Beauty
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I find the idea that the many put forward about what is beauty and what is ugly absurd. What we don't notice is our own reaction and judgments to others who don't meet our expectations. The truth is each person has their own idea of beauty. Unfortunately, we are conditioned into what beauty is and it is not a pleasant process for those at the receiving end.
An example of this comes from a story I read about a small boy whom had gotten lost from his mother at a Fair. Some adults found him and offered to help the boy find his mother. He asked the boy to describe his mother, which he described as beautiful. They were holding the boy up to help him spot his mother. At some point the boy said, "There she is!" The man asked where, because he did not see the woman the boy described. The boy pointed her out, but still the man didn't see the woman the boy described. He put the boy down and watched him run to a woman who was obviously far from his idea of beauty.
This story exemplifies the truth about beauty. While it can be said that we all have our own ideals, there is no such thing as an ideal perfect beauty. It is as absurd as saying there is a perfect color, food, vacation, place or thing, because each person has their own point of reference; there own reality.
This idea of beauty comes from a great many individuals caught up in the game of conditional love; I will love you if you meet these conditions.
One can see this sort of non-sense every where one goes. It is plastered everywhere: television, movies, magazines, advertisements, posters, organizations, churches, schools, colleges, and corporations. It's also a money making extravaganza at the expense of spirit. It's a power play contrived to control others, to get others to go along with the lie. It is the act of creating shame and guilt in another person for daring to be their authentic spiritual self. An authentic person is someone who chooses to love themselves as they are, knowing they are a one of a kind, never to be created again, and a unique divine original.
People are made and broken, forgotten like leftovers in the refrigerator, after they no longer have the look, or the style, or smooth flawless skin. The game goes to such extremes that many become anorexic, bulimic, or get plastic surgery in order to attain these attributes. What is really going on is a group of insecure people who were never accepted as they were, deciding to make themselves feel better (ego-orientation), by declaring themselves the elite in looks, money and power, play along here and contribute their own dysfunctional context to the game by manipulating others into buying into their illusions. We are conned into thinking its about profits, but it really is about worthiness of the manipulators and those being manipulated. Those who have self-love have no need to resort to these sort of games.
In the meantime, these varied groups convince the unconscious masses to strive for the high ideals they set, knowing full well that it is impossible for the masses, because they aren't the rule makers and never will be. We can never be like another no matter how hard we try. Why would you want to be? Why would you not want to be you? This is the key to escaping this cultural trap. it is meant to destroy spirit. And one can see that it succeeds quite well in the world at great expense and profit. But, it's an illusion none the less.
The cause of this comes from what is done to us from the time we are born. we are indoctrinated by what others tell us. Peer pressure forces us into groups. Each of us remembers what this was like in school. I find it amazing how adults talk about their experiences in high school, , and remark at the cruelty of youth. Yet may of these adults still buy into this idea of limited beauty, which supports the continuation of it in how they raise their children. But no one bothers to ask the burning question of where youth learned this from. For the most part, the adult world is no big illusion, meant to demean each and everyone of us of our divinity as a spirited being, to continue the dysfunctional game of conditional love. At the root of this is fear, fear of looking in the mirror, or seeing the shadow side of what we have disowned. It is this shadow side that continues to create destruction and disharmony in the world.
PEOPLE DON'T DO THIS SORT OF THING ON PURPOSE. DYSFUNCTION COMES FROM BEING FORCED AS A CHILD TO CONFORM, WHICH DISCONNECTS US FROM OUR INNER SPIRIT. THIS PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL CONNECTION IS REQUIRED TO BE FUNCTIONAL. WHEN IT IS DISCONNECTED, A CHILD IS ISOLATED FROM ITS GREATER SELF AND THE SPIRITUAL PLANE, WHERE IT IS CONNECTED TO GOD/GODDESS. THIS IS OUR TRUE HOME. WHEN WE ARE DISCONNECTED FROM IT WE BEGIN TO LIVE IN OUR INTELLECT AND FROM A LIMITED EXPERIENTIAL CONTEXT. AN ANALOGY OF THIS WOULD BE HOW COMPUTERS ARE NETWORKED INTO A LARGER NETWORK INTO A SERVER. EACH COMPUTER IS CONSIDERED A WORKSTATION AND REQUIRES A LOGIN AND PASSWORD TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE NETWORK AND SERVER. IN ESSENCE WE MISPLACED OUR OWN PERSONAL LOGIN AND PASSWORD. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR A LONG TIME THROUGHOUT THE AGES. I SUSPECT THAT BEING BORN INTO THIS REALITY, LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, AND CATASTROPHIC EVENTS IN EARLIER TIMES PLAYED A PART IN THIS FRACTURE (DYSFUNCTION).
CRITICAL THINKING AND SIMPLE OBSERVATION OF OTHER HUMAN BEINGS CAN SHED LIGHT ON THIS PHENOMENON. THIS PAST CHRISTMAS I WENT HOME TO VISIT MY FAMILY AND THE WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO SEE MY TWO YOUNG NEPHEWS, WHO ARE THREE AND SIX YEARS OLD. i SPENT A LOT OF TIME PLAYING AND INTERACTING WITH MY OLDEST NEPHEW. AT ONE POINT HE WAS SITTING ON MY STOMACH AND HE LOOKED INTO MY EYES AND I NOTICED HOW BRILLIANT THEY WERE. HIS WHOLE BEING SHOWN LIKE A SUPERNOVA, WITH THIS BRILLIANT INTENSITY OF ENERGY EMANATING FROM HIS FACE. I WAS DEEPLY MOVED BY THIS. LATER AT THE MALL, I BEGAN TO NOTICE OTHER CHILDREN AND ADULTS. I NOTICED A LACK OF LIGHT, AND IN SOME THERE WAS A DULL GRAYISH TINT OR NOTHING PRESENT AT ALL. I HAD NEVER REALLY PAID MUCH ATTENTION TO THIS UNTIL THAT MOMENT. AFTERWARDS I BEGAN LOOKING AT EVERYONE WITH THIS IN MIND. WHAT I AM WITNESSING IS THE HUMAN GHETTO WHERE SPIRIT IS DEVOID OF ANY PRESENCE OR SEVERELY LIMITED. PEOPLE SO SHUT DOWN AND STUCK IN THEIR INTELLECT THAT THERE IS NO TRUE BEAUTY SHINING FROM WITHIN. BEING DISCONNECTED FROM SPIRIT IS LIKE BEING IN PRISON.
THERE ARE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS WITHIN THE WORLD, WHERE VARYING DEGREES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ARE ACCESSED. YET THE MANY ARE IMPRISONED IN THEIR INTELLECT FOR THE MOST PART. INTELLECT CANNOT KNOW SPIRIT, IT CAN ONLY THINK IT KNOWS. THIS IS THE ILLUSION OF THE EGO CONVINCING A PERSON THEY KNOW. THINKING AND KNOWING ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. EVEN IF ONE WERE TO DO ALL THE RIGHT THINGS INTELLECTUALLY, ONE WOULD STILL BE IN THE PRISON OF THE INTELLECT, BECAUSE OUR SPIRIT IS NOT PRESENT.
THERE ARE A GREAT MANY WHO ARE CRUEL, MEAN, AND JUDGMENTAL. OTHERS HAVE SAID WE LIVE IN A SADOMASOCHISTIC SOCIETY. I WOULD AGREE WITH THEM. THIS COMES ABOUT FROM SOMEONE WHO LIVES IN FEAR. AT SOME POINT I STOPPED TRYING TO FIT IN BECAUSE IT WAS A JOKE. I COULD NO LONGER ENDURE THE INNER SUFFERING OF GOING AGAINST MY INNER SPIRIT. IF IT WASN'T ONE REQUIREMENT, IT WAS ANOTHER TO LIVE UP TOO. THE RIGHT HAIRCUT, THE RIGHT LOOK, THE RIGHT CLOTHES, THE NECESSITY TO SAY THE RIGHT THING, LIKE THE RIGHT STUFF, DO THE RIGHT THING, HANG WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT PLACE, HAVE THE RIGHT JOB AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON...ALWAYS BEING REVISED BECAUSE THOSE WHO PRETEND HAVE TO KEEP CREATING A NEW IMAGE TO CONTINUE TO AVOID SEEING THE UGLINESS FROM WITHIN. WHAT I MEAN BY UGLINESS IS WHAT THE EGO CREATES IN THE WORLD AND IN US TO KEEP US DISTRACTED FROM RECONNECTING TO OUR SPIRIT. PART OF GOING UNCONSCIOUS CREATES A PROCESS WHERE A BLOCK IS CREATED SO WE CANNOT GAIN ACCESS, SO THAT WE CAN LEARN THE RULES OF CULTURE AND FIT IN AND SURVIVE TILL WE ARE MORE ABLE TO RECONNECT AGAIN. IN DYSFUNCTION MODE, EGO'S JOB IS TO KEEP US SEPARATED FROM OUR INNER DIAMOND. THIS DIAMOND IS OUR CORE SPIRITUAL BEING. THIS CORE BEING SHINES SO BRIGHTLY THAT IT IS BLINDING WHEN YOU COME UPON IT AND EXPERIENCE IT. THIS BRILLIANCE IS IN US ALL AND NO ONE PERSON CAN EVER CORNER THE MARKET ON IT. IF YOU WERE TO EXPERIENCE THE TOTALITY OF THIS IT WOULD BE OVERWHELMING. YOU WOULD LITERALLY BREAK DOWN AND SOB BECAUSE YOU WOULD IMMEDIATELY REALIZE HOW FAR AWAY OUR WORLD IS FROM UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. THESE LEVELS ARE ENERGETIC LEVELS. CONSCIOUSNESS CAN BE LIMITED, WHICH IS OBVIOUS IN THE WORLD. A GOOD ANALOGY WOULD BE A LIGHT WITH A DIMMER SWITCH. OUR BODY HOUSES THIS ENERGY AND WE HAVE AN ENERGY GRID THAT CHANNELS THIS ENERGY. IN HIS BOOK, "THE NATURAL MIND," ANDREW WEIL CALLS OUR NERVOUS SYSTEM A NEURAL NETWORK. IN HER BOOK "ANATOMY OF SPIRIT," CAROLINE MYSS DISCUSSES THE ENERGETIC SYSTEM OF THE BODY.
I TOO USED TO BUY INTO THIS GAME BECAUSE I WAS JUST AS DEEPLY ASLEEP AS THE REST OF SOCIETY. BUT, NOW I SEE A DIFFERENT CONTEXT TO BEAUTY. I NO LONGER FIND THE TYPES OF PEOPLE I WAS ATTRACTED TO BEAUTIFUL ANYMORE. I SEE THROUGH THE ILLUSIONS, SEE THE MASKS THEY WEAR, AND THE UGLINESS THAT PERMEATES FROM THEIR EGOS. I MAKE IT MY BUSINESS TO SEE THE LIGHT IN ALL OF US, FOR IT IS THERE WAITING PATIENTLY TO BE LET OUT. I MAKE A POINT TO SAY HELLO TO THOSE WHOSE LIGHT PEEKS OUT. I MOST CERTAINLY MAKE THE EFFORT TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND ENGAGE THE YOUNG CHILDREN WHO DARE TO BE THEMSELVES. AND I DARE THE REST OF YOU TO SET YOURSELVES FREE OF THE CONSTRAINTS THAT HAVE KEPT YOU FROM KNOWING REAL BEAUTY.
I REMEMBER THE DAY I BEGAN TO QUESTION BEAUTY. I WAS WALKING HOME THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, WHEN I CAME UPON THESE THREE YOUNG MAPLE TREES, ALL GROWING IN A ROW. I HAD PASSED THEM BY COUNTLESS TIMES BEFORE. BUT ON THIS PARTICULAR DAY I MADE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM BEING ALL IN THE SAME TREE FAMILY, YET EACH ONE BEING TOTALLY DIFFERENT IN HOW ITS BRANCHES GREW OUTWARD. MY NEXT THOUGHT WAS THAT NO TWO TREES WERE ALIKE, SOMETHING I HAD NOT EVEN NOTICED. OUR EGO CATEGORIZES THINGS AND WE SEE THEM AS TREES. BUT IT WAS THEN THAT IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT IT WAS THE SAME WITH PEOPLE. AND I CONTINUE TO AMAZE MYSELF AT THE DIFFERENCES AND IN FINDING GREAT JOY IN THIS DIVERSITY.
YOU SEE, EGO DOESN'T LIKE DIVERSITY, DOESN'T LIKE DIFFERENCES, BECAUSE WHEN WE ALLOW EACH PERSON TO BE DIFFERENT, NO ONE CAN CONTROL YOU. THE LESS OBVIOUS POINT IS IF EACH OF US WERE BEING DIFFERENT, BEING OUR OWN UNIQUE ONE OF KIND BEING, THERE WOULD BE KNOW NEED TO CONTROL OR HARM ANOTHER BECAUSE EACH OF US WOULD BE SPENDING OUR TIME CREATING OURSELVES ANEW EACH AND EVERY MOMENT. AND IN THE PROCESS OF HONORING OURSELVES WE WOULD COME TO SEE THE BEAUTY IN ALL THINGS AND ALLOW THEM THE SAME RIGHT TO BE THEMSELVES.
I BELIEVE THIS TO BE A TENET OF ENLIGHTENMENT.
HERE IS A POEM THAT IS BEFITTING OF THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY:
Love
Love is not something
you do,
It is not how you behave.
There's nothing you can do that constitutes loving another,
No action that is of itself loving.
Love is a way of being.
And more than that.
It is simply being,
Being with another person, however they may be.
Holding no judgments, having no agendas,
No need to have them experience your love,
No desire to demonstrate love,
No intrusion upon their soul.
Nothing but a total acceptance of their being,
Born of your total acceptance of yours.
- Peter russell
Updated: 7/10/10