It's the Story Part 2

Heartline Hand Vest worn here by her happy new caretaker.

& .she wears it so well!

thank you

 It's the Story -2

Protecting the self has been with our species (and others) since the dawn of consciousness. This relates to our personal births and to the whole of the population. Becoming aware of an "i am" means to be aware of a self both vulnerable and powerful.

With awareness came an expansion of  possibilities and the realization of having something to lose. It got personal really quick!

Survival of the fittest and similar thinking comes from a long ago place in "wake up" history. It served us for a time but is no longer appropriate. Now we have the capacity to understand that everything is connected to everything else and that in this "higher" vision, we are truly one.

The higher ground concept came from a battle scene, according to M Kaku in the book "Hyperspace."  The gang who took the hill had the ability to see the battle in a way those on the ground could not. What appeared as chaos in the midst, was seen as actions in need of orchestrating from the high ground vantage point. This allowed the hilltop gang  to create strategic next steps.

As we are simultaneously unique. wonderful "selfs" and "not" this can be a brain shake. Getting my head around this (and other) quirky juxtaposition- being simultaneously an individual and a part of the whole at once-  is  something that gets better with practice. I know this from experience..it shifts and then voila!

As we have the power to actualize our beliefs (a derivative of quantum physics -The observer affects the observation) and when this energy aligns with the juxtapose we can and will influence matter to manifest for the good of the "me" that is also the "us."  This extends to all of life on this planet and in tune with a living uni-verse (the vital energy connection). So why not go big in this new way? This is truly a next step responsible, loving, inclusive, healthy vision of power. This is Happy Place!

But dreaming isn't activating and i think we really have to rev up with that action stuff.

So saying  "...... we need a new story. It is hard to release the old one until a new one appears." (from "It's the Story" part one)

This is where it gets tricky. We usually don't recognize our acute abilities to dodge.  The "imaginary possible threats" are seen as real and justified from the aspect of tour old story that told us to run for cover or plan to fight. As one real and  imminent threat can became the source of many perceived threats it can appear to be wiser to be "safe" than "sorry."This is not fully true.

Superimpositions that color our lenses and distort true vision are part of our human OS.  Now that we are stuck to a past that cannot embrace the whole of life, we have to get bold and expand our reach and our smarts.

We have to utilize all of our new knowledge in order to weave a new story and upgrade our brains. The machine metaphor stops here. When we reboot the process must include total body awareness, hyper connectivity to all vital energy and instll a heightened sensual appreciation as ours has been  tarnished over the duration of "pure" rationalism.

This means we need brilliant threads from across all the fields and disciplines, cultures and traditions, stores, lore and myths.. We need to embrace that which appears as chaos and realize that this unruliness is vital and only appears to be scary  because we have not reached our "higher" ground.

In the course of change, we can start by knowing  that many of the stories that are  "us"  are faulty. As these flawed tales screw with our lives and are, i believe, inductive as to why change can appear to be difficult, even when ostensibly for the better, we just have to get in and clean up the mess.

In the vast territory of those many unknowns, possible dangers lurk. This means we need stories to shed light on these "new places"  Otherwise the  bogey men in our heads prowl at will in the dark of our imaginations.

This must be why and how fear based cultures-like ours-  survive. (And as entrepreneurial as our species is, many have used this fear thinking as a source of profit, wiring the belief into all aspects of current power tripping)  At this level of thinking it appears to be sensible  to stay on the course with the herd than to dare to leap into that unknown abyss. Hey this place sucks, but that place could be even worse than this place.

Okay, this is all brain twisting and iffy, full of that darkness that cloaks shadows and demons -so why even go there?

No crossing the boundary, no risking of punishment, limb loss or verbal attacks, fewer threats of wildy mysteriosos, all this has a certain appeal. The idea of the known makes us feel in control. Even if we have made a mess, many just adjust their caps and focus on the shallows, while preening at their ability to move crumbs.

To further this 'security of knowns" we collect piles of data and repeat patterns that we adjust and call progress in order to fulfill the expectations of the story we hold near and dear. Numbers make us feel good.

Yes that story of civilization  as a linear expression of "we done good." has a lot of appeal. We are adept at making our wrongness look "right." Bring on the editors, the entertainers and the fireworks, as long as we ignore the demons..we are ust fine.

We have designed such elegant landscapes and charming paths. We have set goals, designed vast systems and lengthy formulas, we pretend to this security of crowds and blaspheme the non- believers. The story rules and we WILL prove it.

Until that day we wake up in the place where the monsters are in our faces.. All the hidden demons have grown  large and unruly, protected by the shadows we dared not investigate too closely.  Now we are forced to acknowledge the larger picture. We are there.

A story that started out to organize and protect us can no longer serve. The story that helped us build cities, rockets, atom smashers and lasar tools is now dueling the things we fear the most.  we need to drag it kicking and screaming into the light. We need to lift the veil of fear that covers half the realm of all that is possible in Free Choice. The ghosts and fears of our stories are as teachers. The monsters are just personality aspects that need facing. This is so do-able!

It's Not Us-It'sThe Story!

 Cotton jacket made from pattern taken from a vintage piece. Hand dyed and painted. Dead trees symbolic to fashionRIP Project m, butterflies all transtion, metamorphosis and hope..

The stories we hold in our minds (and bodies)  build up and frame our sense of "self."

We are huge collections of feelings, thoughts, experiences; all wired together with stories of who we believe ourselves to be. This becomes who we "are."

These story collages can be helpful or they can spill out and cloud the NEW moment. This is probably why we repeat things until we change the thinking that created the problem.

If it looks like a horse and moves like a horse it must be a horse..but no, it could be a zebra or a mystical unicorn.

Our stories can be very helpful. It is great that we can get home without having to memorize the route every day. It is way cool that we can maintain friendships and math formulas.

But when it comes to recognizing the gift in the moment, these 'stories"  can just get in the way. They can be saboteurs of experience, emotional hijackers - damn, they can be liars and thieves. They cover us in assumptions, with thinking that hauls up the past or plans for the future. They can keep us from being present in the now.

This is really a pertinent issue in relationships and can totally screw us over.

As relationships are the heart and soul, the embodiment of the whole individualized, they are the crux of realizing self. This means we  can help each other see potential and open the range of collective possibilities or we can freak from a past experience, show our hackles and/or  dodge, seek comfort and avoid going 'there" again.

Fear pushes away love and the honest, open trusting communication we need in order to step up into potential and to really thrive.

This is why we need a new story. It is hard to release the old one until a new one appears.As this has to do with fear of change, I will continue it in part 2.

Background:
I recently realized my fictional character, the Ice Queen was "me." This came from a source totally out of context but hit me straight on. I often use my intellect as a shield and as a way to freeze my emotional self. This aligns me with the old story, for i was told that my feelings did not matter, my thinking did. (Prof at SCCC in a world history class)

Rational, reasonable  "professional" behavior has been at the fore of our systems construct. As this idea goes way back to the Greeks, who feared the emotional, passionate energies, the chaos of nature and women, it appears  "right."

Appearances can be deceiving and our "wrong" emotions are there for a reason. It is time to clarify and heal this misunderstanding.

Anyway,. i did not see this aspect of the Ice Queen coming.  I thought of her as a great visual metaphor for coming to terms with global warming. I saw her melting in correlation with the exposure of lies in the cultural story and as a representative of self in the feminine. Sent in to unravel the cultural myths that helped me explore my own stories, she shined her light on me.

Segue- This is why art matters.

As my fashionRIP Project experiment continues, The Journey to the Center of Being has become more than a script  "out there" It is now proving to be a relevant part of my personal path.

This simultaneity is intriguing... .. to be cont.

Born of Stars

 When we learn to see differently, what we see changes.

"We are born of stars" (M Kaku)  and filled with stars.

That sparkly, twinkle sensation that emanates from the cells in your body are they not like stars?  That aliveness is the vital energy that moves us and through us all.

I feel it best when i lie still after morning exercises stretches-yoga and pilates.  Feeling one's own aliveness helps us connect to the whole flow of life itself. I believe it one door through which we can experience our relationship to the whole living planet, uni-verse and...?

Vital energy is in the very music of string theory, it shows up as the vibration that hums through our bodies, our "personal ecosystems" and beyond, way, way beyond.

If you close your eyes; where do you end? You feel boundary sensations only where you touch "other" or that which appears as matter not you.” How cool is that?  Thank you Steve Ross for pointing this out.

This was new to me, as i had been taught to view my body in machine like terms. (or as a sexual “object”- that divisioning for hierarchical thinking-again)

All that huff and puff aerobic stuff, the weight lifting the exercise for muscle tone, weight loss and or heart health, sexual desirability, the focus was all about performance and measurable results.  I wasn't taught to value my "being" or celebrate my body as a glorious piece in the whole of "physical matter."

Why so?

I have a cousin who is a math prof. He is in town to do tenure fulfillment obligations. I asked him about this and he told me he was working on an app for statistics. In this process he is figuring out a way to condense data to fit the platform aka play with the numbers to oblige the new "tool!"

This is precious!

First we create the tool and then through market agenda, memes and other influences, that "tool" takes over and becomes a "ruler" of thought.  Then we cater to the tool, we design for it, we extoll its virtues and scoff at those without the newest "tools." 
This example of interactivity between what we create and conscious application apparently slides under the radar in the guise of "progress” aka not to be questioned!

However, what can we learn from this rather silly and insatiable quest?

One answer:
We are living in a world that we are designing. So now let us design the world we really want to live in.

Even those who think they benefit from the design of the old story are hurting. They too are trapped and arrested by the concepts that are destroying the diversity of choice probabilities.” Living in this story manifests as a shrinking down spiral.

Every loss in diversity equates to a loss in health. (We are ecosystems, we co evolved with the whole of the planet’s ecosystems, we are connected, therefore trashing the planet’s systems is suicidal behavior) The next loop in the spiral down creates even more self-limiting beliefs as more choices seem to dry up. The pattern is obvious and need not, should not be followed. This is not acceptable behavior!

It does, however, show that we have power and that our beliefs set that power in motion. Ok then, now let us take this knowledge and act responsibly like the maturing, conscious species we like to think we are. 

 One way is to re imagine what we think to be of value. What is really valuable?
What about exploring underappreciated resources and questioning the hand me down concepts, we are encouraged to "own." and to propagate?  These kinds of questions can open us up to new choices.

New choices manifest new actions and more new choices "appear." This is an expanding or  upward spiral, this is freedom.

It is time to recognize that we as the user of tools, should not be the pawn of the toolmakers-no matter how high tech the bluff. We can overcome our walls and boundaries, once we see through them.

We are capable. We are powerful. When we align our power, our vital energy to whole of wellbeing, connect to love and drop the reins of fear..i believe we will see the dawn of that new day.

After all- we are born of stars and are filled with the same amazing energy as the stars.

The  “Blue Stars” in fabric, photo picture above were inspired by  the enigmatic relationship between Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. (Just Kids)  What if co creative tension supports a next paradigm dynamic. One where chaos and confusion, a love/fear  balance sparks imaginal cells in a space where true equals balance between love and fear? 

Later Gator.....