The Well of Feminine Power
In European and Chinese thought, the feminine principle is associated with passivity and the masculine with action. In Hinduism, however, the feminine is associated with
In European and Chinese thought, the feminine principle is associated with passivity and the masculine with action. In Hinduism, however, the feminine is associated with
Note: The following post was first published in November, 2013. My book, Healing the Sacred Divide had been published in the previous year and many
Last night I had a dream. I feel the need to share it with you today because it illustrates the main point I’ve been trying
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Ah, so we really ARE “out of our minds”…or at least half of it!! Thanks for the wonderful historic background. This was fascinating and I agree with the conclusion. Thanks, Jeanie
Hi Beth,
Thank you. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Yes, I think most of us really are half out of it as long as we insist that logical, abstract, objective, unemotional, historial ways of perceiving life are the only ones that count. It’s like saying that the written scriptures of a particular religion are more important than the underlying universal truths to which they point! Talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees…….
Jeanie
jeanie,
in his ground-breaking book “Original Tao” Dr. Harold Roth provides an inspiring translation of the taoist text that precedes all other known ones, including the famous Tao Te Ching.
one of the most surprising verses goes something like this:
“Within the mind, there is another mind.
This other mind: it precedes words.”
the effort towards self-realization, i believe, is essentially a sustained battle against language. the linear sequential temporal thinking forced upon us by language is antithetical to the “all-at-onceness” of the spatial awareness (read sensitivity) of the pre-language-using self. a self, of course, that does not disappear once we learn language. like the stars at midday, the pre-language self is always present, even if it is outshone by the language-using mind.
training ourselves to take the “step back” (as Heidegger said) into that mind within the mind frees us transcend the language we’ve been taught so that we can authentically reenter Saying…..
your blogs are fantastic!
wm
Thank you, William. I feel the same way about your blogs.
Thank you also for the reference to Dr. Roth’s book; I wasn’t aware of it.
I find it sadly ironic that so much of Western and Middle Eastern organized religion uses “the word” to kill the very new life for which it so desperately yearns. Paradoxically, part of the solution must necessarily come from healing new words that can temper our obsession with language and expand our awareness of the value of our pre-language-using perceptions. Hermann Hesse addressed this theme brilliantly in Narcissus and Goldmund, one of my new favorite books.
Jeanie
Here I am looking at this item 2 years later, and it reminded me that I received this “Glimpse of the Day” just last night from a Buddhist listserve (Buddhists are always struggling with the nature of “Mind”):
THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF MIND
No words can describe it
No example can point to it
Samsara does not make it worse
Nirvana does not make it better
It has never been born
It has never ceased
It has never been liberated
It has never been deluded
It has never existed
It has never been nonexistent
It has no limits at all
It does not fall into any kind of category.
DUDJOM RINPOCHE
Thanks, Skip. I certainly can’t add anything to that!
And thanks also for exploring my archives. This is one of my favorite subjects. I’m glad you found something of interest here.
Amen and Namaste!
Jeanie
Reblogged this on syndax vuzz.
Thanks so much for re-blogging this, Jeanie! LOVE this! 🙂 In relation to observation of synchronicity, just this morning I was listening to an audio interview of Kamini Desai where she was speaking about Ida and Pingala, which can easily be recognized in right-brain, left-brain, respectively. Further, I’ve had Shlain’s book on my shelf for over a year now and I keep thinking I need to get to it, especially since I just finished David Abram’s “The Spell of the Sensuous”. (And now I need to look up the books referenced in the above comments.) When you said: “We can change this state of affairs by taking our imagination seriously and using it to bring balance and fulfillment to our lives,” I was like “OMG!” because I had written this morning (here just a portion) that, “If it is true that we dream the world into matter, then my dreams are part of a new beginning led and held by the ancients of bygone eras who whisper, their words spiraling in the cartilaginous labyrinth of inner ethereal ear, an oceanic conch shell so long out of its unity that silence and solitude are the filaments I need to form the framework in which to listen … and create.” I love your writing — you have such a gift in being able to describe in a comprehensive way these concepts that can sometimes be confusing. Blessings!
Hi Darla! I love your enthusiasm. Thanks so much! Yes, I have also noted the right-brain/left-brain connection with Ida and Pingala. There are so many ways of expressing the same connections between fundamental psychological and philosophical ideas and physical reality. Thanks for sending your quote. I love your writing too —i t’s so poetic!! And imaginative. And subjective, emotional, etc., etc. 🙂 The mytho-poetic voice seems to have seized both of us in different ways, but for similar reasons. I love having it to help me express my truths. Blessings to you too!
Bravo, Jeanie! As you know, I am a champion of the mythos part of our brain, believing it so important for all the reasons you mention above. Of course, I know the value of logos, but I think of it more as a rudder, if you will, to the larger ‘ship’ (metaphor is my first language…haha) of the imaginative, emotive, and creative part of mind. As usual, l love reading your blog posts that show the balance between both parts of your amazing brain. Hugs, Jenna
Thank you, Jenna for your sweet words. Yes, I know you to be one of the biggest champions of all! Your stories of your many amazing synchronicities always inspire me! I frankly see mythos as the larger ‘ship’ as well, but know that my confidence and skill in using it has come from many years of consistent practice with the rudder! And of course, neither can get very far without the other! Blessings, Jeanie