A Holy Communion
Have you every considered why we experience life so differently?
Some 'thing' exists for us when we draw a line around it in our mind. By carving out a boundary everything on the inside becomes 'that' and everything on the outside 'not that'.
But these distinctions are not made at random. There can be no distinction without motive, and there can be no motive unless contents are seen to differ in value. For example, when we look at something as a problem we draw a distinction around something of a lesser value to us. Similarly, when we set a goal we cleave a space in mind that we believe has greater value.
Sensation: You notice a colourful blob. Perception: You recognise a car. Cognition: It is your car. Judgement: It is your car and some bastard is driving away with it.
Our intentions determine our experiences because our intentions determine what distinctions we make. So... what we think we see is reality, but what we really see is what we want to see. Perception is projection, not fact.
And so, living in these our 'private worlds', communication has come to be a mediation between the different meanings that we've attached to things.
But there is another way of communicating that I touched on in the last post. It is possible to speak from an on open, choiceless space, and allow truth to inform our words. And when we do, the words we speak draw us away from the complex world of perceptions into the realm of Reality itself.
Communication takes place in the world of form -- between physically 'detached entities', differentiated as we first described. And so, in some way or another, all forms of communication can be sensed and explained on the physical level. For example, a sound or wireless wave can be detected by a receptor and then decoded into a form that is recognisably.
But the thing is, without at least some level of communion between those that are communicating, there can be no real communication at all... because what reaches the other end doesn't get understood. You can see this in a gang of youths -- one syllable can express what it would take a whole book for an outsider to comprehend. The same in a tight knit workgroup too.
Communication is secondary to communion. In fact, there appears to be a fundamental law at work here: The greater the communion between us, the less the need for physical communication and the more that gets communicated.
Conversation begins before it starts, continues after it ends and doesn't always involve words.”... Christie Diamond [via Chris Corrigan ]
Communion takes place in this Presence of awareness in which all form appears, and is time and space agnostic. Have you noticed how it's possible to have as close a rapport with a writer or commenter of a blog post written in a different time-space than the guy sat next to us on the bus?
And this isn't just a human phenomena. As a kid, it fascinated me how a flock of birds could fly every year in perfect formation, over thousand of miles, to some unseen destination with no apparent means of communicating. I felt the same way again when I learnt to dive, and witnessed a shoal of hundreds of fish change direction in the same instant and in perfect unison.
The natural world doesn't so much communicate as commune.
Those of us with pets have surely noticed this. A ‘meouw’ could mean a thousand things but when my cat 'meouws' I know exactly what it means. If I can't be bothered to get up and give it the fish or open the door or pet it.... by pretending I don't know what this ‘meouw’ means, then it knows I'm being awkward and makes damn well sure that I know that it knows too. ;)
As far as I can tell, we all have this ability to commune in equal measure. It seems stunted only by our need to exercise some measure of control. From Wikipedia: “Control is the attempt to impose excessive predictability and direction on others and events, often associated with lack of trust and insecurity.” Sounds true enough, but lack of trust and insecurity are symptoms, not primary causes. Fear is at the root of it.
But as we discussed earlier, what we fear is not reality but the reflection of our own imaginings... and so there's a way to undo that.
The more open we are, the more we understand.
The more we understand, the less we fear.
The less we fear, the more we are aware of our shared Presence
… because fear, in all it's many forms, is just the veil within our mind that blocks this awareness.
In 'How to Save the World' we looked at how fear is never justified because we always have the ability, in any situation, to choose to look beyond perception to see what's real -- to choose Peace instead. But this cannot be known on our own, because the idea of 'alone' is the very denial of Peace.
As described at the start of this post, the distinction I make called 'me' only appears real to the extent that I separate it from everything on the 'outside' of it's imagined boundary. Our Self doesn't stop at the bodies limits and does not have the body’s limitations. Our/Life's/Love's purpose is to know this -- to heal our unfounded sense of separation and resulting fear.
To commune with anyone is to let this idea of separateness go and prove, beyond any of shadow of doubt, that what is real is forever untouched by any of our dark imaginings.
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Related article: Blogging's Hidden Jewel
Credits: The still life painting is called 'Eucharist' by Chris Peters.
