In my previous blog, the Maat archetype or energy, if you will, was all about balance; of tipping the scales of change that will, with some effort, recapture equilibrium. But when the scales of undulating change freeze, a terrible void ensues. This void, which nature deplores, is angrily filled by another type of energy. Its archetype is Kali.
Today I saw Kali. To employ a parenting analogy (Kali is a sacred feminine, great-mother archetype), Kali's children, who have not been listening, have wandered into grave peril either as individuals, or as a society, a civilization, or perhaps even as a species.
The dynamic of change symbolized by Kali at the microcosmic level addresses behavior; on the macrocosmic level, it addresses consciousness. On any level, Kali's anger is manifest in chaos -- a world unto itself. A non-linear world of fractals and endless patterns. When you reach wit's-end, when nothing no longer makes any sense, when order collapses into confusion and despair, that's chaos. It will grab your attention and test the essence of your coping skills.
Recently in the Middle East, I noted several indicators suggesting to me that Maat surrendered her frozen scales and withdrew; re-balance now appears impossible. If that's correct, the archetypal influence of Kali will soon become obvious as a dark, sinister vortex asserts terrifying influence in unimaginable ways.
Kali is chaos personified. She is creative destruction, either when she changes behavior or changes consciousness. It is to the latter we address these remarks. Much has been written about proper parenting; but about changing consciousness, not so much. It does have its metaphors, however. Consciousness changing creative destruction is often called a paradigm shift, enlightenment, 2012, a New Age or, to grab your attention, the Second Coming. In Farsi it's the cycle known as Harj-o-Marj. Whatever it's called, comprehension of it requires a new way of thinking, a new zeitgeist or world view and acceptance of "new truth" -- more importantly, rejection of old truth.
Somewhat off topic, but nevertheless interesting in reference to the 2012 metaphor, is the word Mayan, which is somewhat interchangeable with Maya. When we hear or read this word, an ancient Mesoamerican civilization comes to mind. In Eastern religions, Maya, which is always capitalized, stands for the energy of creation. Maya, coincidentally, is one of the principal attributes of Kali in Eastern religious traditions. If the metaphors are apt and timely, we're in for storms of momentous change that often require painful periods of creative deconstruction.
Today I saw Kali. To employ a parenting analogy (Kali is a sacred feminine, great-mother archetype), Kali's children, who have not been listening, have wandered into grave peril either as individuals, or as a society, a civilization, or perhaps even as a species.
The dynamic of change symbolized by Kali at the microcosmic level addresses behavior; on the macrocosmic level, it addresses consciousness. On any level, Kali's anger is manifest in chaos -- a world unto itself. A non-linear world of fractals and endless patterns. When you reach wit's-end, when nothing no longer makes any sense, when order collapses into confusion and despair, that's chaos. It will grab your attention and test the essence of your coping skills.
Recently in the Middle East, I noted several indicators suggesting to me that Maat surrendered her frozen scales and withdrew; re-balance now appears impossible. If that's correct, the archetypal influence of Kali will soon become obvious as a dark, sinister vortex asserts terrifying influence in unimaginable ways.
Kali is chaos personified. She is creative destruction, either when she changes behavior or changes consciousness. It is to the latter we address these remarks. Much has been written about proper parenting; but about changing consciousness, not so much. It does have its metaphors, however. Consciousness changing creative destruction is often called a paradigm shift, enlightenment, 2012, a New Age or, to grab your attention, the Second Coming. In Farsi it's the cycle known as Harj-o-Marj. Whatever it's called, comprehension of it requires a new way of thinking, a new zeitgeist or world view and acceptance of "new truth" -- more importantly, rejection of old truth.
Somewhat off topic, but nevertheless interesting in reference to the 2012 metaphor, is the word Mayan, which is somewhat interchangeable with Maya. When we hear or read this word, an ancient Mesoamerican civilization comes to mind. In Eastern religions, Maya, which is always capitalized, stands for the energy of creation. Maya, coincidentally, is one of the principal attributes of Kali in Eastern religious traditions. If the metaphors are apt and timely, we're in for storms of momentous change that often require painful periods of creative deconstruction.
Modern generations have grown somewhat accustomed to gale force winds of change, to changes inconceivable to our ancestors, whose world views were seldom challenged. However, modern generations grew deaf to the telling, incipient breezes that precede such gales, and to their portents as well. Consequently, they are ill prepared for paroxysmal storms such as those now evinced in the Middle East and North Africa.
The science of morphic fields and depth psychology, still swaddled in infancy and soiled in controversy, do lend a useful understanding of public mood when manifest on a macro scale. These fields are so new and unfamiliar they are despairingly termed pseudosciences. Spontaneous revolutions, emergent paradigms, and sea-changes implied by the 2012 metaphor and such, while seemingly springing up out of nowhere, have been, in fact, anticipated by the more attentive (prescience is symbolized in the painting by Kali's Third Eye).
Examples of "fields" influencing public mood account for the synchronicity of distant and seemingly unrelated phenomena, as we shall see. George Bush, who I quote infrequently, was insightful when he said, "I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul." Kali or any number of other archetypes could have whispered that platitude in his ear. Saying it is one thing, hearing it is another.
The science of morphic fields and depth psychology, still swaddled in infancy and soiled in controversy, do lend a useful understanding of public mood when manifest on a macro scale. These fields are so new and unfamiliar they are despairingly termed pseudosciences. Spontaneous revolutions, emergent paradigms, and sea-changes implied by the 2012 metaphor and such, while seemingly springing up out of nowhere, have been, in fact, anticipated by the more attentive (prescience is symbolized in the painting by Kali's Third Eye).
Examples of "fields" influencing public mood account for the synchronicity of distant and seemingly unrelated phenomena, as we shall see. George Bush, who I quote infrequently, was insightful when he said, "I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul." Kali or any number of other archetypes could have whispered that platitude in his ear. Saying it is one thing, hearing it is another.
The dynamics of change may be illustrated by a pendulum, moving from a given point to an extreme and then returning to equilibrium, something like a scale. At the reversal of the pendulum's swing, where tension snaps, is that moment in space-time where Kali resides. Here, all hell often breaks loose, as the painting of Kali might suggest. Emotionally detached words describing this snap are entropy and enantiodromia, conceptual 'tipping points' as described by Malcolm Gladwell in his best seller of the same name. They imply that disorder will eventually transition to order and restore balance; no tree grows to the sky.
In just over a month's time, three despots have been either overthrown or placed in checkmate, as is the case with the King of Bahrain. Leading up to these seemingly spontaneous revolutions, each country's protesters designated a Day of Rage -- a date for massive organized peaceful protests to be followed by even more protests for as long as necessary to effect desired change. Word spread via social media and the internet, a phenomenon illustrated in the Kali painting by flashes of lightning proceeding from her tongue -- the omnipotent, creative energy of word and voice (logos). These revolutions were, for the most part, peaceful. Yet one shared characteristic is chronically obsessive State paranoia in its many ugly guises..
A brief word about the painting's crumbling tower. It is symbolic of duality, of matter connecting, or attempting to connect, to spirit. It also symbolizes the fortress of hunkered down, self-delusional ego.
A brief word about the painting's crumbling tower. It is symbolic of duality, of matter connecting, or attempting to connect, to spirit. It also symbolizes the fortress of hunkered down, self-delusional ego.
While it may not be widely articulated, these Days of Rage, inspired and driven by morphic fields, not only are changing the world as we watch, but also are changing human consciousness from a paradigm of dualism to one of holism -- a unified Phoenix rising from ashes. In Tahrir Square in Cairo, Green Square in Benghazi and Pearl Square in Bahrain, the words and voices of revolutionaries emphasize the commonalities that unify humankind rather than the ones that divide it, which comprise the rotten stuff of paranoid, self-delusional ego. These words and voices insist we are connected by universal brotherhood. They are secular, fiercely deterministic and, like the wind, unstoppable.
Like the unity of the breezes and the gales.
Art by Holly Sierra for Chrysalis.
We are all one, but just as most people are not "whole," our group consciousness is fragmented. We are taking baby steps. At least now slavery, altho it still exists, is considered wrong. Our own civil war was brutal and bloody to make that point (among others). Too bad we need Kali to grow. There must be an easier way.
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