Gifts: Third But Not Least

By Teeya Blatt

The previous article introduced two gifts from the sages who wrote of our collective unseen, or rather, non-visible foundation. I had promised to present three gifts, and only managed to serve two. So now, the third.

I will continue to try to stay uncluttered by veering away from any ‘folk descriptions’, as Joseph Campbell referred to them, the images that are particular to specific lands or cultures. Stay on neutral ground without agreeing, nor denying, anything that belongs to any individual group, but rather, aim for a story that includes all of us.

By this simple aim, I must needs be abstract.

So, in the last article we started with the One that is Love, becoming manifest as the World (that is, the One-in-Many), through the Two, that is the inherent duality within all. Remember?

Duality, by its nature, is a cause of friction. Whenever the pairs of opposites are referred to in spiritual teachings, it is clear that they have between them a tension, the very tension between, let’s say, high and low pressure systems that gives rise to hurricanes, or between men and women that gives rise to all that that gives rise to! At the most abstract, at the penultimate duality, it is the same, it could even be considered the blueprint of the universe, whereby this tension is the primary movement that starts all movements.

The original blueprint, the nature of the original act, presents itself again and again throughout all levels of reality. This is the principle underlying fractals, is the basic meaning of expressions such as “the microcosm reflects the macrocosm’, or ‘as above so below’, is why orbits of planets look just like orbits of electrons.

So the Two that is duality, simply by its very nature, gives rise to a tension, a friction from which movement is inevitable. It is incongruous with this particular analogy to say that the tension of the Two is ‘constructed’, ‘built’, or ‘created’. It is simply a natural extension of the duality that is inherent in all. In this way the One through the Two branches out into the multitude. By simply being as is, the One through the Two becomes manifest as the One-in-Many.

Several writers have described this process much more eloquently than I could, (see Freke & Gandy, 2001, for example). I am simply here as a reporter to my community of the Third gift, which is that the action from the One can be likened to an out-breath exhalation. The One, by simply being, and more being, emanates, (picture exudes, radiates, grows), more of its nature.

As the original activity of the universe, the world as manifested through ‘emanation’, is to some extent passive, but is also endless. This type of movement contrasts significantly from the somewhat more strenuous ‘construction’, which requires effort, is discrete and is also somewhat separate from that which is being created.

In what way is this distinction a gift? What for this information, what difference does this really make to my life? We who are interested in a deeper life might well ask, what difference to our healing, to the healing of our families, our planet, this basic distinction between ‘emanation’, and ‘construction’?

The answers to these questions involve no less than our choice on how to act in the world, not only individually, but as a race, and currently, as caretakers of this planet and all her inhabitants.

As an original blueprint, one activity gives rise to eternity, the other to time. Emanation begets more emanation, for as long as the One-in-Many contains the One, (and it is all the One), and the One becomes the Two. Construction, on the other hand, implies an end, which begets a beginning, and a flowering. Even when the end-goal takes a long time to reach, construction is a finite process. Whereas the primary focus of a constructed universe is on that being constructed, within emanation, the manifest universe (the One-in-Many) is ‘by the wayside’ of the One becoming expressed. It is a humbler universe.

As the original blueprint, the subtlest movement within each of us individually also stems from ‘emanation’, even when it appears at more observable levels of experience to be ‘created’. On a personal level, in an ‘emanated’ universe, healing requires that we ‘remember’ our core, because of the truth that our world is a reflection of who we are and what we believe and hold mentally. As per the exhortation to ‘know thyself’, we may, through understanding, change through growing our awareness. When we remember that the One is Love, we also recognize that whatever we hold mentally, we are loving, we are emanating, and thereby growing.

Having said that, it must be made clear that through the activity of construction, we believe we heal through laborious goings on, such as ‘visualizing’, ‘imagining the feeling’, ‘rehearsing the win’, in other words, having desire, putting energy into fulfilling it by writing it down, creating it, making it appear, feeling powerful, ‘you can do it’ - effort effort effort, that by any other name is nevertheless magic.

When Construction is viewed as the basic activity of the universe, at the human level, it begets magicians. Emanation on the other hand, begets observers and understanders.

The magician pulls universal energy and moulds it into advantageous aims and goals. The magician, even with the best of intentions, is separate from the whole, unhappy with what is, and knows what outcome is best.

The Understander observes universal energies and knows that there is One that is Love growing, even when it appears destructive.

Taken to the final consequence of these actions, in the final moment, magical activities, that rely on our ‘knowing better’, result in feelings of separation, and thereby, isolation, insecurity or inadequacy, whereas the ‘observer’ or ‘understander’ may come to discern larger, relative forces, such as the cyclical unfolding of the original Love, which of course, cares and takes care of all, including me. The latter has no heavy burden to carry, no ‘expert knowledge’ to hold onto, and no simultaneous real fear of being caught out. And perceives a greater force that takes care of us.

From the viewpoint of the One, that we are all connected, the ability to harness and aim energy is not wondrous, or special, it is an integral part of our human or mental nature. We can all do it because we have the mental ability, which, with practice, we all can master, to aim our intentions and create a world closer to our goals than what is. This is not astonishing. It is no more surprising than that fish can swim.

We have demonstrated this ability again and again, we have made profound changes in the world through such mental activity. So? When we cease to be amazed by our constructive abilities, our ‘magical’ skills, then we see that whether we do or not is simply a day to day choice.

Again and again it is clear how very little we as a race know. We make predictions based on our science, we medicate based on our objective criteria, we correct what is, based on our very short sight. To this day, as a race, we are no closer to being happy, healthy or secure.

Yet, even this...

So what is the gift of this third assumption of emanation? Maybe mental resilience. Tolerance. A release of tension and fear of the future. Comfort and security in knowing we are being taken care of by a parent that is pure Love, no matter what it may ‘look’ like. Or maybe a spiritual food that is thoroughly nourishing because it shows us that everywhere, in everything, there is the original seed that has no opposite.

 

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