Whenever there is a discussion of the expansion of human consciousness some people’s eyes glaze over and other people perk up with excitement. I’m not sure why we have such differing reactions to the subject. I’ve always been curious about what’s beyond what’s known.
Maybe that’s why the space program has held such a fascination for me. What’s out there? What happens when we step off the planet? I remember watching the early satellites pass overhead, Echo and Sputnik. I remember exactly what I was doing when Alan Shepard took his first space flight. These things pulled us out of our ‘normal’ reality into the realm of huge possibilities. Years later I watched with bated breath as the first man stepped onto the surface of the Moon. I’m still excited by the memory of that moment.
How often do we get to witness something that takes us far beyond our daily existence? What are the possibilities that we miss because we have narrowed down our view of Life?
When we limit ourselves to what is known, to what is commonly believed, to what someone else tells us to believe, we narrow the field of possibilities to a very small field. As long as we stay open and curious, the field of all possibilities stays vast. What if our beliefs were narrowly based on someone else’s narrow beliefs? How do we stretch our field of view?
The first thing we must do is stretch out of our comfort zone and into the space where all things are possible. It is a conscious choice we make in every moment to cling to old beliefs. Yes, it is conscious, because we are always at a point where we can choose to believe something different from our current beliefs. New information, new feedback from an experience, someone else’s experience shared with us, and dozens of other ways can open us to a shift in perspective. But we must be willing to look through different eyes.
The next thing to do is to open our minds to accept that change is a constant in our lives and that change can bring with it fresh new concepts to ponder. The more we try to hold onto old ways the more our lives stagnate and become less and less about growth and expansion and more and more about holding onto something that is going to change anyway. The energy that it takes to cling to outmoded ideas drains our creativity from us and leaves us far behind where exploration and curiosity can take us. This does not serve the expansion of human consciousness.
So each individual has a responsibility to all of humankind to explore ideas with a willingness to accept that their thinking might need to shift after that exploration. Think of yourself as an explorer of worlds beyond the imagination of the explorers of days gone by. Columbus, De Gama, Vespucci were exploring the physical world of Planet Earth beyond what was known in their day. We, in the 21st Century, have the opportunity to explore the world of ideas, of inner spaces, and of Outer Space.
How exciting it all is!
BOOK LIGHTS: From “The Journey” by Brandon Bays
March 3, 2010 — RosemaryHere’s a long quote that describes well something hard to put into words:
“I felt as if my own awareness filled not only the room but extended boundlessly beyond, encompassing everything and in everything. My mind became utterly still, completely thought-free, and it seemed as if we were all bathing, soaking in this presence of love. We were steeping in Source.
“After a few minutes we opened our eyes, and as I got ready to speak, it occurred to me that this stillness is contagious. If there is just one person hanging out in thought-free awareness, everyone ‘catches’ it. I have since read a beautiful quotation by W.B. Yeats which expresses this perfectly:
“We can make our mind so like still water that beings gather about us to see their own images, and so for a moment live a clearer, perhaps even fiercer, life because of our quiet.”
Brandon Bays