The Hallucination of the Everyday

Poets, mystics and shamans have always tried to convey that the world of the imagination is a real world... they called it the third kingdom.

When they speak of the third dimension; conscious, physical life, they describe her as Maya or Illusion. She is the hallucination of the everyday.

They speak of Heaven, a place of pure spirit and energy.

And they speak of the inbetween - the third kingdom - the dream space, the imagination.

It is to this Third Kingdom that the aborigines and shamans travel to to access spiritual wisdom and bring it back to this denser space.

It is a place we access in our sleep, in deep meditation or contemplation.

But it is really difficult to find even a sweet 5 minutes for stillness during our living in the hallucination.

I was talking to my mother a few weeks ago. To prepare for a major, back surgery, the doctor told her she had to quit smoking... cold turkey... RIGHT NOW! This was a 20+ year habit, we are talking about. (If I am wrong - I'll get a phone call later ;-).)

It was rough for a few days. Not only because of the withdrawals from the nicotine or even the break from the habit. She experienced a grief around the loss of her friend - the cigarette.

I thought about this and got soooo jealous! I wish I had a friend/habit/addiction that REQUIRED I take 3 minutes every hour or so to STOP my life and savor a still moment!

Maybe we can create a collective habit, call it a Spirit Break, where we all take 5 minutes, every couple of hours, go to a designated place 20 feet away from any buildings, and savor a still moment... Access the Third Kingdom several times a day.

I would venture to say that our happiness/peace quotient will go up, our stress will go down, our productivity will increase, and we would make wiser choices during our hallucination of the everyday.

Can I get a second on that motion?

"Stripping off the garments of the flesh and dancing across the universe in my bare soul."

A self-portrait - LOL!

Namaste,

C H E Z

 

Comments

[chel]

I was JUST talking about this the other day- I smoked for a little bit when I was a teenager, and I didn't do it because I liked the nicotine or even the act of smoking, but I liked the fact it gave me an escape from situations and people every so often. I got to go out and get a "breath of fresh air" (I know how ironic that is...) without people questioning where I was going or why or for how long or challenging it. I got a break to myself, away from the crowd, without having to justify it. I had to quit cold turkey, too (health problem as well) and it was much easier for me but I STILL miss the "smoking break" aspect of it all. There's no other habit that allows people to go outside under the blue sky and reflect for a few minutes several times during the day.