A few days ago, I spent some time chatting with a client who needed some
bodywork for wellness maintenance. Our conversation meandered into a
discussion about how one's frame of reference limits one's understanding.
An example that we discussed was the tendency for projecting one's own
paradigm of thought, belief and meaning onto someone else who may be
operating with a completely different paradigm of experience.
Not having first-hand knowledge of anything does not preclude the real
possibility that that reality exists. Those with limited real-life experience
in application of thoughts, beliefs and meaning generally carry abstraction
as their frame of reference. Those with limited conceptual development
generally carry only their experience as their reality. This could lead to
9-11 type catastrophic psychological and spiritual conditions for many.
Being atheist with a practice finding sacred moments of trust by living in
the present, does not preclude appreciation of having solid business plan
for creating of enterprise, nor does it preclude using hostile legal tactics to
exact my statement of conscience with the sinister approaches of attorneys
and those who consider themselves privy to "special" knowledge. Being
atheist does not mean I cannot consider the sacred practice of religions
founded in the belief of a single deity for centuries. It does not mean that
I want to coerce, project and define the reality of esoteric afficionados.
When a multi-dimensional life experience is found, where multiple aspects
of our being, physical, intellectual, psychological, spiritual , are applied in
real world political, economic, social and cultural, forcing a single frame of
reference onto others for domination usually results in a dynamic where
power issues must be articulated through an institutional framework to
address inequity or compete for dominance.
Power and control issues underlie all interactions between humans, groups
and systems. Without at least tacit acknowledgment of this there can be
no point of engagement to discuss an incorrect underlying premise about
rights and expectations. Take a look at all human discourse. All those who
are waging an internalized personal battle to achieve what they believe is
theirs, have an underlying assumption about those with whom they co-habit.
Watching any destabilized human system is where we can find the gaps of
self-awareness about the need for power and control. When one loses one's
limb due to amputation, there is the syndrome known as "phantom limb"
syndrome. This syndrome results in the person still having a sensation that
this limb exists on a kinesthetic level. Like losing a deeply loved person, or
a deeply loved principle. The shock does not allow the nervous system to
take in this awareness immediately.
Likewise, when one has lost one's sense of self-dignity, it is like watching the
towers of 9-11 implode leaving a vast empty space where the soul once lived,
thrived and pleasured. Phantom limbs and phantom souls should provide the
meditation need for those living a self-imposed nightmare of denial of what
they really need to be whole.
