Voice to Intuition and Courage to Conscience
The writing is also posted in the book, Intentional Grandmothering, with the title, “The Children’s Reality.“
This writing is emerging from conversations and understandings that are coalescing around the children of the world… a coalescing no doubt led by the mother’s command,
Work for all children in the world,
and influenced by the forward path work of creating the active presence of a ‘work for all children in the world’ culture. All of which contribute to the seeing and understanding of the children’s reality… the reality with regard to the current world of our making; and the reality with regard to our potential, our human potential… the potential within, the potential for us as a community to become fully and truly human… a realizing of potential that requires our making life real, and demands the transcending of the inherent limitations and the artificial pursuits of the reasoning mind of existence.
As we read, reflect upon and dialogue what is written, it is important and quite helpful to hold several things in mind, beginning with the common law, an intentional truth, of earthly life:
The perspective we hold, where we start our thinking from,
determines the path we take, the direction we move in,
what we move towards, what we move away from.
Another intentional truth is:
If love is not present in the process,
love will not be present in the outcomes.
Love – that which we are not the source of, but rather intended instruments for its entry into the working of the world – is what will make possible the inner shift – the step change – from our current ways to that which works for all children… the inner advancement of our humanness that moves us in the direction of bringing the world of our making into congruence with the world of intent.
Whereas, from the mind of existence, we see real shifts – true step change – in terms of external manifestations, external structuring brought about through evolutionary processes; when it comes to the advancing of our humanness – step change along the path of our becoming fully and truly human – we look to inner unfolding, an inner unfolding led by increasingly whole perspectives… the taking on, absorbing, living from perspectives that encapsulate larger and larger wholes. The progression of ourselves, the intentional advancing of our humanness, is grounded in oneness and wholeness: oneness with the Source; wholeness within self, within community, within humanity, within the whole of life… each of the previous progressions in wholeness seemingly requiring the next unfolding to be itself fully developed, to be fully realized.
Common within the Christian community is the notion that a central message of Christ was that God cared about the whole of humanity, not just a select few… a notion reflecting the inclusive love that Christ brought into the world. Now we can see the necessity for a life of the whole perspective to fully realize wholeness within humanity… life, our livingness, being the shared characteristic, an intentional commonality, present within all of humanity. We, each and all, come from a common Source, the Source of life, from the Life.
This progressional advancing of our humanness has some similarity to the developmental processes of an individual (e.g., self, family, community, etc.). However, at this time, community is the smallest whole. It is wholeness – within humanity, within the people of earth; it is all the children, not the segmented few – that sets the course, the direction we need to move in… direction and work that require the accessing and development of the mind of essence… the mind that looks to the intuition of wholeness for seeing and understanding the wisdom of intent and intended ways of working.
An authentic path forward requires clear understanding of the current – current ground, current ways, what is at work, etc. – sufficient clarity to keep us from pursuits and a path that seem different, that evoke within, a sense of hope; but in reality are just different expressions of what is, what was; not manifestations of what needs to be created.
And so, with the critical eye of conscience, we can engage in a reflective seeing of current reality… current reality for the children and for life, the life of the whole within which they are intentionally and inseparably woven. Let us then reflect upon the world of our making, the world within which the children live… our increasingly artificial world, a world disconnected from Life – the Source of life – and isolating itself from the Spirit, the Spirit that enters through life… a world that more and more reflects the people’s loss of faith in life… in the Life. A world that would evoke from Mother Teresa, the comment that the spiritual poverty in the Western World is greater than any poverty she experienced in India.1 A world where manipulative knowledge is favored over understanding of and congruence with intended ways of working… a world where we pursue not so much congruence with intent and intended ways, but rather that which we wish, that which is a demonstration of our capacity to subdue, to have power over, to bring about and shape the world and our ways of living congruent with our image… a world where manipulative knowledge, cleverness, smartness, legalness, are given status – status through successful ends, status over ethics, ethical ways, status over wholistic ways, over ways that work for all children. A world of diminishing vitality and viability for the whole of life… a world organized around the energies and materials of existence… a world engaged in a downward cascading process of coarser and coarser energies… pursuing products and processes that lead us in the direction of increased mechanicalness – less conscious, more reactive… products and processes that are bringing into being a generation that lacks the capacity to be present in the moment – an emerging age of haste, continual busyness and unguided reason… an age driven by human possibilities – pursuits and demonstrations of the possible – pursuing the possible, with little regard for human potential, for advancing our humanness (not to be confused with increased power and control)… little regard for becoming fully and truly human, an intended becoming often obscured by the partial perspectives of returning and salvation. A people bolstered by notions of salvation, of being saved, of being rescued, swept away from the trials and tribulations of life – of existence based life. A people free from obligations, intentional ethics with regard to the ongoingness of life… a people more caught up with gaining eternal life than taking up the intended work of eternalizing life on and through this earth. A people following a path of extraction, extracting, self-serving pursuits which are themselves embolded by an underlying philosophy of “I am saved; He is coming; what happens to life on earth is irrelevant.” Concerns over hazardous consequences to essential life processes of earth are believed unwarranted and burdensome to our ongoing success, our personal pursuit and achievement of happiness… happiness being viewed as a high – if not the highest – moral imperative of our pursuits on this earth… earth – after all – was created for man; not man created for earth, nor earth created for life to have a place to enter into the working of the creation; no, earth – life on earth – was created for man to manipulate, to shape, to form, to subdue in congruence with his wishes, his desire, his pleasure. A philosophy and orientation that leads the thinking of a people and culture, a philosophy that is more focused on extracting than adding value… on the pursuing of impressions of goodness, of being good versus pursuing the right and good – right for the whole of humanity, good for the whole of life. This is the world of our making… a world not moving in the direction of increasing congruence with the world of intent, the intent of the Source; but rather a world that emerges from and operates within an illusion of our being the source. This, the world of our making, is the current reality… the reality of the children… the world within which they live.
Wow, certainly not a very comforting picture, some disturbing images, yet very real images. But then comfort is not what conscience is about – the seeking of that. Rather conscience is the seeking of critical clarity… critical clarity being not so much judgmental, but more seeing critically, bringing forth unvarnished realness regarding current reality, current path… the path we are on, the path we have been on. Yes, undoubtedly, there are manifestations of efforts aimed at congruency with intent, with the reality of our being “living” creatures, creatures who exist within life, not outside of life, not separate from the whole of life. These happenings will come to the fore, as we begin to see and understand our forward path. The purpose of this conscience-led reflection was and is to gain confronting clarity and certainty with regard to what is, with regard to where we are at.
Continuing on with our aim to share images and understanding, not for the purpose of creating a winning argument, but rather for the purpose of enabling dialogue and processes of deepening understanding… deepening understanding of what is at work here, in particular, what is behind, what is the source of what is at work here. The energizing, organizing source of the world of our making, that which is leading the way along our current path, is the mind of existence… the mind that organizes itself around the external – that which is before us, the sensory accessible, the provable, factual – the physical, the material and energy aspects of existence, the stuff of our life… that which ultimately creates within our society an existence based material oriented culture – a culture of things, stuff, possessions and status with regard to such.
The mind of existence needs structure to have meaning. Whereas the intuitive mind of essence looks to wholeness and process; the mind of existence looks to structure to have meaning – structure in terms of things, structure in terms of hierarchy, etc. We can see this at work in the early days – the first couple hundred years or so – of Christianity. That which started out as process – in many ways a “kitchen table process,” highly influenced and often led by the women – shifted in the direction of structure, a shift coincidental with the entry of the elite – the people of means and power – into the process. What emerged was a hierarchical structuring, the establishing of power and control… a structural emerging that was further enhanced by the problem seeking, problem solving patterns of reason. The mind of existence naturally looks to reason to carry out its pursuits… reason with its segmenting, fractionating processes… reason which looks not so much to generate wholeness, but rather to segment, separate the whole into parts, often seeking, through segmentation, the accessing and gaining of power and control over… the pursuit of being in power, of having power and having control, power and control over others, over one’s life, one’s destiny.
Continuing with the path of Christianity, we can see this segmenting pattern at work. Present at the time, through existence based Greek philosophy, was the notion of divided self, the divided self of man… a notion embraced by Augustine and many others. Most simply the divided self of man was separated into two parts, the higher self and the lower self… the higher self being the rational self, the controllable self… the higher self being the domain of the soul… the lower self being the domain of the life energies, sex, other “animal” energies, etc. – the irrational, the uncontrollable. The higher self was attributed to the male; the lower self to the female. And it was commonly thought that it was the duty of the higher self to be in control over the lower self. Patterns of being in control became embedded in the ways of Christianity. The rational man, of necessity was to have authority over the irrational.
The rational man – the reasoning mind of existence, the pursuit of the winning argument, the pursuit of the convincing, undeniable proof – not only became woven within Christianity, but embedded within the emerging Western culture as well.
Looking further at the natural way of working of the reasoning mind of existence, we see not only the more familiar patterns of analysis, segmentation and fractionation – the breaking of things into smaller and smaller parts, seeking more and more knowledge of more and more segments – but also the virtue of focus – the capacity to focus on task, to pursue goals and objectives, often relentlessly. Thus that which thrives on division can readily become single minded, even in ways that can become unreasonable, irrational in themselves… and clearly through reflection, unwise. Not uncommonly, we can see in this process the shedding of significant aspects of that which we are pursuing, significant aspects like purpose, intent, wholeness, integrity, ethics, for example; and more and more commonly the reduction of conscience to that which is legal… to conformance to legality, legality being the highest recognized necessity – that which we must follow.
Exploring this shedding process is enhanced through re-connecting to the intentional working of earthly life: The perspective we hold, where we start our thinking from, determines the path we take, the direction we move in, what we move towards, what we move away from. And remembering that the reasoning mind of existence provides the ordering and organizing process for the commonly held segmented, human centered perspective… segmented, often hierarchically (me and mine versus all), with regards to the children for example. Continuing then… common start points for our thinking are economics, legality and rights, often used together in various combinations and sequences. We can look at a not uncommon pattern throughout much of business today (business being the name we give to how we as human beings organize to generate and realize value. If we were bees, we would probably look to the way of the hive – the beingness of it, its organizing processes), the pattern of starting our thinking from economics – often more specifically financial extraction… which quickly becomes the focus of our reasoning power and which allows and enables the shedding process – the losing sight of purpose, intent, integrity with regard to employees, community, life, etc. – and the pursuit, through cleverness, smartness, etc., of “legal” means to leverage the gains of a few… with legality itself looked at from multiple viewpoints – as a necessary restraint, a burdensome boundary, a favorable rule, often “rules of the game.” We can see similar patterns today… economically led patterns in the fields of education, medicine, religion, governance, sports, etc. One of the realities of our ways of working is that we cannot get to value, much less virtue, by starting with economics; rather getting to value calls for organizing around virtue/value and generating reciprocally nourishing economics2 around that… reciprocal nourishment being the essence process – the intended way of working of life – an essential process readily visible as we see and reflect upon such things as pollination, soil making, etc.
And so, whereas the economic led thinking patterns of today are, shall we say “intuitively obvious,” they are not necessarily restricted to the present. We can see the influence of economic start points, pursuits of power and control, active in the arguments and debates that took place in the Spanish courts following Columbus’ discovery of America. The debate was centered around whether or not the indigenous people – the people living here when we arrived – had a soul… an important truth, given that our obligations to beings that possessed a soul were much greater and very different from those without souls. And therefore, in terms of economics and power over, our utilization of and dealing with such people would be greatly influenced. Apparently, for a decade or so, it was successfully argued that the “live here’s” did indeed have a soul; however, further argument – “higher order proof” – prevailed in terms of, “No, no soul present.”
Perhaps a bit of a pause would be useful here. Remembering our conversations have the aim of clear seeing with regard to the world of our making, to the path we have been on, and what is at work in that regard, we have looked to the working of conscience to gain critical clarity… and are aware of the naturalness of this seeing arousing within, some judgmentalness as well as a bit of negative energy. Important for us is to not act on or act from this, but rather acknowledge it in an observing, nonattached sort of way… a way that allows us to continue to develop clarity, and not be sidetracked – tempting as it may be. A friend of mine once counseled, “See it as part of the process”… useful advice to our staying with our intent.
Continuing on with our conversations, we find ourselves imaging the emergence of the age of enlightenment – the period which the rational man, through science, burst forth on the scene… burst forth with a new vision for the world… a vision we could bring about, a shaping and forming of earth and life on earth through our images of what could be… transcending human limitations, bending the material and energy aspects of earthly existence to create for ourselves the previously unattainable. It is natural for us to want to move up platforms of existence… and now with this new pathway of human possibility, of the humanly possible, we could see more carefree, less difficult, less troublesome ways of living and doing. Useful here is to hold in mind that the human potential – our potential to become fully and truly human, a path of advancing humanness – and human possibilities are not automatically one and the same, nor even automatically complementary… a reality that brings forth the emerging question of our pursuits along the path of human possibility, a questioning regarding their effect on humanness, essential humanness: are they advancing or diminishing humanness?
The patterns of the reasoning mind of existence became, at this time of enlightenment, much more vivid, organized, enlivened, more forceful… and thus more influential. The patterns of debate and argument, of proof and facts, of segmentation and fractionation, of structure, linearity and step-by-step methodology were and ongoingly are integrated into our ways of living and doing… giving strength and life to the existence-based, the material nature of the culture of today.
Reflecting on the natural tendencies of power and control – not just power and control over the “human weaknesses” within self, but beyond self as well – we see an inherent hazard within the pursuits and achievement of power and control is the experiential illusion of our being the source… a process of disconnecting ourselves from the Source, the Source of life, the Source of all… and from the truth of our instrumentality: one Source, all else instruments.
In one sort of way, we can see this at work when the enlightenment began to flourish, especially as science and technology extended – took us beyond the limitations of – human sensory power (telescopic seeing, observing the heavens, the movements of the heavenly bodies, for example). Now a factual, provable knowledge was obtainable… a human possibility that brought with it source based competition, debate and argument; in an ironic sort of way, the reasoning mind of existence was arguing within itself. The classic example of course being Copernicus’ telescope and the revelation that the earth orbited the sun, not the previously held – by religious authority – truth that the sun orbited the earth. At essence, what was at work here was reasoned interpretation of structure – the very thing the existential mind requires to have meaning. On the one hand we had reasoned interpretation of the structure, the structure we call “the word,” and the particular organized collective of that – the Bible. On the other hand we had reasoned interpretation of the works, the structures of creation. Thus began the ongoing “arm wrestling” with regard to being the authoritative source – the ‘previously authorized’ interpreters wrestling with the new commanders of facts and proof: who sets the direction, the course of humanity; who determines what is real, what is myth, what is fact – what is factual, provable.
Furthering our conversation with this example, we can see present today an ongoing manifestation of conflict and debate within the reasoning mind of existence… within the competition for gaining and sustaining literal/factual dominance – power over. Present within Christianity and within science is a conflict between the literal word and factual evolution. Many within Christianity, within salvation theology, hold the creation story – Adam and Eve, our fall from grace, our need to be saved, etc. – as the central core, the critical ground, the fundamental basis for Christianity – for Christ coming to earth, for Christian religion. Within science, the theory of evolution – the structural relatedness, progression, evolving of the species, the environmental influences upon this progression, and the millions of years through which this has occurred – is central to, the critical ground, the fundamental basis for science. In both cases it is held that the diminishment, the discounting, the discrediting of what is central would eliminate the ground upon which they stand… disenabling their ability to function, to carry out their work.
These arguments – their presence and ongoingness – are a central aspect of the children’s reality – the reality of now. Momentary contemplation brings to mind some thoughts in this regard. There is hazard here in religion becoming a myth… a factually unsubstantiate-able myth; with the reasoned interpretations of theology becoming less relevant to what is present before us, essential truths and teachings may be obscured in the dust of argument. And there is hazard in the science led path of human possibility increasingly disconnecting us from the Source, taking us off the advancing humanness path of our potential – the path of intent – and leading in directions that diminish humanness, increase mechanicalness… creating structures that turn us away from spirit and towards addictive energies of existence, and ultimately to an externally driven, existence based culture.
Whereas it is conscience that we look to, to gain clarity of current path; it is intuition we look to for guidance with regard to our forward path. It is useful to look at intuition, what it was experiencing along the path the reasoning mind of existence was bringing forth. We know from our experience that intuition – the processes and processing of intuition – is commonly, if not always, a source of frustration for reason – the linear sequential processes of reason. The rapid imagery and clear conclusions that emerge, without following prescribed (linear) procedures, are particularly disconcerting. At the time of the rational enlightenment, women were considered to be the repository for intuition… perhaps indicated by the common expression, “women’s intuition.” And so, as the thought base for the age of reason became more structured, more procedural, more linear, etc., the component fields of science, engineering, mathematics, etc., commonly were considered the domain of the male… creating an effective barrier and separation between male and female… not unlike that established by the reasoning mind of existence within Christian religion. So, in one sense, the two competing processes for authoritative power and control were organized structurally to diminish women’s access… perhaps reflecting ongoing traces of the divided – higher and lower – self. And beyond the obvious consequences to the women, there were significant consequences/impacts on human potential, on our becoming fully and truly human, as intended; that being the setting aside, so to speak, of intuition and thus wisdom… the wisdom of experience and the wisdom of intent and intended ways of working. On the one hand, we sustained some orientation towards the returning process illuminated by salvation organized religion, and on the other hand we had an energized pathway of human possibility impacting our daily life… both of which, separately or together, lacked the wholeness and completeness of thought to seriously and authentically illuminate the path of human potential – the becoming path of intent… the here and unfolding now path of advancing our humanness… a path that embraces the truth that if love is not present in the process, love will not be present in the outcomes… wholeness, of course, being the domain of intuition – not the nature implied by “the whole is equal to the sum of its parts,” but the nature of “seeing” that comes about through reflective processing, the imaging of intent, intended ways of working.
It is natural and unavoidable to contemplate the children’s reality without bringing to mind women’s reality… the women’s reality at the core of the women’s movement that came to life a while back, yet not so long ago, in that many who joined in this process are still actively alive. It is beyond the scope of this writing to deal with women’s reality in the depth necessary for clear imagery… imagery that may be helpful in the work of today… the work for all children in the world… the work of creating an active presence of a ‘work for all children’ culture… work that understands community to be the smallest whole. Several things come to mind. Engaging women’s reality was a necessary unfolding, a critical preparation for engaging the children’s reality. Intuition – intuitive processes within our culture, our existence grounded culture – is diminishing. The reasoning mind of existence is forcibly entering more and more of our essential systems and processes, including business, education, governance, family, etc. That which enables and calls upon intuition is being shed, often through thinking that begins with economics, legality, and rights – “my right(s)” to carry out particular desired activities without regard for the larger whole of community, of life, etc. Gadgetry technology is distracting, perhaps addictively seducing, more and more of us away from the real, more and more in the direction of the artificial… away from life, intended ways of life.
However, there is an awakening, a stirring of conscience with regard to current ways, the unfolding destiny of our current path, the unfolding future of the children… a growing recognition of the necessity to think a new way… a radically new way. Evidence of this is showing up in the field of medicine where some are emphasizing understanding of intended ways of working – versus manipulative knowledge – within the healing of injuries; some are seeking to understand what is taking place within swelling – swelling that causes discomfort – seeking congruence with natural healing versus treating symptoms. In the world of business – operating from a principle of our being accountable for structures we bring into existence, and following a philosophy of bringing the world of our making into congruence with the world of intent – some are seeking to extend recycling processes to include regenerative processes, processes that require an understanding of virtue – the essence pattern of intent – with regard to the materials we use. For example, the regeneration of various plastics and polymers (e.g., plastic bottles, nylon carpeting) reflects the gaining of value from the essence pattern of intent of petroleum… the virtue of petroleum being perpetual products, everlasting products. It is enlightening to see that which took earth millions of years to create is intended to be a source of everlasting structures… a radically new way of thinking versus the current focus on BTU’s3 and combustion processes for petroleum. This radical way of thinking holds as an anchoringpoint, the inseparability of the ongoing wellbeing of the children from the whole of life, their inseparability from the vitality and viability of the essential life processes of earth… leading to pursuits that embrace the truth of the children being intentionally created as members in the community of life.
Out from this stirring has emerged the understanding of the necessity for developing the mind of essence and accessing, through the intuition of wholeness, the wisdom of intent. Thus the need now is not for the continued diminishment of intuition, but rather the inspiriting of intuition, the regeneration of intuition, an inspiriting of intuition to the intuition of wholeness… the intuition of wholeness being essential to the accessing of the wisdom of intent, the seeing and taking up of our work… our intended work as living human beings.
