Polarities
because inside human beings is where God learns.”— Rainer Maria Rilke
My earlier postings in 2015 revolve round the promises of being ourselves, creative self-expression, and choosing happiness. This post continues that arc.
I began my first draft of this post with this paragraph: “Fear has been the greatest impediment in my life. I don’t mean the life and death fears nor putting myself in harms’ way to assist others…that’s been easy enough. I mean the other ones…those niggling little fears borne on shame…those potent diminishing little phrases orbiting self-doubt that I overhear in my self-talk—and all the rules I follow—rules that aren’t even mine: the can’ts, shoulds, ought tos, the nevers, the what’ll they thinks?, what’ll this mean or say about me?, and so forth and so on.”
Being faithful to petty fears and rules erodes the lovely contours and great powers of ourselves. Failing to let go of such fears and rules are evidences of our having yet to choose to Love completely. And, they evince that we’ve opted to be adherents to knowledge and understanding rather than Intelligence/Wisdom. I contend Love and Intelligence and Wisdom are synonymous terms. Love/Intelligence/Wisdom do not originate in the precincts of the our personalities and psychologies.
Rather, these forces belong to the non-ordinary realities of the Mystery—those beyond mind and body. Everyone is born connected to them—the central organizing force of the Cosmos. One of the many consequences of experiencing trauma when young is our becoming disconnected from this central organizing force. Unless and until connected again we are significantly constrained by our stories and circumstances of ancestors, cultures, pasts—and by our thinking and imaginations–fears and shame. In this we are orbiting but one of the great opposing poles, the personality left to its own devices, and thus hugely limited—yet thinking we know and understand.
We do not reconnect to the central organizing force of the Cosmos via intellect/thought/mind/imagination. Rather, it initiates invitations for our reconnection via our physical bodies’ sensory systems—ordinary and non-ordinary—our direct experience—not our psychological experience. Most of us do not detect the Mystery’s overtures as we are much too engaged and entangled with thought and imagination.
Becoming Wisdom’s Consort means hooking up with Rilke’s other opposing pole–Love/Intelligence/Wisdom. In stretching our well disciplined strengths between these poles…might Rilke be suggesting that we open to Love and Intelligence and Wisdom? Those forces beyond intellect/knowledge/imagination? Those we sense rather than think or imagine? Is he suggesting that knowledge and understanding remain impoverished absent our connection to Love/Intelligence/Wisdom? Is he inviting us to experience each pole?
In our efforts to navigate each pole and the spaces between are we not changed, expanded? Better enabled to be ourselves and creatively express ourselves? …Oh one more thing: Wisdom holds that Intelligence is the effortless absorption of apparent contradictions. This too is Love! This too is Wisdom. Only at Wisdom’s pole can we get our head around this.