort is prematurely opened.
Planet Earth is clearly in the midst of its own alchemical processes of solutio, via flooding, and calcinatio, with fire. The retort of Earth is performing the necessary operations to reshape itself, and the lives of its inhabitants, and to cleanse itself of the illusions that have encumbered its Spirit.
Humans are simultaneously being asked to stay grounded and face the truths of their own lives, without opening the retort to the inflation of Icarus or the deflation of morbid depression. Containment of volatile emotion is a necessary precursor to transformative change. Acquiescence to necessary behaviors that reflect the truth is the ego’s greatest challenge.
These are the earthbound tasks for all humans now, as we individually and collectively seal the retort and are driven, by the thrust of the Spirit, to advance deeper into truth, survival, and evolution.
Trial is ordeal. Fire is passion! Trial by Fire is enduring the ordeal of passion, a deeply challenging encounter, the encounter of now.
Human passion emanates from the root of our instinctual animal being. When activated our faces redden, our voices growl and howl, our bodies thrash and react involuntarily, seized by the heat of passion. Like flames in a fire, passion flails recklessly.
One step above this hot core of our fiery roots are emotions, which, though flushed with the fire of passion, are somewhat tamed by our ego as they churn in the furnace of our solar plexus. These are the more manageable emotions of anger, frustration, desire, craving, competitiveness, and narcissism.
Finally, at the mental region of the civilized self, are feelings, which have rationally transformed the fire at the root into energetic units of valuation. Here we have our feeling judgments: I like, want, need, am attracted to, am saddened by, repulsed by, made happy by, etc. These rational feelings bear little resemblance or relationship to their passionate roots.
Jung observed that the Christian era, which correlated with the Piscean Age of the past 2000 years, contributed greatly to the advancement of this mental plane in humanity, however, this at the expense of its connection with its earthly passions, which became the province of the rejected devil. Though this internal civil war was won at the spirit mental plane its resulting hegemony is wearing thin upon its devils below.
That brings us to today, the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, where those rejected devils have risen up in uncontrollable flames of passion as they sweep the Earth in actual fires, political uprisings, wars on social media, conflict in human relationships, and warring splits within the human psyche. From the outermost perspective the Earth itself has become an alchemical retort with fire its catalyzing agent, as all warring opposites are pitted against each other in a Trial by Fire indeed.
This appears to be the first spiritual challenge of the Aquarian Age: to take on the reconciliation of its formerly disowned passions, at its human animal core, with its high reaching values generated from its abstract mental plane. Apparently, the main technology of the Christian era, keeping separate the animal and mental selves, with the mental plane maintaining superiority, can no longer contain the needs of the self, or the world, as both push for a more comprehensive wholeness.
The unleashing of previously contained fiery passions upon the world stage, with wild abandon and without regret, is the approach stoked by those most in charge of world policy today. Many in the world populace now model this unleashing of fiery passion without restraint upon any who would oppose their positions. This Trial by Fire is producing many casualties. Justified or not, the fact is that these flames are rapidly burning down the foundation of modern civilization.
All must be where they are in the trial. For many participating in the fiery war of words, the outside world becomes the furnace of their transformative process. No one can be convinced to give up what they are attached to. When we argue and fight, our passions embody us, often at great cost to our energy reserves and inner balance. These battles are renewed in seemingly inexhaustible intensity as the world fights itself on social media.
Nonetheless, detachment is not a choice, it must be achieved. One method is through sheer exhaustion where passion exhausts the body and psyche and survival forces us to ultimately let go. Though a costly energetic approach, many are convinced that outer protest and confrontation are critical to change.
For those more innerly inclined, the furnace of transformation is the hologram of the self, which makes its worldly contribution through the axiom, as within so without.
To contain within the self all the warring passions of animal and spirit in a heated process—that looks not outside the self for the relief of blame—is a formidable furnace of transformation. Therapy is one such vessel for this process as we confront and own all that we are—passion and spirit—in a journey whose destination is greater wholeness vs. greater domination. As with the outer playing field, the inner playing field must itself arrive at a true place of detachment where truth prevails, special interests burned through.
Trial by Fire is where we are. Know that there is always sanctuary in the human heart. All must have their safe place to release and rejuvenate. Love is the most inclusive respite, as love can even love the part of the self that hates, but we must burn through much before we can truly inhabit it.
Nonetheless, heart-centered breathing heals the wounds and calms the nerves. Take advantage of it.
