I recently watched the 2017 movie Valerian and have just now done a google search trying to find the name of the evolved Beings whose story was woven through the plot.  In all the reviews I read, these Beings only received a cursory mention, if any mention at all, and I could find no reference to what the Beings were called.  Most of the reviews were only concerned with the poor acting skills of the leading protagonist of the movie as well as the sketchy plot.  Of course these reviews are valid in their criticisms but are missing an important element in the movie I feel.  It is interesting to me that the Beings depicted in the movie Valerian, which I have now discovered were called Pearls, are very similar to the Na’ vi depicted in the movie Avatar.  In one review I read on Valerian, the writer described the Pearls as being, “pale humanoid creatures who flit around like drunken butterflies”.  The writer of the review also referred to the Pearls as being “Noble Savages”.  And indeed they were noble in my eyes.  The Pearls, akin to their counterparts in Avatar, live a life in harmony with their environment and seemed connected to, and aware of, a ubiquitous force that connects us all.  It seems that in both movies the Pearls and Na’ vi are Beings depicted as possessing noble and spiritual qualities, which we as human beings seek to emulate on some level.  Certainly in both these movies there seems to be a recognition of humanity’s lack of care and connection to their environment as well as an ignorance of the life force that underpins existence.  Why is it then, that on one hand we recognize our flaws as a species, yet on the other hand there seems to be some disdain for a more idealistic way of being?   In the same review that named the Pearls “pale humanoid creatures who flit around like drunken butterflies”, the writer speaks about the main protagonists as displaying a lack of care for their fellow Beings and leaving behind an unaddressed carnage in their wake.  This lack of care seemed to disturb the writer of the review, and so I wonder what qualities does the writer deem to be admirable?  Humanity’s lack of care for each other and their environment as represented by the protagonists in the film, seemed off-putting to the review writer, yet Beings displaying care and connection also seemed to hold some distaste for her.  Is it that the majority of humanity has resigned itself to a self-defeatist existence, where any representation of what good there could be is scornfully rebuked as being fanciful and childish?  Do we not want to review our choices and way of being here on earth and see beyond the existence we have created for ourselves thus far?  Valerian and Avatar have shown us that we at least have the imagination to conjure up other ways of being.  Do we think that it is beyond the capacity of human kind to make such choices and changes in how we relate to each other and the world we live in?  Surely if we can imagine it, then we can create it!

Many people believe the “Noble Savage”, as depicted by the Pearls and Na’ vi, is a mythical concept of humanity’s past, purportedly living in perfect harmony with the earth and each other.  These people believe that the “Noble Savage” concept is misleading and unattainable and that humanity is incapable of living in harmony with nature and each other.  They give examples of the imperfection of past societies who lived a more basic lifestyle, such as cannibalism, warring and disease.  However, they seem to ignore the many examples of societies such as the American Indians, Australian Aborigines, and many more who did live in harmony with their environments.  Were these societies perfect?  Of course not.  Will humanity ever be perfect?  Well who knows what perfect is anyway?  But surely we can do better than what we are doing now.  There seems to be an underlying impulse for human kind to strive for improvement and advancement of some kind.  So far that advancement has been mostly in the technological and industrial spheres of life, however there has also been many social advancements as well.  There has been a recognition in many human  societies of the injustices and inequalities that exist and we have sought to make improvements in these areas.  However, even with all these improvements there seems to be an underlying discontent that festers in the hearts of many.  There is an unexplainable heaviness that presses down on our hearts and minds that all the technological and industrial improvements that we make can not shift or move.  Why is this????  I believe the following link gives some insight into what is going on with humanity and how the path we have headed down is only taking us to a place of self destruction.  I fervently feel that it will not be until we change our current core values and beliefs as a global society that we will have any hope of lifting the heavy discontent from our hearts and minds.

Economics of Happiness

If you checked out the above u-tube link you would have heard the idea that we are living in a global economic system that has run amuck, with outdated core values of ‘competition’, ‘ownership’, and ‘acquisition of goods’.  You would have also heard that we are now living in a global society where there exists a polarity of views, where on one hand there is a push for further global capitalist economic advancement, and on the other hand, a calling for a more localized and collaborative approach to economics.  The truth is we are currently governed by “economics”.  We have been led to believe that the study and incorporation of economics is essential for our lives.  But is this true?  Economics is defined as the ‘social science concerned chiefly with the description and analysis of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services’.  And it seems to me that our current all-encompassing focus in life is all about the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.  Our lives are literally consumed by this notion and way of being, as if there is nothing else outside of it – nothing else that has any purpose and meaning.  But how about turning our gaze inwards and seeking to improve the way we relate and connect to ourselves and each other.  Is this not a worthy pursuit?  For it seems that no matter how many goods and services we manage to conjure up and surround ourselves with, we cannot seem to find any real peace and contentment in life.  Do we not want peace and contentment?  Do we simply wish to throw ourselves down a tunnel of endless pursuit of material wealth, piling our fading gems around us as a representation to the world of the great accomplishments we have made in our lives, only to discover at the end of life that we never truly connected to Ourselves and the world around us.

What I truly loved about the Beings depicted in Valerian and Avatar was their portrayal of respect for one another and the environment that supported them.  How does One attain such ‘respect’, for it sadly seems to be missing from the majority of society at present.  This is evidenced in the amount of litter that lies on the ground as you drive around the countryside; in the way we speak to each other in person and on social media; in the warring and grab for power among different peoples; and in the destruction of our environments and the shameful amount of waste we create.  You may say that this is just the innate nature of humankind, however there are as many positive actions being taken in the world as there are negative ones.  There are people who spend their lives giving to others and working towards advancements in society.  So what is it that determines One’s choices and actions in the world?  I would assert, and I believe many would agree with me, that it is the culture that you come from as well as the values and beliefs you have absorbed along the way, that inform the choices you make.

So what next…..?  I am tired of talking about the mundanities of life.  I am sick of the endless chatter of ‘what holiday will I take next’, or ‘how much money can I make’, or ‘what item shall I purchase next’, or ‘what is the current hip café’, or ‘any other mindless chatter that seeks to inflate a self defeating ego, that sees itself separate to everyone and everything else’.  Enough is enough!!!!  If we do wish to move beyond our current way of being and emulate an advanced noble savage, such as the Pearl or Na’ vi, then I believe we first need to recognize and remember our connectedness to All things.  But sadly there are many who are lost in the delusion of Separateness and scoff at the idea of emulating the noble savage, dismissing it as a fanciful and fruitless idea.  However, I assert that within the depths of our psyche, is a longing to move beyond our current state of being to a place of connection and harmony, and that longing is personified in the characterisations of the Pearls and Na’ vi.  So as we sit at our dining tables tonight or around the tea room at work, or wherever it is that we gather to socialise and connect, perhaps we can begin to talk about what a life beyond our current system and way of being may look like….. to ponder a more connected and holistic way of being.

The future stretches out before me                                                                                                      Like an intangible and unknown story.                                                                                                  Vaguely visible.                                                                                                                                     Enticing me to follow its path. 

Shades of creativity dividing and moving                                                                                             In different directions.                                                                                                                         Calling me to follow willingly.                                                                                               Encouraging me to create                                                                                                                     Anew. 

Now is the future of yesterday.                                                                                                             The culmination of plans laid down                                                                                                       The destination of paths followed.                                                                                                From here I can survey the map of my life. 

Choose to take paths of old                                                                                                                   Or create new ones.                                                                                                                               Now is the storyteller of tomorrow.                                                                                                       The propagator of the future. 

Deep are the desires,                                                                                                                   Which bind us together.                                                                                                                  Unique are our stories that weave together                                                                                    Our past, present and future. 

Formidable is the place where we are heading;                                                                              The stories we are creating.                                                                                                                 For there are those who are shrouded in helplessness                                                                       and others                                                                                                                                              Who wear armour of zeal. 

My rising expectations are humbled now by                                                                                   The knowing and unknowing                                                                                                                 Of my inner child;                                                                                                                          Unfettered from chains of the past and                                                                                  Constraints of the future. 

She is boundless in the eternal moment of now.                                                                    Encouraged by the past to create a future                                                                                            with a new                                                                                                                                               And boundless story. 

Undetectable is the energy,                                                                                                                   Which unites us as one.                                                                                                                 Suffocating is the illusion                                                                                                                       Of our separateness. 

Intoxicating is the drama of                                                                                                                    Our existence.                                                                                                                              Immersed in the stories                                                                                                                         Of our creation. 

Now is the time                                                                                                                                    To create a new story to serve                                                                                                              All our desires                                                                                                                                   For a brighter future.

 

 

 

We currently live in a world where over 7 billion people all have differing opinions and beliefs.  Everyone has there own ideas of what is right and wrong and what it means to live ‘the good life’.   Of course there would be many people that we share similar views with, and agree on some things with, but not Everything.  Can you think of one person in your life that you agree on absolutely everything with?

It certainly makes it an exciting and interesting world when everyone has different ideas to share.  But what happens when our views clash and course disharmony in the world?  What happens when one person’s views infringe upon the life of another person?  What should or can you do when you believe passionately about something and believe it is important to share that idea or belief with the rest of humanity?  We would probably all agree that some ideas are worth sharing more than others?  Certainly there are some ideas, values and beliefs that have more power and dominance in the world.

I’m not sure there are any clear answers to the above questions.  I only know that I struggle with many of the current ideas, values and beliefs that dominate in the world today.  Ideas that many of us take for granted as being true; ideas such as:

• ‘competition is necessary for progress and growth’;
• ‘the evolution of a society is measured by its technology and industry’;
• ‘a comfortable and easy life is one we should all strive for’;
• ‘before man became civilized, the world was a wild and untamed place’;
• ‘life is just how it is and there is nothing we can do about it, we just need to accept it’.

It is that last idea that I probably struggle with the most.  I certainly don’t believe it is true.  And I’m sure there are many people out there who also don’t believe it.  I believe that we are masters of our own destinies and we do have the power to change things if we so choose.  However, perhaps on some level, life for me does have a certain ‘given’ quality to it and perhaps I don’t fully understand and use my power.  In fact, I am fully convinced that I don’t.  I know that I am culturally conditioned to see the world in a particular way, and like everybody else, on some passive level I take in many subliminal messages out there, without questioning them.  For example, I believe in the importance of having three healthy meals a day because that is what I have been told since I was a child.  In fact this European created idea is probably the most followed rule and idea in society today.  Weddings, meetings, work and almost any activity we undertake in life revolves around our three-meal-a-day schedule.  However, Native American peoples and other native tribes only ate when they were hungry and had the urge to.  European settlers took this as evidence that these cultures were primitive because they grazed like other animals.  Contrary to this thought however, recent studies into diet and how we eat have shown that in fact, intermittent fasting and eating several small meals a day is much better for our health.  It was mostly due to industrialisation that the need for three planned meals a day came into being.   I also grew up believing like many of my friends that the natural progression of life was: to go to school; study towards a career or job; get a job; get married; buy a house with a white picket fence; have children of my own; grow old; and die.  However, as I grew older and began to question life and my place in it, I came to realise, that this is just a culturally created idea and that there are many other ways of progressing through life.

The other night I was having a conversation with a young woman who was telling me about her work.  I asked her if she enjoyed her job and she shook her head and said that it was just a job to make ends meet.  She also commented that ‘that’s just how it is’, implying that this was just a norm and an inevitable outcome that we all must endure.  I responded by shaking my head and saying that I wasn’t sure that was so, even though I myself am in a job that I don’t always enjoy and probably wouldn’t do, if I didn’t have to.  Due to the current economic system that we have created, it is essential that we find some way of accruing economic dollars to purchase the items we ‘need’ and ‘want’ in life. Is it true though that we have to accept that this is simply ‘how it is’ and there is nothing we can do to change it?

Somewhere deep inside me, I wanted to grab that young woman, shake her by the shoulders, and say NO, you don’t have to accept the idea, that you have to go into a job that you don’t really like, just so you can buy food and clothes and keep a roof over your head.  Why hell, who says that you even have to keep a roof over your head?  There are people out there, who have broken the current mold of living, and live a life that most of us wouldn’t even dare to dream of.  Many of us have been brainwashed to believe that there is a certain inevitability to life that we simply have to adhere to, whereas others of us have dared to step into the unknown and create a life that has meaning and purpose, which goes beyond our current economic system and social conditioning.  The following link gives many examples of how some people choose to live without money and create their own ways of progressing through life.  The idea of living without money seems incomprehensible to some of us, yet many of us, are doing just that – choosing a life that breaks away from mainstream conditioning, ideas, thoughts and beliefs.

5 ways to Live Without Money

For me, I have been pondering what it means to live ‘the good life’ for some time, and now deeply believe that to live a good life, is to live a life that recognises the Oneness of life.  When we see and feel our connectedness to every one and everything around us, then we make life choices that promote and nurture that connectedness, as well as individual autonomy.  I believe there are many ways of doing this, however, those thoughts are for another day and another blog.  Until then I shall keep pondering how I can positively contribute to the kaleidoscope of discourses that abound in our world.

Ever since human-kind became aware beings, we have tried to make sense of life, asking questions of why and how. This has led to the creation of science with its measurements and equations, and semantic mediants.
Science insists on physical proofs, based on the Western cultural assumption that we live in a solid physical world. However, quantum physics has shown us that our assumption of a solid, fixed world stands on shaky ground, with quanta, the building blocks of our reality, popping in and out of existence. All we can truly know is that we are Experiencing Something, and we call that something Life.
We individually experience ‘qualia’ or ‘qualities of life’. Put another way, we are consciously aware of life and we each perceive life in different ways. As human beings we are consciously aware of our own thought processes and have the capacity to adapt and change those processes if we so choose.
The one constant in all of this, is Consciousness itself. A new thought in some realms of science is that ‘All of Life stems from Consciousness’, as opposed to previous Western thought that ‘Consciousness arose from Life’. This thought states that Consciousness in its pure form is ‘fundamental’ and without cause. It is the ground state of existence. In the field of pure unchangeable Consciousness exists ‘pure potential’ – the potential for Endless Possibilities.

In a pin point,
All there as one
I am

Still there,
In space, in time
Forever there

Engulfed in nothingness,
Spark igniting
Possibilities
Becoming Everything.

Human beings arise or manifest from this field of pure potential and ‘embody’ conscious awareness (the state of being consciously aware of Oneself), so that we can experience our endless possibilities at a experiential conscious level. At the deeper or unmanifested level, Consciousness has no qualia (or experience of itself). It desires to manifest qualia or qualities of life in order to experience Itself. ‘Human consciousness’ looking at itself is a mirror for the ‘field of Consciousness’ looking at itself.

True evolution is Life evolving in order to have an enhanced qualia experience. The purpose of evolution is to maximise experience of every kind. Genes, epigenes, and neural networks store and remember each step of evolution, following the path traced by Experience. These recording devices are symbolic markers of dynamic qualia networks. Each network is self-organising, because no two species and no two individuals are working from exactly the same qualia program or experience. Each scenario is unique; each works through its own possibilities. And all of this is part of the ‘Flow’ of Life. However, human beings have inhibited the natural Flow of Life by overlaying and mediating their direct experience of this Flow with ‘cultural conditioning’ and language as a ‘semantic reality’. Human culture substitutes a semantic reality for a direct reality ‘experience’, and arises from an embedded fear of ‘death’ as well as a belief in a universal ‘hostility toward life’.
Other sentient beings will respond to imminent death with a flight or fight response and ultimately seem to peacefully accept death should these responses fail. This original flight or fight response comes about due to ‘fright’, which is qualitatively different to ‘fear’. Fright is a biological startle response to danger that kickstarts our body into action and once the physical danger has passed, the body settles back into its original state and attains from each startle ‘experience’ that which it needs for future evaluations. Fear, on the other hand, is a semantic (thinking) concept, we are trained to produce. Fear becomes conceptual, a basic pattern for interpreting reality. Our cultural conditioning has overlaid our original flight or fight response to danger and death with an extra layer of ambiguous fear over the death of ego or perceived self (identity). Our ancestors perceived themselves as struggling with the hostile elements in order to survive, and part of that survival was dependent on the acceptance of their clan, tribe or community. This was because they had forgotten their connection to the all encompassing Flow of life. This most likely happened when homo sapiens developed the capacity for ‘questioning’ life and their place in it. At that point we began to live more in the mind, as opposed to being fully present in our bodies and fully FEELING life. I propose that it was then that a ‘perceived’ split was created between, the world in here (in our minds) and the world out there (everything outside of our minds). Everything ‘out there’ became separate and something that we needed to protect ourselves from.
Pearce (2014) states that “Anxiety and fear are transferred to the child, in spite of all good intentions, precisely because a child has no buffers or screens of any sort. And fear as expressed in anxiety, guilt, resentment, and hostility, constitutes a large portion of the [modern] adult world. These effects in turn, furnish a large portion of the child’s [experience]. ….. Having no buffers to the ‘fear effect’, the child must learn fear in order to protect him/herself from it. Avoidance of fear splits that wholeness, or natural state of communion [with the Flow, that all children are born with]. This is the ‘fall”.
In other words, as we inherit ambiguous fear of the world ‘out there’ from our forebears, we construct further barriers in our mind and lives to protect ourselves from this undefined, yet ubiquitous fear and further isolate ourselves from our true connection to life.
As human beings have evolved, our newer brain functions have given us unique capacities for reflective thinking and creative logic; functions offering an infinitely open possibility. However, in keeping with our fundamental biological drive to maintain homeostasis, a state necessary for continuation of life, our cultural conditioning and semantic reality dictate that we stay within the accepted bounds of our cultural blueprint in order to keep our known or indoctrinated world view and identity intact. This cultural blueprint is underpinned by fear and a belief that we live in a hostile environment, one which we need to constantly guard and protect ourselves from. The cultural death concept that divides life into dead and living particles could only be instilled in a mind split off from its life flow. We have managed to trap ourselves in a self-created prison of sorts. However, this prison is an illusion. The world ‘out-there’ projects back to us, what we believe ‘in-here’ – inside our minds, and then we project back out to the world. We look for what
we believe and therefore find proof for our beliefs. Our reality is a self-created reality. And therein lies the key. If we can suspend our beliefs for a time and simply BE in the world, without any expectations of what it may or may not offer us, then we can once again connect with the natural flow of life. If we can also see, or more importantly FEEL, that death is a natural extension of life, then the world poses no hostility towards us. We will see that life simply IS and all the rest is labels we have fastidiously created in order to quench our desire for understanding the world that we live in. However, that understanding will better come with a quietening of the mind and all its monkey chatter, and simply immersing ourselves in nature and life – being open and grateful for all it has to offer. To do this, one can’t use an independent proxy for life, such as a cultural and semantic reality. One has to see his or her connection to everything, or more importantly, to FEEL that connection. One must recognise the conscious aliveness in ALL of life and feel the interactions that play back and forth as we engage with life. To recognise also the role of culture in this life flow, as a creative tool and natural extension of our true self – the true self that encompasses all things.
“Self-awareness or Consciousness coming to terms with its true nature, that of Endless Possibilities, will be the starting point for the next leap in our creative evolution as a species. That is, a new mind set will emerge, catch fire, reach a tipping point, and finally establish itself as the next human reality. When the layers of aggression, war, poverty, tribalism, fear, deprivation and violence fall away, the qualia that remain will lie closer to their creative source”, (Chopra and Kafatos 2017).

The above writing is a compilation of my own thoughts and those taken from the two latest books I have read. Those being, “You are the Universe – Discovering Your Cosmic Self and Why it Matters” by Deepak Chopra and Menas Kafatos, and “Exploring the Crack in the Cosmic Egg – Split Minds and Meta-Realities” by Joseph Chilton Pearce.

I wandered today into your glorious garden and saw for the first time your pulsating rhythm, and felt your energy surge through my veins; through my muscle tissue; and through every cell and atom of my body. I delighted in your sweet fragrances and pungent odours. All at once I was at the centre of the Earth and at the farthest corner of the Cosmos – yet both were one in the same. I recognise that I am but a humble human being and yet I am much more.

I am the Alpha and the Omega – the All and the Nothing.
What lessons did I come here to learn? What gifts did I bring to share?

Layer by layer I peel back my cultural conditioning so that I may experience the truth of who I am. Fear and anxiety claw at my chest and abdomen. I acknowledge them and thank them for their gifts. I breathe deep into my core – tensing and releasing. Purposefully and with love I make my way forward, knowing that there is nowhere I need to be. All is as it should be as the unravelling takes place. I smile at my ego and she smiles back at me. She is beautiful and I never knew it.

All around me pulse with the beauty of golden atoms and sun kissed skies.

The wild calls me, while culture whispers of transformational creativity.

The two woven into One is what my broken heart desires, knowing only too well, the split was of my own creation.

A journey taken so that I may feel the smoothness of a river kissed stone.

Catzen 2018 – The year of expedient manifesting.

 

Calculated Misfit

I am a calculated misfit                                                                                                                        residing at the edge                                                                                                                               of your ordinary days.                                                                                                                 Prying, prodding, questioning.                                                                                                       Illuminating – other ways.                                                                                                                     Boldly desiring to stand apart                                                                                                              from regulated views.

On a mission to gather                                                                                                                         comrades in arms.                                                                                                                                  Poets with a touch                                                                                                                                 of the absurd.                                                                                                                                           Painters whose vivid strokes                                                                                                          collide with shadows cast                                                                                                                  by endless columns of grey.                                                                                                                 Non-conformists……..                                                                                                                    renegades stepping out                                                                                                                         from the absurdity                                                                                                                                 of a self constructed iron cage.

I am a calculated misfit seeking,                                                                                                    searching, striving to find                                                                                                                     a glimmer of myself                                                                                                                               in the questioning of your eyes.

Catzen 2015

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton