Change often comes unbidden and yet once it arrives its necessity is clear. If we are stuck and unable to move ourselves in a new direction some part of us or some outside force will prompt us to do so, either by force or circumstance. When change comes greet it with open arms, for it will return equilibrium to life, rearranging things so that they are in better balance, remaking things in a new pattern. Change is always good, though it may take some time to fully realize this and to realize that it has always been in the making as well.
Times of great change that come unbidden yet seem well-timed, offer the opportunity to shift away from old patterns and behaviors. They offer the opportunity to begin life anew. Every leaving is a new beginning. Every break with something old is the start of something new. Do not mourn endings too much but look forward to what is to come. For surely you can count on life to continue to guide you forward in a new direction even as it guides you to halt progress in a direction that no longer serves you. It just means it’s time to head along a new and better path.
Early springtime poses many changes, from warm and pleasant days to cold and snowy ones buffeted by heavy winds. It’s the time of precipice, before spring births forth. Within the self the time of precipice shows up at any time of year, the struggle for something new to emerge. As with the days of early spring there is a settling that will take place and the tensions of the precipice will abate. With patience, what was once so urgent and even dangerous at spring’s awakening will smooth into a warm summer’s day. With a confident heart and steady eye on the future look forward to what is to come in the sure blooming ahead, as it always comes.
Earth is birthing. Humanity is birthing. The human psyche is birthing.
At the current stage of the birthing process contractions have begun; we are in active labor. The fetus is tightly encased in the birth canal, with no possibility of exit, as the cervix has yet to dilate enough to enable the birthing journey into the light of this world. Stan Grof has named this stage of the birth process Basic Perinatal Matrix II (BPM II).
Nature’s hurricanes, massive flooding, erupting volcanoes and earthquakes, and worldwide conflagrations are all part of Earth’s contractions, closing in upon all life on the planet. Gaia is rebirthing herself into a new configuration of life, which is currently sealed in, like a fetus, in her alchemical pressure cooker of a womb, planet Earth itself.
Humanity finds itself squeezed by drought, tidal wave and famine, as it migrates, seeking safety and new life. Borders are closing. Nationalistic impulses are squeezing in upon sovereign nations, as greed and violence expand, seeking to stave off the stage of no exit.
Political heroes have emerged who promise to restore a former paradisal time of Shangri-La in the midst of this time of no exit. These so-called saviors intend to ignore, defy, or totally control the feminine. The entire world awaits the outcome of the American Election Day to determine how humanity will choose to position itself in the midst of this active labor.
Within the psyche, the ego finds itself squeezed by anxiety, terror, hopelessness and helplessness, as totalitarian archetypes threaten possession from within. Conversely, many people experience religious ecstasy and fervor, as they bathe in numinous identification with the masculine gods of war, certain to fully rein in and control the feminine birth process, within and without.
The fragility of ego muscle, no matter how well armed and defiant, is no match for nature’s current squeeze upon human emotion. The random violence of our time is ego’s impotent attempt to forestall the birth of a radically new world. What then is the correct attitude for ego to assume in this time of no exit?
Ego must face its pending death and rebirth, the story of all new life in this world. Our first breath in this world is also the death of our former life as aquatic beings, who were passively fed oxygen and nutrients in our symbiotic life as one with mother. The end of life in paradisal union with another requires letting go of hoarding our former material security, as we must meet the demands of changed conditions.
In the time of no exit it is possible to get calm. If we can’t escape the claustrophobic squeezing of ego by tumultuous emotions, ego still retains its existential ability to choose the attitude it will take toward the inevitable. Ego can breathe, however constrictedly, and instruct every cell of the body to go calm.
Just as ego knows that the numinous experience of body orgasm will result, if it can calmly let go of resistance to the higher power of instinct, ego can cognitively know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, as it lets go to the inevitable birthing of new life. And what does that new life look like?
Glimpses of new life are evident in the current psychedelic trials that activate the healing forces of the transpersonal dimension of the psyche. During psychedelic experiences, many individual’s hearts are opened by their recapitulation journeys through old traumas, with the resulting inner experience of total love and acceptance.
Others encounter past lives, ancestral trauma, and spirit encounters that break down old ideas and neutralize emotional intensities, while they simultaneously experience their death and rebirth into a broader, interconnected knowing of life.
I am neutral with regard to the coming renaissance of psychedelics as facilitators of healing and rebirth. Carlos Castaneda, mistakingly identified as the father of psychedelics and the New Age, was adamantly averse to their use.
Personally, I know that the mere invoking of intent is all that is needed to reach the holotropic powers of the transpersonal psyche that both break down and refurbish the ego with broadened and truthfully driven agency.
Know that the time of no exit is transitory. No matter how tight the squeeze, the opening will eventually appear.
Be patient, be calm, beware the false prophets and redeemers. Trust your innate ability to find the true light.
Turn over a new leaf each morning. Promise the self to be fully present, to hold onto integrity, honesty and truth and to live each moment to the fullest, unafraid, unhampered by judgment and deceit. Let the self experience life to its fullest so that the fullness of the self may be expressed. In this manner a life is well lived.
