Retrieving the magic of awareness

© 2011 Marti Spiegelman MFA

The core of our being is perception, but the magic of our being is awareness.
– Don Juan Mateus, Yaqui elder

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Imagine a point of light in a great expanse of darkness – most of us would focus on the point of light and either accept its presence, or begin asking questions about it. What is it, how did it come to be, how can we make more of it, what should we do with it? Very few would allow the darkness itself into their awareness, and fewer still would realize that the darkness is an organizing principle, organizing light into a point source, and organizing our attention toward the point itself. The light and the point are real to us – we say we’re conscious of them, and we leave the rest to the darkness, calling it the mystery, the unknown, the unconscious. This is a visual metaphor for our modern state of awareness – although there are two aspects of human consciousness, designed to work together with limitless perceptual and creative capacity, we currently recognize only one of them as ‘conscious’ – linear, strategic consciousness – and unfortunately it’s the smaller, more limited portion. As for the rest of it – our multidimensional relational, perceptual consciousness – it’s in the dark, and all we can do is try to measure and explain it into a linear form we can recognize, but it’s impossible to think our way there.

Herein lies our great error, and herein lies the foundational limitation of our current state of creativity – for everything we envision and create, every idea that takes form, or piece of art that comes to life, or product that comes to market is the outcome of that great expanse of consciousness we’ve relegated to the darkness of the unconscious. And within that great expanse the organizing principles are at work – creative principles as precise as physics and as fluid and resilient as the forces of evolution. Only the light of awareness will give us access again.

Given the incredible rate of change in the world today, and the massive challenges to our well-being on a global as well as local scale, few would argue that what we need is a quantum leap in our ability to vision and create. We no longer have time for our linear ways of problem solving that require proof ahead of experience; we no longer have the luxury of believing we can reason our way to consciousness. Isolated linear awareness will not serve. The weaving of the organizing principles of consciousness with the awakened engagement of perception and awareness provide the tools we need. Without this weaving, we have no way of knowing how we create, nor will we learn to discern the best things to create, or have the relational intelligence to make it happen.

Our responsibility as modern humans is to reclaim full consciousness. The only way to achieve this is to shine the light of awareness into the realm of relational consciousness and experience direct knowing. So today, for 5 minutes, forget yourself. Instead, beam your awareness into the space around you. Experience everything through your senses without thinking, naming, or explaining. Receive in awareness the shapes, colors, textures, sounds and scents right where you are. Do nothing – just be, aware here and now [the principle of pacha]. Soon you’ll begin to know your world as never before. You’ll know everything as it is, free of judgment [the principle of munay]; you’ll experience the energies of relationships and know what to give, receive, and release [the principle of ayni]; you’ll feel an undeniable joy, ease, and membership in the collective that is life [the principle of ayllu]. You will definitely find your passion [the principle oft’ake]. This is what it’s like to retrieve your magic. Try it, and make it your way.

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