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| Volume II No. 2 February 21, 2005 |
| Copyright 2005 by Osireion.com. All rights reserved. Subscribe To Palimpsest and Osireion Announcements Return to Osireion Home Read Seth |
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The Physical Mysteries When Siddhartha went into the woods with the ascetics he thought he would free himself from all physical desire and thus attain spiritual enlightenment. When he finally returned to feeding and bathing his body again, the ascetics jeered at his weakness, so sure were they that the material world blocked their path to holiness. Here in the West, it is easy to scoff at such extremism until we look at our own history of monks and preachers. How often have we felt we must repudiate sexual desire, beauty or luxury, and see the world as a place that must soon come to an end through its wickedness? This kind of thinking is not the sole domain of extreme religious unction. If we look, we see it diffuse outward into our society in the form of environmental despair, political desperation and disgust with consumerism. Any way you slice it, we humans seem stuck on the idea that physical=inferior and spirit=superior. Some of the ancient mystery schools developed and perpetuated the idea that physical life was something to be escaped. But others enjoyed centuries of day-to-day living which celebrated divine immanence, and remained dedicated to the maintenance of balance between the gods and humans. The Egyptians, for example, saw no irony in the daily practice of bathing a temple deity, dressing and anointing it, and placing food before it, because they understood that what is done in the physical is also done in the spiritual, and vice versa. We are confronted with a radical idea in the 20th century writings of Seth, by Jane Roberts. Rather than being trapped in this existence, Seth teaches, we have chosen it ourselves chosen every detail of the body we inhabit, our family of birth, and the earth that carries us. Just as a baby kicks its legs, grasps all it can reach, tastes and hears and engages every sense she possesses in exploration, so we engage the cosmos. The toddler puts every ounce of its being into the effort of growing, learning and acting, purely for the joy of it. So also, we choose this physical realm as our own playground in which to learn and grow. The world is not evil, its the place we come to for the sheer exultance of being solid! As the neopagan movement has revived old ideas and customs, it has often been reviled for its encouragement of frank sexuality and enjoyment of stimulation to all the senses. The revilement is rooted, however, in a misunderstanding of our relationship, as spirit-based beings, with the present physical existence. When we come to know ourselves as limitless, and understand that we manipulate matter just like a child her toys, we can leave behind old beliefs which are no longer useful. Understanding that the physical world is an inseparable part of our personal dance with life also frees us from fear of death. We see the cycles of the seasons and are continually reminded that all things return again. The garden is our clearest example of rebirth, for we know that the bulb we put in the ground last year is the very source of the flower now appearing. Could the animals speak, no doubt they would tell a similar tale of their own cycle of births and rebirths. Just as the physical is not evil, so death is not annihilation, but part of the cycle of transformation. This is the great and joyous message of spring that we are eternal, we cannot die, we are forever reborn to new knowledge, new bodies, new experiences. And each time we do return, there is a moment of anticipation by the universe, the breathless moment when we watch the baby open its eyes, take its first breath, and charge fearlessly into personhood. But when we struggle with the hard work of finding shared values, and put them to work in the world, we become a force to be reckoned with. All our workings take on new meaning when they can be joined with the power of others. In a time when our society is still crippled by poverty, homophobia, race issues, domestic abuse, corporate scandal and injustices of every kind, we need to join our respective lights more than ever before. As we approach Oestara, the Celtic celebration of the Spring or Vernal Equinox, let us pause more often to smell the freshness beginning to warm the last cold air of winter. Watch each day for the swelling buds of trees and shrubs, and celebrate when wake to hear new birdsong outside your window. Smile for knowing that every particle of dirt you tread, every brick building, every other human you meet, is sacred, its own unique manifestation of All-That-Is. Sekhmet lives and writes in South Carolina, and is the founder of Osireion.com; She is a lifelong seeker and mystic, wiccan in practice, with years of study in creative consciousness.; For more information, write sekhmet@osireion.com. |
| Each person alive is a part of the living God, supported in life by the magnificent power of nature, which is God translated into the elements of the earth and the universe. -Seth |
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