The Alchemy of the Rose
Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real. -- Niels Bohr
Just as there are a range of sounds outside the boundaries of the human ear... just as there are a range of colors outside the abilities of the human eye to see... so too, there are "fields", or dimensions / consciousness, outside the perceptive abilities of normal human awareness: exploration into these "fields" has historically been the vocation of the mystic, the shaman, the yogi, and the ecstatic. More recently, psychologists, quantum physicists, and other scientists have joined in the study of the "mystic realm". For many, the movie "What The Bleep?" was their first taste of the infinite possibilities just beyond our human ability to touch or grasp (and control). Fred Alan Wolf, one of the scientist "stars" of the movie, famously said, "The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery."
It is fascinating to be on the outer edge of modern scientific explorations into the Mystery of the Universe and of Consciousness: from peering into deepest space to chasing down the Higgs Boson "God particle": and into Consciousness Itself: layer upon layer, deeper and deeper: into the One Reality... That both sage and scientist are meeting in this "field" is one of the most hopeful signs of the dawning of a new age for humanity. But it is not enough that sage and scientist are meeting in this "field": everyone else must get there, too! There is no "technique" for getting there... but there is a Way to begin expanding the doors of perception... it goes by many names, but I call it the "Alchemy of the Rose"... (alchemy: a medieval philosophy of the transmutation of base metals into gold -- but mystically meaning the transfiguration of the human into the Divine --- and the rose: a garden of secrets reserved only for the Lover -- those called and willing to go beyond the "convictions of faith" and into the "remembered" state of Original Unity and Blessing...).
Beginning Steps
1) Kiss More! In other words live to become, like Yeshua: the greatest Lover the world has ever known! Become a being of constant -- moment-into-moment -- adoration: begin in your home, with your lover, with your family, with your friends: expanding into your workplace, school, recreation, economics, politics, etc. Include with your "heart embrace" every person, every creature, everything, and this entire precious blue Planet. As an agent of adoration, you will assist in shifting our human consciousness from "ego" into the selfless-transcendental, and so revolutionize on a scale deeper and truer than anything ever before.
2) Practice Beauty! With a daily intentional practice of adoration, you will become compelled to work -- neighborhood by neighborhood -- for the creation of beauty everywhere: you will discover that everyone is worthy of the very best: equality in every way for everyone, justice, safety, health, and well-being, expanding opportunities, and a culture of kindness. Perhaps you will begin with creating free art... perhaps you will paint a rainbow on every door... perhaps you will organize a petition and a demonstration... perhaps you will organize the construction of a neighborhood garden in an empty lot... with beauty as a core intention, another door of perception will find itself "ajar" in your heart...
3) Harmlessness and Service! Two-for-one here! They go together like a hand in a glove... or your lover's hand into yours... A conscious commitment to personal and social transformation requires this daily intention: "I will harm no one and I will serve all: by my thoughts, words, and actions." This commitment is absolutely essential for "polishing one's heart" as one might polish a mirror. If everyone and everything is worthy of the very best, then we must declare (daily) our intention of harmlessness and service: this is the path to peace and a politics and economics of justice: which is likewise the path to a transformation of culture.
These three core practices aim at nothing less than the recovery of our "right mind": the reintegration of soul with body with spirit with life: and ultimately, with our Original Oneness. All things are as the unfolding of the Rose: a reflection of the theophany of the Holy within creation: and the alchemy, or path, of the rose is the fullness of our humanity unfolding in Love, for Love, to become Love...
"The Alchemy of the Rose" is powered by Sacred Imagination. When the "What If? Before the Big Bang" asked that Original Question -- which required an Original Response (Why Not?): Love -- the unfolding of creation began... carried by the Divine Breath... in a constant movement of expansion / contraction... a "mirror" of this eternal movement has been "built into" the human heart. Centering in the heart, through the means of Remembrance (mantra meditation and devotion) and facilitated by the Invocation and Imagination of Paradise (One Love), transformation will occur: as simply and as naturally as the opening of a rose...
Just as there are a range of sounds outside the boundaries of the human ear... just as there are a range of colors outside the abilities of the human eye to see... so too, there are "fields", or dimensions / consciousness, outside the perceptive abilities of normal human awareness: exploration into these "fields" has historically been the vocation of the mystic, the shaman, the yogi, and the ecstatic. More recently, psychologists, quantum physicists, and other scientists have joined in the study of the "mystic realm". For many, the movie "What The Bleep?" was their first taste of the infinite possibilities just beyond our human ability to touch or grasp (and control). Fred Alan Wolf, one of the scientist "stars" of the movie, famously said, "The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery."
It is fascinating to be on the outer edge of modern scientific explorations into the Mystery of the Universe and of Consciousness: from peering into deepest space to chasing down the Higgs Boson "God particle": and into Consciousness Itself: layer upon layer, deeper and deeper: into the One Reality... That both sage and scientist are meeting in this "field" is one of the most hopeful signs of the dawning of a new age for humanity. But it is not enough that sage and scientist are meeting in this "field": everyone else must get there, too! There is no "technique" for getting there... but there is a Way to begin expanding the doors of perception... it goes by many names, but I call it the "Alchemy of the Rose"... (alchemy: a medieval philosophy of the transmutation of base metals into gold -- but mystically meaning the transfiguration of the human into the Divine --- and the rose: a garden of secrets reserved only for the Lover -- those called and willing to go beyond the "convictions of faith" and into the "remembered" state of Original Unity and Blessing...).
Beginning Steps
1) Kiss More! In other words live to become, like Yeshua: the greatest Lover the world has ever known! Become a being of constant -- moment-into-moment -- adoration: begin in your home, with your lover, with your family, with your friends: expanding into your workplace, school, recreation, economics, politics, etc. Include with your "heart embrace" every person, every creature, everything, and this entire precious blue Planet. As an agent of adoration, you will assist in shifting our human consciousness from "ego" into the selfless-transcendental, and so revolutionize on a scale deeper and truer than anything ever before.
2) Practice Beauty! With a daily intentional practice of adoration, you will become compelled to work -- neighborhood by neighborhood -- for the creation of beauty everywhere: you will discover that everyone is worthy of the very best: equality in every way for everyone, justice, safety, health, and well-being, expanding opportunities, and a culture of kindness. Perhaps you will begin with creating free art... perhaps you will paint a rainbow on every door... perhaps you will organize a petition and a demonstration... perhaps you will organize the construction of a neighborhood garden in an empty lot... with beauty as a core intention, another door of perception will find itself "ajar" in your heart...
3) Harmlessness and Service! Two-for-one here! They go together like a hand in a glove... or your lover's hand into yours... A conscious commitment to personal and social transformation requires this daily intention: "I will harm no one and I will serve all: by my thoughts, words, and actions." This commitment is absolutely essential for "polishing one's heart" as one might polish a mirror. If everyone and everything is worthy of the very best, then we must declare (daily) our intention of harmlessness and service: this is the path to peace and a politics and economics of justice: which is likewise the path to a transformation of culture.
These three core practices aim at nothing less than the recovery of our "right mind": the reintegration of soul with body with spirit with life: and ultimately, with our Original Oneness. All things are as the unfolding of the Rose: a reflection of the theophany of the Holy within creation: and the alchemy, or path, of the rose is the fullness of our humanity unfolding in Love, for Love, to become Love...
"The Alchemy of the Rose" is powered by Sacred Imagination. When the "What If? Before the Big Bang" asked that Original Question -- which required an Original Response (Why Not?): Love -- the unfolding of creation began... carried by the Divine Breath... in a constant movement of expansion / contraction... a "mirror" of this eternal movement has been "built into" the human heart. Centering in the heart, through the means of Remembrance (mantra meditation and devotion) and facilitated by the Invocation and Imagination of Paradise (One Love), transformation will occur: as simply and as naturally as the opening of a rose...