43 The Bomb

      Dominica is brilliant today. In the bright sun the leaves are as green as they have ever been. Spanning across the mountains flowers are blooming again and people are singing. 

       Mary, the white pelican, felt an inexpressible gratitude that all the animals returned. 

       Hooie, the barn owl, hooted, “Hummy and Mum brought up this inner-child idea. What’s that all about? how does that relate to what we are trying to do? I thought we were helping the humans save the planet.”

       Free, the butterfly, wildly fluttering about, “I think they’re onto something. They may be acting without judgment, but with a clear vision about human children in their history. In the Children’s Crusade of 1212 the children were simply used and abused in their route to the holy land. They had no information about what they were up against and were either slaughtered or sold in the slavery. Now the children are chock-full of information, but nothing is asked of them.  Many of them choke up, drug up, dumb down or commit suicide.”

       Joe, the pig, snorted, “I think I can see what Free envisions. By the time human children are 12 years old they are ready for work and eager as well. But the child labor laws have gradually forced them out of the big picture. They feel trapped in the school environment and they rebel in a variety of self-destructive ways.

        Fregata, the frigate bird,   swoops in with,  “I can see that some children just need to work rather than study. It’s natural for them. Many  rebel in school.”

       Mira, the sloth, very slowly chimed in, “ I wonder if there is a healthy child-self? We animals are jerked up and tossed out of the nest. Some humans call it tough-love”

       Mary, the facilitator, sensing a log jam, called out to all, “Commune in the pair-bond  mode and hopefully reach a consensus.” 

        The group dutifully settled in to their one-on-one pair-bond mode and were soon very animated with the noise of their chatter.

        Mary thought; if they can experience each other(the pair) deeply then we may have a way to leverage the adult human mind.By leveraging the adult human through human children, we have gained a pathway. That much I intuit but Lord only knows how. 

        Suddenly,  Leda the dragonfly, dropped a ticking bomb into their midst, “ I am having a virtual cow over so much attention to the human plight. It is now widely accepted that over 70% of flying insects have disappeared from the planet. But this is hidden from view while humans rage over politics. I have fashioned a makeshift vest of tinfoil around my body, but I don’t feel safe. I have not been able to locate any of my family.”

42 Finding The Child-Self

        As a double circle re-grouped, they did not turn their attention to Mary, the facilitator, but to each other in their pair-bond. Mary thought, what’s natural may be a part of the fabric of truth that was weaving its way into their midst. Don’t force anything and let it unfold. She was so excited that her pouch rattled uncontrollably.
BillyG, the billy goat, could not help but say “ Mary, got a catfish tangled in your pouch?”
        Mary’s pouch turned from gray to an embarrassing pink, but was quick to reply, “No I just got pleasantly caught off guard. I didn’t have to make any presumptuous opening speech. All of you resumed your pair-bonds as natural as biscuits and gravy. It’s a testament to Mom Nature’s Hand in our group’s design.”
        Hummy focused on Mary’s pink pouch and sensed she was hiding something and tweeted, “ Mary, you have told us that it is good to share our thoughts and feelings. So, what’s up?”
        In a pelican whisper Mary said, “ I am afraid that the devastation of Dominica tells us that the effects of global warming are already upon us. These storms are becoming fiercer, fires are raging in California, and blame abounds.”
        Ducky quacked, “ But the people in Dominica are rebuilding with :-) faces and that’s a good thing.”
        Bosco, the border collie, barked out, “ Good thought Ducky but the Dominican people are a tiny splash in the puddle of Life. Who will hear us and who will hear them?”
        Hooie, the barn owl, hooted, “I think it very spooky that we all came to resume the double circle”
        Coqui, the tree frog, sang out ” “We switched to the single circle and lost focus”.
        “Hmm, I have a thought about that until you mentioned it,” chirped Bertie, the peregrine falcon.
        “The double circle got too intense for me”, Andi, the osprey chimed in.
         Mira, the sloth, slowly crooned, “The double circle as hot and fast and pretty nearly overwhelming to me. I should’ve raised concern earlier, but I don’t know that much about circles, so I just let you all carry-on.”

        Cackle, the grackle, spoke with great authority, “ the Double Circle Group is like a living organism; So, let it breathe.  When I meditate, I must breathe in an out and gradually shed the ego crust and find my inner self.” 

        Buzzing about trying to imitate the sign of Infinity, Hummy recalled from Harry Crews;

        “One of my favorite places to be was in the corner of the room where the ladies were quilting. God, I loved the click of needles on thimbles, a sound that will always make me think of stories. When I was a boy, stories were conversation and conversation was stories. For me it was a time of magic.”

                                                                                            Harry Crews

        Mum bleated, “ I know that I must return to the consciousness of my childhood. We also know that the ladies are quilting the fabric with stories that stand the test of time. My inner child yearns to break free of the battlefield of ego against ego into the Wego of the future.”

Suggested reading:   HOMECOMING: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child  by John Bradshaw

       

41 The Truth in Woven Threads

        At first, Mary, the white pelican, believed that the group was finished with their work. How could they have finished, if she kept running things over and over again in her mind? Then she felt a thump her heart and that was even more scary. She was flying north away from Dominica but her left-wing kept dropping and pulling her into a circle.
        Meanwhile Phil’s writing group told him on Tuesday that they believed that the animals should resume the story. They also said, in a polite way, that the animals were more interesting than Phil’s philosophical stuff.
        This morning Phil had a brief but significant conversation with Buddy, the agouti, who is paired with Hummy in the story. Coincidences were piling up.
        Two weeks ago Phil began 11th Step meditation. He had no idea what led him to this particular sequence. When he finished, his prodigal foster son called asking to return to the AA group. The threads kept on weaving. 

        Adding to the fabric, an intuition pumped into Phil’s heart, completely bypassing his aging brain. The story that the animals were telling need not have an ending, but was a never-ending story. Some of the animals may have wandered off, hormonally driven, mated and returned as sons and daughters, and even grand-dragonflies.
        Meanwhile, Mary felt the wind blowing her towards Dominica. Was it part of the fabric that was leading toward a restoration of the double circle animal group? The threads were mysteriously being woven. When she first approached the northern tip of Dominica, she realized how much of the vegetation was restored and in full bloom following the ravages of Hurricane Maria. The various shades of green were both striking and brilliant . Many of the trees were regaining their footing. Mom Nature was at work.
        Mary, the white Pelican, hoped to get the animals to renew the double circle group. As she swooped down for a closer look, she saw a nearby table rock under the shade of a surviving mango tree and felt tears of joy  seeing several of her animal group gathered below. The connecting treads were weaving a fabric. 

        Mary dropped onto the table rock amongst the group as all the others had mysteriously returned. How could they know? Does Mom Nature have a spooky kind of power? All the animals gathered in their original circles. What is going on? 

        As she took her place in the inner circle, Mary, without knowing within her brain,  her heart was rejoined with the rhythmic beating in sync with the 24 other hearts in the circles. She needed no protection from the crust of ego here. Her heart was open to all in the circles. 

 suggested listening: The second movement of the 9th Symphony by Philip Glass

40 Untangling My Mind

        This blog was originally written for my children, grandchildren and my great-grandchildren. Given that, it is also here for anyone who has an interest in consciousness, relationships, what may be inferred by bonding and long- term friendships.
       When I was a child, my father, Stewart Springer, having no interest in religion explained the right and wrong of things using Aesop’s fables. That was some 80 years ago. I also heard many hours of explanation of concepts and stories from his father, Horace Springer. Gramps efforts were directed towards my need to know that everything in real life is relative and can be explained through politics and sociology. He too avoided religion as well as Aesop’s fables. My mother, Vergie Fayard Springer, skirted around both my father and grandfather by insisting that I receive a serious Catholic education. Three  are  sharply focused different points of view!
        It has been well researched over the years that very young children choose a balanced diet even though they are fed a cafeteria line of healthy and unhealthy foods during their childhood. One of my consuming interests through the years is how in the hell does a child choose between all the conflicting information and choice of food. I seek an answer to this complex situation. As a child I listened dutifully to my Mother, my dad and my grandfather.

          I am going to suggest to you is that there is a sorting process within the child’s unconscious that saves a child from a terrible tangle of the mind. I am also going to suggest that this sorting process has developed within the human for thousands of generations; saving each child from a terrible fate of a tangled of mind. Much of this evolutionary process remains a deep mystery.
        For many years Noam Chomsky has maintained that children understand language in far greater depth at an early age (5to10)that we  give them credit for. He believes that they bring this language knowledge from generation after generation of children before them. He does not discuss it from the science of DNA or molecular biochemistry but from simple observation of the child’s learning process.  Children know what we don’t think they could’ve possibly understand but we teach them anyway. This gives rise to widespread boredom in the youngster. Children learn  from each other and an occasional teacher.
        In a lame sort of way I am saying what Carolina Madera quoted from Cloud Atlas in her guest blog of this past month:
    “To be, is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time. Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future." Somni 451 Cloud Atlas movie/book
        So there you have it. I can only know myself through the eyes of the other. I don’t think it’s important to know how many others there are. But it is important to know in my heart the depth of the connection between myself and the other. There are few connections that  are strong and getting stronger. In some the strength is based on long standing experience. In others the bond is based on some kind of experience which happens under fire. In others I believe it is based on a common indescribable thread between our hearts.
     These threads between myself and the other untangle my mind. These threads are my emerging consciousness. There is no self without the other.

suggested viewing:     Cloud Atlas the movie

39 Everything Has Consciousness

Our guest blog today is from a dear friend who offers this thoughtful look at her own consciousness

Everything Has Consciousness.

                                          Carolina Madera
     "To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time. Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future." Somni 451 Cloud Atlas movie/book

     All physical matter including minerals have consciousness. Matter isn’t all physical as there’s tremendous spaces between atoms It’s just that they’re asleep as their electrons sway back and forth between the place scientist are trying to discover.

     A being higher “up” on our arbitrary ladder the more consciousness a being has and the more they can reflect & anticipate with instinct, knowledge from the past, what to do. Plants speak to each other with enzymes, other complex microbial fungi, and bacterial networks. We’re all interconnected.

     Insects, animals, and humans have more complex system of consciousness carried within each of our cells. Our epigenetic legacy, the memory of our family’s past, is just as important as the physical strands of our DNA.

     I have a theory that the creator-everything-all-the-heart-mind-of-our-universe has put us here to slowly learn to use our consciousness in a way that will help all beings. As humans we have a great honor and choice of learning about ourselves through the service of others or blinding ourselves in the service of the individual to be selfish. One expands knowledge/gravity/light by sharing and amplifying energy when sharing. The other is the selfish hungry way which can only survive by stealing and hoarding energy from others. All of us are connected to the source, G-d the fountain of life, no matter how many religious or new age institutions twist it to their advantage. We will always be able to connect to the source now matter where we are in life.

     Our consciousness is interconnected with our multiple selves living in multiple realities. Research quantum biology and biofeedback. Easier to digest is What the Bleep Do We Know movie. We’re living in an illusion and yet we’re not. Our actions have natural consequences for all beings.


     On Earth all there are is lessons.