Message in Metaphor
Back in early October I was called to visit Mother Ceiba at the heart of the Solfeggio sanctuary. As I viewed her massive roots spreading out in all directions, crossing over a small ravine and rising up the adjacent hillside, I realized not only is she holding up an entire hillside, the trees around her are helping to support her in this expression. As I took in the whole, a message began to form in metaphor.
The original seed message follows, however I urge you to read the entire blog, for the metaphor has expanded and unfolded over several weeks into something altogether beautiful, humbling, simple and profound.
The original Message in Metaphor was
Stand firmly rooted in the earth
Grow and build a solid foundation
From which to rise up straight, strong and true
Able to harness the energy of sun, moon and stars
Transform it into core strengthen
Ground it deeply into your roots
To nourish others close by
Creating an extended healthy community, impacting a greater environment, while contributing globally and for future generations
As we embrace, contribute and support the community around us, our community in turn supports us
My experience at the Ceiba Tree was profound, as it spoke with deep meaning to the lessons contain in all of Nature. The experience was also informed by my studies of Daoist Philosophy, as well as the insightful books by Stephen Harrod Buhner. His books have shed light on how I processed the world when I was a child and seemed to explain my difficulties with learning to read! His books even changed how I teach Qigong.
So, here we go with the expanded metaphor!
The natural world speaks to us in metaphor, I know this first hand. When we observe with our senses, we experience nature as a whole. We can’t observe everything that’s taking place at one time however we can catch glimpses of just part of it, sense it, and without words receive a full body knowing…
After my Ceiba experience, it occurred to me that metaphors abound in nature, because every tree, every plant, each blade of grass, animals, birds, all living organisms, soil, rocks, water, clouds, sky… all contain a story of their common origin. When we listen deeply, we can hear their stories within us, because their story is our story. The very essence of an infinitely creative, intelligent universe is contained within “EVERYTHING and EVERYONE”.
The intelligence of this design is expressed in all life on Earth. We can learn of Its’ intention by studying Nature and understanding Gaia Theory. Developed by James Lovelock, in essence, the theory states the Earth is a living being, a synergistic self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet. (And bacteria created the system.)
Lynn Margulis, an American biologist whose serial endosymbiotic theory of eukaryotic cell development revolutionized the modern concept of how life arose on Earth stated, "bacteria are not really individuals so much as part of a single global super-organism”. Simply stated, bacteria are “the foundation of all life on this planet”.
Bacteria are our “last, universal, common ancestor”. The first life on Earth were single cell bacteria, and they chose to gather together into communities and in doing so created the first self-organizing system. This self-organizing system of bacteria created the first neural network and as a result… And this is Huge….
Bacteria made consciousness possible on our planet!
Every life form since has been built upon a metapattern of the first self-organized bacterial neural networks, growing and building in complexity from the original blueprint. And, every life form, every cell of every bacteria, fungi, virus, plant, animal, and late-comer humankind
are conscious... OK, did you get that?
Every life form is intelligent and conscious by design!
When I reread what certain scientists have uncovered in their studies of bacteria … I see the design that was reflected in the landscape of the Ceiba Tree. I see an elegant, universal design…
The common description that emerges from all their independent scientific conclusions in their own areas of study is as dumb-founding, as it is humbling… Bacteria are…
intelligent, self-aware (know self from nonself) are sentient beings with free will, don’t compete, choose to be cooperative, even altruistic, have highly developed social capacity, work together to solve problems, have memory, learn and pass-on information, recognize kin, care for their offspring, have sophisticated language, talk between species, make tools, compute and analyze, innovate, adapt, build cities, and work together to bioengineer their environment for survival!
The Metaphor for how to live life in alignment with intelligent design is reflected in Nature! Is it not?
Every cell is autonomous. All life forms are self-organizing, have neural networks, consciousness, free will, choice, and have the capacities for sophisticated adaptation, choose to work cooperatively, maintaining a healthy balance within the whole system each is embedded in, creating "homeodynamis".
The inherent characteristics and directives of this intelligent design are woven into the DNA of every cell of all life, uniting all parts into a greater collective, none lesser nor greater, just more complex.
I see this design as part of a multi-dimensional web of universal consciousness we, as humans in this lifetime, are just now waking up into. Before we arrived just a few million years ago, bacteria had been working the design for more than 3.5 billion years! (the date of oldest fossil of bio-mat so far)
For me, Gaia Theory is nothing short of a reflection of a loving creator, pointing to an intelligent conscious design at our core, and this is a blueprint to aspire to. Is it not?
We are of this world, which is an expression of divine intelligence. At our core, we are hold divine intelligence. When we create dynamic balance within (homeostasis), we become a higher expression of who we are internally and externally. When (and if ever) we as a species lives in dynamic balance with the greater whole of all life, as a species we become the highest expression of who we are, not the highest expression of all life. One with everything is the highest expression of who we are (in my humble opinion).
When we fully open to Source within, we experience our true Nature…. This happens in glimpses, however the question remains… What do we do once we know?
For me and others the answer is this… We live as if we are One with everything. It becomes our responsibility to everyone and all life on Earth to live in balance, harmony and in service to a greater good. This is what Nature and Gaia shows us!
It becomes our responsibility to be our highest expression of intelligent design, our responsibility to create Heaven on Earth.
This is why we need practices to shift us out of linear thinking and open to another way of perceiving ourselves in the world. For me, having practices that help us to create a sensory experience of calm, also helps us to create stillness and space within… so we may see…
We have a choice and free will, we can adapt, innovate, self-organize, align with others and cooperate for the greater good of all life! To me, this is the truest expression of a divine, creative, intelligence at the core of all life, and at the core of who we are in this lifetime on planet Earth. Look to Nature for inspiration and she will deliver.
