Today's post is an excerpt from my Zoom talk this morning on "Outer turmoil/inner directive"
"In my title here today, I am contrasting coping with turmoil through an inner directive, rather than 'herd consciousness'. I want to clarify what I mean by 'lost in herd consciousness', because that too, can have a mixed connotation. At the far end of the herd spectrum, we completely submerge our individual thought and judgment to a larger collective idea or action. That submerging can give way to impulsive choices and behaviors. It can arise from a deep need to belong, to be accepted, and even avoid facing personal responsibility for our choices. The explosion of social media has taken the human herd capacity to a level beyond even our communal past. At the same time, it has given a venue that demands a unique image to become a "leader" who can stoke a financially successful trend. Herds become essential to sales and economics, the stock market, fashion, food fads and of course, politics. On the other hand, humans do have a genuine need for joining groups, this is what society is about: safety in numbers, exchange of ideas, cross use of skills, the power of belonging and identification with a larger, communal body.
By invoking an inner directive, I am turning to the spiritual as our life source, the movement of life that is expressed as an actual unique individual--not as a false image for the media. Yes, we participate in a larger body of humanity. We also participate in a larger body of nature and other life forms. But here I am zeroing in on the unique individual that we each are. You are unique. Consider this for a moment. My basic stance is the point of your life is to express your uniqueness, ultimately harmoniously, and in cadence with the rest of life, although we often feel in conflict with people and things, especially in the midst of turmoil. We express that uniqueness by consciously or unconsciously following the inner directive. Call it instinctual, call it intuitive, call it listening to our hearts, but turning to this inner guidance, naming it, opening to it's larger Beingness, we walk a path of being ourselves. I sum that up as the larger spiritual reality. Name it God or whatever else you want to name it. This inner directive, for me expresses out of meditation. It is in meditation that I recalibrate from the outer turmoil. But insight doesn't always come directly in meditation. I do see insight as the fruit of meditation, because meditation to me, now, simply means clearing the page. It is permission to wipe the day, the moment, the difficulty, the struggle, the falsehoods clean. It is finding a space where there is no turmoil. Breaking the spell, so that Life again can reveal itself in all its wonder. My experience, is that It (the inner directive) finds you. That may involved initiating the interest, the pull. The world, the social structure, our families and community, educational systems, and now, social media--basically culture is constantly dictating how and who we are supposed to be.
I'm doing my best here not to tell you how your are supposed to be, but rather to encourage you to consider the inner directive in the time of turmoil and follow it. To me that involves creating space(s) without turmoil. That might be meditation, or time in nature in nature, or it might be more active with positive companionship. The key element is space without turmoil and an the openness to receive." (Susan Nettleton)
Links to today's poetry: https://allpoetry.com/The-Pillar-of-the-Cloud https://poets.org/poem/reason-and-passion https://thecontemplativewriter.com/2018/04/26/contemplative-profile-st-augustine-and-denise-levertov/