Headless

Prior to today the art of Philip Rubinov-Jacobson was unknown to me. Shown here is his work entitled, Two Philosophers Discussing the Nature of Enlightenment. (More about him and his work can be found at:
www.rubinovs-lightning.com/html/biography.html)

The picture reminded me of my time with Mary. She and i became acquainted and our mutual interest grew.

Mary was a complex creature, at once musically inventive and deeply connected to her inner life. She was charismatic, psychic, and as a girl, self-described as being "boy crazy." Sometimes, she was so ‘tuned in’ as to be uncanny; more than once, she would pick up the phone and say hello before it rang. I came to suspect that she once had lived a life as a monastic –a closeted nun, close to what folks call god but returned now to explore parts of life unknown to the nunnery.

We decided for a weekend camping adventure together. In rented canoe, we spent the day paddling and floating along an Indiana River, very much enjoying an outing in the woods as well as in each other's excellent company. How much i enjoyed being regaled with her stories of the inner life and just how the flames of a wood fire might symbolize the uniting quality of spirit.

That night, after dinner around a campfire, something special happened. Together she and i entered a unique sort of "we" space; it was an altered state. As often happens in altered states my vision changed; and while altered states are relatively rare in my life, they do nonetheless happen and are often accompanied by changes perhaps in perspective as well as vision.

Imagine my surprise when in the flickering firelight my gaze turned to her and, i could not help but notice that her head had completely disappeared! In the space above her shoulders, where her head should have been, i could clearly see the woods behind her. Whoa! I had seen some strange things in my life but this was a first!

This special “we” space included a sort of psychic rapport; this meant that we were tuned in to each other so as to evoke a feel for what the other was experiencing. This enabled me to understand that just as i was looking at her and her disappeared head, she in turn was looking at me and my head had disappeared too! So strong and clear was this rapport that it was sufficient to convince me that i was still sane -and yet not hallucinating.

But what if anything would such an experience have to say about the subject of conversation between two philosophers walking in the woods as depicted by Rubinov? Well, my guess is that we were well short of enlightenment, but had nonetheless entered new territory; crossing into a non-egoic state –as witnessed by our apparent headlessness.

Different yet Same

Drawn together, our
Paths crossed like starry-eyed
Lovers: Vivified!

Syzygy

Lynne told this story. She and her husband had recently separated; at work she and nine co-workers combined resources to enter the state lottery. This group of ten chose five of six winning numbers, resulting in a win of $3000, to be split ten ways. Lynne asked an excellent question, “How can I change my life for $300?” Now at midlife, she chose to buy a bicycle and not being thrilled at the prospect of cycling alone, put a notice in the paper and began a cycling group. I joined, and we met.

Getting acquainted with her, i learned that included in the soon to be distributed marital property was a small sail boat, beached for the interim. I could not but remark on its unusual name: Syzygy. She asked if i knew what it meant and was surprised when i said, “Yes. It refers to a matched pair of opposites.”

It happens that my world view is very much influenced by the theory and practice of what is often called, the play of the opposites. Considerable evidence supports the notion that the manifest world, the world of body, mind, and soul is dependant on this play. So clear and compelling is this evidence that i can not take as serious any similar world view that fails to account for this play, and the matched pairs of opposites, the syzygies that result.

This world view holds that our inner lives do not happen in a vacuum. Every singular has a plural, every individual (both person and thing) is part of a collective; and not to get too technical but each occasion, (according to this world view) arises as a tetra-occasion, i.e. it has four distinct but inescapably interrelated parts.

Not ignoring or forgetting this fourfold view, it’s possible to look at the inner individual quadrant (the place where we develop) for matched pairs of opposites; we look especially for qualities, not quantities as they are more the property of the exterior quadrants.

Pardon me if all this seems dense and obtuse, but maybe examples will make it clearer. Let’s start with trust. My view pairs it with attention. If we have big trust and small attention we will be naïve, soon to be taken advantage of; if we have small trust and big attention, we will be cynical. This pair, like many others, needs to grow in tandem to avoid the pitfalls of these extremes.

Although not strictly an inner individual matter, birth and death are another pair; noticing that this is the true pair, not to be confused with the mismatching of life and death. At birth we take our first breath, at death our last; this proper matching leaves room for the eternal, for spirit, for the timeless; and precludes all sorts of mischief that arises from mismatching.

Returning to individual development, at some point we enter the pairing of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom without compassion is cold, at its best is only ‘tough love’; compassion without wisdom borders on foolishness, it’s warm but wasteful. Taken together wisdom and compassion manifest as right action, as skillful means, as loving understanding, as pathway, as part and parcel of an enlightened life.

Dance of the Eternal

Opposites at play
Each and every day in each
And every way. THIS!