Tending and Befriending

    Twenty-five years ago, Taylor et al published a paper, "Biobehavioral Responses to Stress in Females: Tend-and-befriend, not Fight-or-flight" (Psychol Rev 2000; 107(3): 411-29) which suggested female behavior is more marked by a pattern of "tend-and-befriend" than by "fight-or-flight."  
    They defined "tending" as nurturing activities to protect self & offspring, to promote safety & reduce distress; "befriending" the creation & maintenance of social networks that help this tending process.
    Despite this surprisingly promising start, the story - to be published in a "scientific" psychology journal - had to devolve into reductionism: "oxytocin, in conjunction with female reproductive hormones & endogenous opioid peptide mechanisms, may be at its core." 
    So wise motherly love & nurturing care for children, family, friends, neighbors & beyond was reduced to meaningless, accidental matter activated by hormones, while other hormones activate male machines fight & run. 
    Now it's all figured out! BUT ONLY IF you value a meaningless, accidental, mechanical model to the exclusion of an infinitely greater, wiser reality!   

    "Spiritual intelligence is the foundation of who we are and our particular type of consciousness. It is the perception identified across wisdom & religious traditions, and known by many names, which can be summarized as the awareness of awareness, and so of being itself. It is the foundation of peace, even in the face of death, as well as purpose and solidarity. The challenge today is to recover and live according to that knowledge." 
    Mark Vernon, "Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps" 2023.

 

    Iain McGilchrist is a highly & broadly educated (a very rare combination) and experienced literary scholar, neuroscience researcher, psychiatrist and author of 3 respected books. He sees our present society as being very far from wise, and hence, recklessly self-destructive. 
    The key feature of this blindness is a strident left-hemisphere-dominant perspective, hellbent on grabbing as much as we can, as fast as we can, with no concern for the destructive impacts on other people, animals, plants, the Planet as a whole. This struggle to rob-or-be robbed, is openly adversarial, and feels like "fight-or-flight." India, China, Japan etc which once had profound wisdom traditions, are also drowning in rabid capitalism. The inevitable result is degradation of quality of life, the environment, international relationships, ... everything.
    This is in stark contrast to a right-hemisphere-dominant perspective on life, which uses & values the left hemisphere's qualities of looking after practical matters, AND BALANCES this with careful attention to larger contexts, 'the big picture' in order to nurture & collaborate or 'tend-and-befriend.' This is living in wise relationship with Self, other humans, other beings, Nature, Cosmos, Source. 

     Too many of us have forgotten our own wisdom nature, traditions & practices. We must reclaim these ASAP to help revive our culture's wisdom vacuum.

    "... consider Thomas Banyacya's four words: 'Stop, consider, change, and correct.' Stop what you are doing. Consider the effects of what you are doing. Is it upholding life on this land? Or is it destructive to the life on this land? If it is destructive, then change your value system and your actions. We are not supposed to be subduing the earth, treading it underfoot, vanquishing the earth and all its life. We are supposed to be taking care of this land and the life upon it. So it's up to you to consider which side you are going to be on." 
    Craig Carpenter, traditional Mohawk messenger, in "The Book of Elders - The Life Stories & Wisdom of Great American Indians" as told to Sandy Johnson & Dan Budnik

    In one of his recent informative online interviews, McGilchrist comments on materialist science when it strays far beyond its appropriate limited domain:
    "Reductionism has always tended to produce an answer that is unsatisfactory for what it’s going to make. A simple down to earth example, if I may give one, is a piece of music. So if you ask somebody who is analytically bent, to work our what a piece of music is doing, well they’ll say, first of all what is a piece of music made of? It’s made of notes. Well, the first question then to answer, what is a note? And a note is a sound like that. Then what does it mean? Nothing. Okay, well the music has another of these notes. What does it mean? Nothing. And after 30,000 notes, I’ve got Mozart’s G minor quintet. It’s just made out of notes, none of which mean anything. So it must be a heap of nothing! And in this process, you have driven out everything that was invisible to your analytic eye, which was the web of connections in which, and only in which, the thing had any meaning.

    The point I think I’m trying to get at is that if you take things apart, you destroy their meaning. And if you think of the Universe as just made up of little bits of stuff that you’ve got down to with your microscope, you can’t see what it makes in aggregate. 
    A simple analogy would be like, what is a motorbike? Oh, I’m going to find out. There’s one in the garage. I’ll take it apart. And several hours later, the other person comes back and says, ‘Okay, what is it?’ ‘Well, it’s got two of these and three of those, and something else, but search me, I have no idea what it is.’ And it doesn’t mean anything, because it’s completely destroyed by the acts of analysis. And the only way in which you could work out what it was, was to get on it and ride it. 
    And life is like that. You can’t stand aside from it, from outside, and understand it. A religious belief is like that. You can’t stand aside from it, and inspect it, and go, ‘Well, it doesn’t add up, according to where I am standing now.’ But it only doesn’t stand up from where you’re standing now because of where you’re standing now. 
    Another example would be like learning to swim by sitting on the bank of a river with a book saying ‘this is how to swim,’ and swearing you’re not going to get into the river until you’ve learned to swim from the book."
    Iain McGilchrist "Your Brain Has 2 Masters — And One Is Leading Us Astray" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ5C11mlTH4 

 

    “When good is done, it contains all good. Although good is formless, when it is done, it attracts more good faster than a magnet attracts iron. Its power is stronger than the strongest wind. All the accumulated karma throughout the earth, mountains, rivers, world and lands cannot obstruct the power of good.”
    Master Eihei Dogen

"Choices in a meditator's life are very simple: 
Do those things that contribute to awareness. 
Refrain from those things that do not." Sujata

“Now is the time, and we are the ones we have been waiting for.” Hopi elders

 

Pain IS a Doorway

      A number of times I've chosen to experiment with pain, from moderate to extreme, to see where it could take me. At times the only other option is rather bleak - suffering like a helpless, wounded animal. So instead of tensing up to bear it (the freeze part of the fight/flight/freeze reaction), I immediately opted to try a practical experiment that surely countless others also tried throughout the ages: consciously opening up, surrendering to & deeply exploring pain (or other harrowing existential crises)!

     “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor E. Frankl, "Man’s Search for Meaning"

     “The best way out is always through” Robert Frost

    And social workers' advice to "lean into" difficulties.

     This choice to bravely explore the mystery of hardships we're usually desperate to avoid happens to be remarkably effective in shifting us out of our default self-centered, materialistic / survivalist mindset, & into an infinitely wiser, altruistic, transpersonal, spacious, timeless, joyous one. Because of this profoundly important shift, intentional surrender to hardships (self-imposed and uncontrolled) has become a formal practice in all wisdom traditions.

     Psychologically-healthy, mature participants in spiritual practices such as meditation, are typically advised to 'surrender:'
     "... surrender is probably the most important piece of advice ... it is when you’re resisting what’s happening that you get anxious & frightened, because what might be happening is your ego may be just melting. Your sense of self may be dying. And if you fight that & try to hold on for dear life to your sense of self, that fight is going to create a lot of anxiety.
     And this is that experience of ego dissolution — the idea that you lose your sense of yourself as an individuated person and become merged with something larger. People do have the sense of merging into the universe, or with divinity, or with other people — and that’s an ecstatic experience. It’s so rare. We’re so isolated in these skins of ours. And to let that go & become part of something larger is — I mean, that’s the essence of the mystical experience that William James talks about. ... it just felt so right and so beautiful." Michael Pollan: https://onbeing.org/programs/michael-pollan-and-katherine-may-the-future-of-hope-4/

     But our usual mindset CANNOT conceive of anything beyond self-preservation, which of course includes remaining comfortable & maintaining the status quo, even when the status quo is miserable & unsustainable! Those with unresolved, untreated major trauma are not usually ready to dissolve their ego - although awakening experiences, as mentioned previously (http://www.johnlovas.com/2021/03/fascinating-overlap.html) can also be induced by entheogens under well-controlled medical supervision - the fastest, most radical pathway to awakening. When in doubt, it's best to consult a mental health professional who is also knowledgeable about advanced meditation practices.

     “Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.” Confucius

“It’s better to feel pain,
than never feel at all.
The opposite of love’s
indifference.”
Lumineers

     “... accept that pain & grief are emotions that are as important as joy & love." Sabine Mehne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-IBPltVcL0 

     By now, most people will have shut down, yelled 'crazy' & run away! Their ego is cradled in the illusion of control - even if their idea of control is resolute hopelessness!
     To grow up, we MUST release, drop, let go of ALL our stories of who / what we imagine ourselves to be - they're WRONG & WAY, WAY TOO SMALL, LIMITED. Skillful meditation practice allows us to get beyond (transcend) our 'small self' - when we're ready.

     Be brave enough to GO DEEP into physical / emotional / spiritual pain, no matter how severe it may be, and savor it like you would a glass of mind-blowingly complex wine, really open your entire self up to it completely, with no judgment of any kind, drop all that you ever thought you were, NOW BE EVERYTHING - THE OCEAN WELCOMING BACK this TINY RAIN DROP of PAIN with UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
     WHEN once again, ALL YOU FEEL is EVERYTHING - WHOLENESS, PEACE, SILENCE, STILLNESS, TIMELESSNESS, NEVER FORGET THAT THERE NEVER really WAS, NEVER IS, and NEVER WILL BE ANYTHING other than THIS EVERYTHING.
     Though in ordinary life, you may often feel like nothing special, YOU ARE EVERYTHING whenever you remember to LOVE & NURTURE UNCONDITIONALLY.

“Love says 'I am everything.'
Wisdom says 'I am nothing.'
Between the two, my life flows.”
Nisargadatta Maharaj

Let Go ... by Mollycules www.BuddhaDoodles.com

 

Being Swept away by Tribal Hatred is Easy - Only Evolved Human Beings can Live Wisely

     "The religion of blood and war is face to face with that of peace.”                Winston S. Churchill


     "It's far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them..."                       Adlai E. Stevenson


     “The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.”         Thucydides
 
 
     “Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world's problems?”               Bill Watterson


     “Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.”                          Herbert Hoover


     “Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.”         Mahatma Gandhi


     "That man is best who sees the truth himself. Good too is he who listens to wise counsel. But who is neither wise himself nor willing to ponder wisdom is not worth a straw."         Hesiod 
 

                                 “War is over ... IF you want it.”                 John Lennon


        Our Choice: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/08/381-each-moment-new-beginning.html

Old Stories - OR - Directly Experiencing Reality

    I resonate with the nondual teachings of people like Lisa Cairns, Helen Hamilton, Gangaji, Angelo DiLullo, Henry Shukman, Louise Kay, Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, Richard Rohr, James Finley, Rami Shapiro, David Steindl-Rast, Norman Fischer, Rumi, Rainer Maria Rilke, etc.

    "I believe that, whatever we’re going to call it – God, Kali or whatever – is a nondual Reality. I don’t believe that there’s a God separate from Nature, who created the world, who judges us, and all that. I’m not a dualist. I’m a nondualist. And so I’m interested in the nondual aspects of Hinduism and Vedanta, in Taoism and Zen, Christianity, Islam, wherever – they all have this nondual perspective among their mystics. I’m interested in that. I will play in all those arenas, because I think they’re all leading us to the same ineffable experience. When you’re talking about that nondual reality, the labels are irrelevant. And I mean, every religious tradition has this mystic element. And because the mystics understand that - God or whatever they’re going to call it - can be experienced directly, in, with, & as you. And I’m interested in that experience. But that’s not what the conventional religious teachers tell you."
    Rami Shapiro "CHALLENGING BELIEFS: Are You a VICTIM of Spiritual Misguidance?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rZLlvXFQ7k 

 
    "The final stage of love is nondual love, or love before division, or love before separation. Love where there is no person or thing to love. There is just love recognizing itself. So, when love looks at something, that love sees itself in a different disguise. It doesn’t see a person or a thing, only recognizes itself."
    Helen Hamilton – “The Pathway of Love” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWkkmLx1G6Y 

    “Vigilance is awareness of what does not disappear even when objects appear. Whether those objects are exquisite or horrible or mundane, always there is awareness aware of itself. Whether those objects are emotional or mental or physical, always there is awareness aware of itself.  
    Pure vigilance must be an ease of recognition; otherwise, there is doing vigilance, and this is already not vigilant. When you hear this thought, Now I am going to do vigilance, ask yourself, ‘Who’ is doing vigilance? This is direct self-inquiry. You will see that it is quite natural to be aware of passing objects as well as aware of what is aware of both passing objects and itself. 
     It is a mistaken understanding that implies vigilance to be a burden. The real burden is the denial of your beingness as awareness itself. The idea that vigilance is a burden comes from the concept of spiritual practice. You are admonished to practice. ‘You have to keep your practice.’ 
    I don’t know what the word practice is translated from, but it is a bad translation, because in English practice means some kind of preparation for a real event. You practice for the football game. You practice for your recital. So I don’t use the word practice in terms of vigilance. I am talking about being vigilance. Be that right now. You are that already. Recognize yourself as that, and be vigilant to your true nature. Then see. Without looking for anything, see. 
    In Western culture, particularly in America, we are trained to know what is going to be ahead and to attempt to make it be what we want it to be. This is why there is so much suffering here, trying to force life to be something based on a particular concept. Then we search for agreement with that concept and fight any disagreement of that concept. Even if we are victorious in our fight, we are left unsatisfied, unfulfilled. 
    Wait and see doesn’t necessarily mean you sit on your couch and never move. It also doesn’t necessarily mean that you get off your couch and move. It is much deeper than that. An active life can be lived as vigilance, and an inactive life can be lived as vigilance. 
    There will be many insights. There will be many revelations and deepening experiences. In the midst of it all, be vigilant to what has not moved, what has always been whole, what has always been radiant & unpolluted. There will be even deeper insights. Enjoy them as they come, wave them good-bye as they pass, and be vigilant to what has not moved, what has not been lost by the experience of loss, and what has not been augmented by the experience of gain. 
    Be vigilance. The deepest joy of the human experience is to be vigilant. It is not a task. It is bliss itself. A bliss that is awake & vigilant to what never moves, to what is always present. Be that. Then you will see that this entity called your lifetime unfolds exquisitely, as a flower unfolds. As it begins to die, it will die exquisitely, as a flower dies. You don’t need to dip it in wax so that it will stay forever at a certain stage. Death is not the enemy. Fear of death is the enemy. Fear of death is the result of the misidentification of yourself as some particular entity. Your true identification is the sky of being.”
    Gangaji. “Freedom and Resolve. Finding Your True Home in the Universe.” Hampton Roads, 2014. VALUABLE little book!

 

    May this guided nondual (30 minute) meditation help you feel into, remember & re-experience deep calm, homecoming & peace - that you (& everyone & everything) already are, have always been, & will always be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkhrKy4FStE

 

    “Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. 
     ... live in the question.” Rainer Maria Rilke

 

 

The Felt Sense of Authenticity

     For many of us, it's obvious that addicts to heroin, alcohol, gambling etc are "looking for love in all the wrong places." These people bet everything that the next hit will make them happy, while we who are not addicted (to these substances) are clearly aware that each hit for an addict is just another step closer to 'rock bottom.'
      After meditating for a while, we may notice something truly surprising. During meditation, after the mind has settled down, and our center of gravity has descended from the storm-clouds of our mind, to our heart and or abdomen (hara), we might experience a subtle sense of kind presence, ease, stillness, warmth, silence & peace. Gradually we might learn that we're able to just rest in this wholesome, natural state of being - feeling, experiencing, BEING rightness, authenticity, kindness & joy. We realize that we actually deserve to rest & directly experience: "Nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to be."
     Then suddenly, we're lost again thinking about our old 'story of me,' concerns, anxieties, etc. Now we experience a tone of 'something's off' - unpleasantly familiar yet not really who / what I really am, stress.
     So in daily life we can be 'clean & sober' OR 'addicted.' During meditation we can be kindly aware - as if we were a loving wise grandmother caring for her only beloved 4-year-old grandchild - OR - regretting the past, fretting about the future, & in the process, forgetting or unable to lovingly care for our own life & that of others.
     We can't 'fight, flight, freeze' at the same time as 'tend & befriend' - the two ways of being are mutually exclusive. The former often feels like a life-or-death emergency, shutting / shouting down our much quieter, gentler 'affiliative sensibility.' Sadly, many of us are predominantly in 'fight, flight, freeze.' This is not by choice; is not helpful; & is definitely not sustainable. This emotional pandemic has been around for decades before the current viral pandemic.
     Meditation has a great deal to teach us about how it feels to be authentic vs how it feels when we're being driven by ancient survival instincts & conditioning that no longer benefit us; and how we can learn to gradually live more & more realistically, authentically, freely & with greater joy. 
     Susan Morgan gave a wonderful talk & guided meditation on this subject on May 29, 2020. This one (& more) can be found here: https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/daily-sit/ OR here: https://www.billandsusan.org/copy-of-daily-sit-april-2020

     Humanity as a whole is gradually waking up, evolving. “What we really want … is for humanity to hold nature sacred again. What we want is to move from a society of domination to one of participation, from conquest to co-creation, from extraction to regeneration, from harm to healing, and from separation to love. And we want to enact this transition in all our relations: ecological, economic, political, and personal. That is why we can say, ‘The revolution is love.’” Charles Eisenstein “Extinction and the Revolution of Love.” January 2020 https://charleseisenstein.org/essays/extinction-and-the-revolution-of-love/

New Year's Challange

    Regarding the previous (Dec 20, 2022 "What Are We to Do?") blog, one serious meditator wrote that he found it "challenging" when he was aware of both small self and Self, and had to remind himself of equanimity, to help accept the need for both.
    Another serious meditator, wrote that she's aware of (negative, fear-motivated) self-talk, and how it's destructive to that ‘silent, still, peaceful Self,’ She can, at times, stay in touch with that still Self. And then fear rises up and is so loud it causes a rushing sound in her head.
    Both of these are very insightful - the fruit of growing levels of mindfulness.

    It's fascinating how fear activates, tries to bring us back into, & keep us in FEAR-based, narrowly self-focused, left-hemisphere-dominant, self-preservation doing mode ('self'), whenever we shift into our true, authentic, LOVE-based, 'Self': spacious, broadly-connected, right-hemisphere-dominant being mode. 

    "... the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933 inaugural address

    We habitually get anxious about the anxiety we experience, depressed about depression, AND afraid of fear! We tend to have an automatic fight, flight or freeze reaction to fear itself. This creates a LOT of unnecessary ('discretionary') suffering.
    But mindfulness teaches us to intentionally shift from "fight, flight, freeze" to "tend & befriend" ie to be curious, accept, work skillfully, and thus eventually become intimate with EVERYTHING we experience, which naturally includes "difficult emotions."
    This is a shift in identity from completely identifying with our mistaken identity of being ONLY a "hurt child" to our true identity of being a "wise elder" who is spacious enough to accept & nurture a hurt child "part" (or subpersonality - see: Richard C. Schwartz. "No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model." Sounds True, 2021.)

    "Essential well-being is not found by calming our minds or by changing our thoughts or attitudes, but actually by shifting out of our chattering minds and into a freedom that is already available." Loch Kelly

    “Here are the best two things I’ve learned about fear – and this is really going to scramble your brain:
    If you try to conquer & overcome fear, that effort will either run, or ultimately ruin your life.
    But if you embrace fear, that effort will turn fear into one of the greatest experiences you have here on planet earth."
    Kristen Ulmer, for 12 years the best female big mountain extreme skier in the world; the outdoor industry voted her the most extreme “fearless” woman athlete in North America; mogul specialist on the US Ski Team; US Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame inductee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGSuA80A7YQ

    "To be enlightened is to be intimate with all things." Zen Master Dogen 

      "I was born
       when all I once feared
       I could love.” Rabia Basri 

    "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
    Marie Curie, Nobel Prizes in Physics, & Chemistry

     “Sometimes we need a gentle shift to continue our journey in the right direction that supports our growth. Ending the un-winnable war with fear and making friends with it instead, is one of those shifts.”
    Kristen Ulmer. “The Art of Fear: Why Conquering Fear Won’t Work and What to Do Instead.” Harper Wave, 2018.

   "... relax, allow life to be as it is, & open your heart to yourself. It’s easier than you might think, and it could change your life.”
    Kristin Neff. “Self-Compassion. The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself.” HarperCollins, 2011. 

 

Frightened Children and Wise Elders

      All of us have a fearful, hurt inner child part, as well as a wise grandparent or wise elder nature. Our inner child is easily triggered into 'fight, flight or freeze' survivalist reactions. The more our inner child is held in safety & unconditional love & heals - sometimes with the help of mental-health professionals - the more our wise elder self can continuously express itself & be an aware, nurturing, 'tend & befriend' presence. This gradual progressive shift from compulsive self-centeredness (noisy ego) towards appropriate care for self, others & the environment (quiet ego, allocentricity & ecocentricity), is a hallmark of psycho-social healing, normal human maturation, healthy aging, individuation, evolution of consciousness, arising of wisdom, etc. Self-reflection, meditation, contemplation are essential components of this deep human journey.
     Some of us require help from mental-health professionals simply to survive. Many can endure a life of 'ordinary unhappiness,' but with professional help, could actually thrive, flourish! Two powerful therapies well worth careful consideration are Internal Family Systems (IFS) and depth psychology (Jungian analysis). Those who have taken an 8-week Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course will have considerable insight into both of these therapies.

     Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based psychotherapy which helps us 'lean in' & get to know all of our sub-personalities ('parts'), see how these are all actually trying to help us (even parts we initially fear or dislike), and gradually guide all these parts to become peacefully allies. Then the 'Self' (with a capital S, to distinguish it from the common use of the word 'self'), can arise with 8 C qualities (Compassion, Curiosity, Calm, Clarity, Courage, Connectedness, Confidence, Creativity).
     "That ('Self') is what people meditate to get to, that in other traditions would be called Buddha nature, or Atman, or there are analogies in most every spiritual tradition, and I stumbled onto a way to access that 'person' pretty quickly, and not only have it become a kind of observing presence, but to become an active leader.
      IFS does change the way people understand themselves and each other in a very profound way. If everybody knew that there was this undamageable, intact, 8-C Self inside of themselves and everybody else; and that they were connected in the way we were talking about before; and that these protectors aren’t what they seem and they don’t have to fight inside with them (instead, love helps them transform) ... the more you can love your parts that drive you crazy ordinarily, the more you can love people who resemble those parts the same way; then it does change many, many aspects of human interacting, and will have a big impact on the culture." Dick Schwartz PhD, interview: https://resources.soundstrue.com/podcast/no-bad-parts/?utm_source=Customer%20Service&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=N210627-Schwartz%20%28TQHxAh%29&_kx=oubFt43NAjNBb0_NppHaGCF951bovtuCAx1o4i41Tys%3D.JMDgaq
     Richard C. Schwartz. "No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model." Sounds True, 2021.

     Like MBSR & IFS, depth psychology (Jungian analysis) is non-pathologizing ie sees how our mind is actually trying to help us, no matter how confused, inappropriate or even frankly harmful it may appear. Also like MBSR & IFS, Jungian analysis seeks to go much deeper than mere temporary symptom relief, but go to the very root of our suffering, and finally untangle our earliest knots. Again, like MBSR & IFS, Jungian analysis aims to take us well beyond the abandoned fearful child ('noisy ego'), and help stabilize connection with our deepest, wisest nature, which is profoundly connected to all of life.

     “The capacity of the psyche to heal itself, to express both the problem and the agenda for growth in symbolic forms, has been and remains a miraculous engagement to me. We do not invent or create these things; they are working within us to serve and support the work of nature.
     … the psyche always speaks to us. It speaks through the venues of body, of mind, of dreams, of intuitions, and it speaks symbolically. If we knew, as Jung once argued, that there is a two-million-year-old person inside of each of us – a presence bearing the wisdom of nature, the directives of the soul – would it not behoove us to pay attention to that personage, indeed, to cultivate a relationship to it?”
     James Hollis. “Living Between Worlds. Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times.” Sounds True, 2020. An exceptionally fine book (imho) - essential reading for those deeply interested in their patients' & their own OPTIMAL health.

      "The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners." Hafiz