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THE SPIRITUAL IMPERATIVE: Enlivening the process of transformation

Last updated: March 26th, 2019

There is a large cycle unfolding. We are all part of it, being both the cause of it and the participants in it. This cycle might be felt by us as pertaining to the events coming up in the next few months, but actually there’s something of a larger nature unfolding. As those responsible for our part in this cycle, there’s much on our plate. Being on the edge, not really knowing all of what it will bring us or, indeed, what will be required of us, there’s an imperative to step up. For those of us in our own processes of spiritual transformation, it’s not just a case of cruising along while we develop our personal energy fields. Nor is it the case while we steward our creative, collective energy field. There’s no sitting back or back-pedaling somehow. No coasting on this.

The transformation imperative

The meaning of the word imperative—that’s the energy I’m feeling—is “absolutely necessary and unavoidable.” So this step-up is absolutely necessary. In terms of thinking that we can get out of it perhaps, or dodge it, I believe it’s actually unavoidable if we want to stay in the process and let transformation occur. This means we have to handle both what’s in our collective field and in our personal energy field. There might be resistance. I can hear myself say, “Do I really need to push on when I’m already up against the edges of myself and it’s really uncomfortable?” There may be resistance in the collective field as well. After all, the human experience has been the way it has been for so long, anything that might shake it up is bound to meet resistance. It’s likely that could look and feel like contention or defiance as well. And there always seems to be a need for resolution, so something can shift into the next phase of things.

How we’re managing our relationships is particularly important at this time. It’s vital to keep energetic connections with others in place with unconditional love. If any relationships are on shaky ground, it’s essential to let healing come. Whether they’re close-in, intimate relationships or not so intimate, there’s a need for an ongoing internal process of checking, of making sure that my line of connection is clear—and if it’s not, then of seeing how to heal it, to resolve and strengthen that particular line of connection.

How to enliven the process of transformation

What will it take to juice up the creative field? What will enliven us? How can we have fun in this process of transformation? Passion and enthusiasm are obvious and come very easily to mind, and in expression they enliven a creative field. So do joy and laughter. Also innovation stimulates the field—if I got everyone in a group I was speaking to to stand up and change seats and sit down again, they might think I was a little strange; but those present would also be on the edge of their new seats, excited by the innovation in the process they were experiencing together.

Any creative field is juiced by the example of joyous or radiant living that we may see in it. We enjoy stories of victory and the joie de vivre in people’s expression. We love the radiance that others bring. And then there’s the sense of ease, peace or stillness that can be present. When you notice somebody who’s quite still in a busy situation, don’t you find that attractive? Don’t you want to know what it is that keeps them in that place of stillness when all around is chaotic? There’s a full range of emotion that enlivens. Having our hearts engaged with each other—that boosts us, that buoys us up and gives us something to tune in to.

All of this is very much the expression of the heart enlivened by the intelligent mind. You have to have both heart and mind involved, but heart engagement is the first thing that’s going to attract us or allow us to connect with somebody. People in our world want something that they can “get behind”; they want something that they can support, that they can join. People want to agree with things. They want to be able to experience resonance. They want to find support and assurance and confirmation. They want comrades and friends and partners, someone to “do things with,” a mission to give their life to, to make it all worthwhile. So at any point, the field is enlivened and enjoyed by demonstrating these things. Then the mission can be happily acknowledged and committed to.

Concentrate your life force

I recently pruned my roses in my yard. Now, I didn’t know anything much about pruning—I had to look it up on Google—and it’s quite a radical process. My rose bushes over the year had grown to about shoulder height. They were quite bushy and they were certainly trying to grow over onto the path. The advice was to prune them to hip height and then to knee height, depending on the size of the stem. I know this sounds radical. When I was finished, what I was left with were stark fingers sticking into the air, with no leaves!

So what does pruning do? Using this as a metaphor, why would any of us go through a process where we might be confined or constrained or asked to strengthen our resolve in a particular way? I realized that pruning concentrates the life force. It insists that everything get concentrated into the base of the rosebush, in preparation for the next cycle; and the bush is supposed to come out stronger and more vibrant as a result of the pruning. I guess we’ll see when I come back to them in a couple of months. It was quite scary, though, and I think it’s the same for any of us engaged in owning this creative process we’re involved in. Whether we like it or not—and I guess the invitation is to like it—life is a lot easier if you’re moving with the flow rather than resisting it.

Being a cornerstone in the creative field

One of my favorite quotes from the Bible is from Job:

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?    

(Job 38:4–7)                          

Those who know me probably understand why this is exciting to me. It’s because it expresses a deep calling to my human experience, a call to remembrance. It speaks of a deep knowing of my divine responsibility and my part in the process right now. It has nothing to do with my personality or the people I’m with or the country I’m in, because that deep calling and that deep knowing overarch and back up everything.

In this creative field that we’re all holding, whereon the foundations are fastened, we all have a portion to care for and provide into. What does it take to be a cornerstone? What does it take to hold down your corner? This is what is being asked of us, and we love it, even though it’s a huge challenge. My human experience and capacities are somewhat daunted by the task. And one of the things I forgot to add to my list of what enlivens us and enlivens the creative field is that we love a challenge!

So here are some things relative to being a cornerstone, relative to the work that’s ours to do in this fertile creative field. First, it takes self-reliance: the ability to be confident, trusting and dependable—depending on oneself and no one else. It takes being absolute in our divine commission. Absolute means “not mixed or adulterated.” It takes being able to stand in the current of the spirit, in many ways unflinching, but certainly unmoved—to stand in that current and deliver. And it takes being up for complete ownership of our world and everything in it, just the way it is. It also takes being in love, agreement and support of one another—continually recreating and healing our relationships.

Represent what is higher

Ultimately what’s required is to be able to come as a representative of what is higher, however we define this, be it God, the Creator, the Great Spirit, the Universal Whole, whatever. To come as a representative of the creative process that emanates from this Source. A spiritual practice I have found useful in this regard is “attunement”—blessing, toning and balancing the endocrine system of the human body and through this extending an influence that balances and aligns the corresponding system in the body of humankind. In this we assume our position as priests and priestesses of an emerging spiritual body on Earth, the vanguard of a collective focus of Spirit that is even now transforming human consciousness.

And finally, on my list anyway, there’s the requirement to embody attunement, the spiritual expression and experience of being in alignment—again, no matter what. These words are absolute and somewhat unflinching, unwavering and unequivocal. These are qualities and criteria of what it takes to be a cornerstone; they’re a description of the priesthood of this body—those who are willing to hold themselves to account and be in the vanguard of a whole movement of consciousness.

Read about using personal transformation for the greater good in GANDHIAN RETRAINING: Personal transformation for social change>>

[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]Ruth Buckingham is a writer, lecturer and workshop facilitator, all for the purpose of assisting people to access the wisdom of the universal power of love that is within them. Though frequently travelling, she makes her home in Cape Town, South Africa.

Photo by Vali S. from Pexels