An Australian Aboriginal sits quietly beside the sacred rock that has been revered by his tribe for an unspeakable length of time. His eyes close and he chants. An observer would believe he has entered another reality, but to the Aboriginal there is only one reality – the Dreamtime.
In Aboriginal Dreamtime, there is a Dream in which everyone and everything is being Dreamed, and there is the Dreamer. The connection between the Dream and the Dreamer is the process of Dreaming. We all have the power of the Dream within us; it is our likeness to the Dreamer. Through this power to Dream, we can either Dream our way back to the Dreamer, or we can Dream ourselves away from the Dreamer.
How, you might ask, do we do this?
The simplest explanation of this process expresses Dreaming as the use of our faculties of imagination and visualization. The images we develop and project either take us forward to realize our essential Divinity, or pull us away. The key point is that we choose our direction. For the Aboriginal, there is no issue of choice because there is no attachment to any physical form or material possession. He/She lives in a constant state of spiritual awareness.
From this perspective, let us look at the conflicts we experience in our lives today. All conflicts, regardless of context, have their origin in the comparison of spiritual beliefs. All questioning has an essentially spiritual core, and the very act launches each individual’s “quest.” Today, our questions reflect a deep insecurity about who and what we are. They call upon us to become as the Aboriginal – to enter into a constant state of spiritual awareness.
But how does one find the proper path? We find our way home to the source, our Divine spark, through knowledge of the key to the hidden processes of the Kosmos. This knowledge is found in the encrypted tenets of ancient traditions, although distorted by contemporary translations. Be it Eastern or Western (which are ultimately one), tradition is that great body of knowledge that is somewhat akin to an abstract formula for living life to its fullest.
The path we seek is to acquire knowledge through inquiry. Knowledge sets us free from the wheel of “Samsara,” or the cycle of death and rebirth. It clarifies karma, the principle of the reincarnation and the various vehicles of our being through which consciousness (Divinity) expresses itself. So what is this knowledge we seek? We seek to understand the truth of one and all traditions. We seek to understand how this knowledge explains the limiting reality of modern science, with the great god “Random,” and empowers us to reach beyond to the Kosmos clearly illustrated in the works of Plato, Pythagoras, and Einstein.
Ultimately, we seek to find our place within the Kosmos and understand the Implicate Order that governs all creation.
The Kosmos, far greater than the physical universe of science and the Heaven and Hell of Christianity, is the body of God. It represents a fourfold process in which the presence of God is felt throughout life at all levels of reality. The knowledge we seek helps us realize the parallel between the truth from the Upanishads – stating that “when a blade of grass is cut, the entire Universe quivers” — and the statement of truth from contemporary Chaos Theory that tells us that “when a butterfly flaps its wings in Beijing, it affects the weather in New York City.” This is the Implicate Order, previously hidden through our lack of understanding, but always present.
The Implicate Order is the way in which God acts throughout the Kosmos and through our lives. With this understanding and feeling of presence, we then live a life in accord with our Divinity, realizing our Dharma (right life actions), effacing our karma and fulfilling our destinies. We live in a perpetual spiritual awareness, which we see as the experience of Aboriginal culture, for those who have not lived within the distortion of their tradition over time.
How we receive these benefits and acquire knowledge is vital. It requires us to work from “the bottom up” — through the vehicles of the physical body, the Soul, the Spirit, “up” to the Divine spark. This is the mystical pathway. It prepares all levels of our being to receive God in our lives consciously.
Equally important in our pursuit of knowledge is our work from “the top down.” This is the pathway of the Magus – “Magic.” Here we engage in the great work of Alchemy. This great work is unique to humanity, for humans alone can perform the task described in the doctrine “As above, so below.” We alone can unite the above with the below, working from the top down and the bottom up.
When we heed the call of tradition, “Man Know Thyself,” we begin the journey of self-inquiry. This yields to us the great truths given not by any one teacher from tradition, but by all. It calls upon us to actively train our faculties of imagination and visualization so that we may dispel fear, illusion and false doctrine, opening a window for the expression of the Implicate Order in our lives. When we do this, we may then find that our lives become an example for others. We become what the Buddhists refer to as “he who leaves no tracks.”
Why is this so? Because we now know ourselves for who we truly are. We see ourselves in the image and likeness of God. When in a constant state of spiritual awareness, we choose our thoughts, words, and deeds with great clarity. This shapes our images and beliefs. These images and resultant beliefs then assist us to Dream our way back to the Dreamer. We ultimately become the Dreamer, and the sacred rock is the altar found within our hearts. The quest of every tradition and each individual is to unite the knowledge of all creation with the wisdom of the heart. Then and only then can we say “I Know.” I know that:
There is only one language, the language of the heart
There is only one religion, the religion of love
There is only one caste, the caste of humanity
There is only one God, who is all knowing, all powerful, and all present
Nigel Taylor will be bringing The HeartSpace Transmission to the Twin Cities area on October 16. For details, click here or contact Shirley Moore at sam44@q.com or 651.815.5030.