Towards an Enlightened Future

What a confusing world do we find ourselves in when we are born on planet earth. I come into this life in 1980 in a little village in the Netherlands. Growing up there was fine and I would only get into conflict with the world and myself when I got to grade four of high school. Around the age of 15 there wants to develop a type of awareness that is conscious of the self and the world around it. When this development is somehow hindered there is usually a fight or flight reaction from the self being incapable of handling the situation. I think most people can recognize certain movements when looking back at their childhood. Once one departs on the journey of consciousness these moments will have to become clear again in order to understand what happened at that young age. I was already fifteen, but ofcourse some people go through disturbing or even traumatic experiences when are only a few years old. According to the outstanding work of Stanislav Grof such circumstances can even take place during the prenatal (between fertilization and childbirth) period of the being. I once heard someone say that birth is so much more of a shock for the soul than death. I had never really thought about this, but it immediately occured to me that this is a very reasonable idea. Ofcourse certain types of death are very unpleasant and painful, but I indeed believe that the transition will be much easier and lighter in general.

Looking back at this fight or flight moment that anyone encounters sooner or later it is clear that some kind of contraction will have to take place at that time. Looking at myself again I can clearly see now that I imploded in order not to show the pain that I experienced. And at that moment I could not have shown these things because I simply was not aware of what was happening. The contraction however would join me on my trip through life and influence practically everything that I would experience. This feeling of contraction triggered in me a very loud NO against authorities (parents, school, law and other institutions) and this resistance became a theme in the play that I was in. What is actually most confusing about such a mask is that there are always certain truths in it, whilst at the same time there is this very limiting contraction. Once we embark on the beautiful path of conscious evolution we will have to get clear about the light and the dark sides that are inside and outside of us. In order to gain this clarity I had to unravel the thruths and the lies that were both present in my former rejection of  most of the world. I believe that we can truly heal ourselves when we accept all the seemingly weird attitudes and opinions that we once cherished for our own safety and protection. Yogi Bhajan used to say "Love what is ahead by loving waht has come before". This may sound very simple but I still find myself struggling sometimes to truly embrace everything that I am in order to completely be in the here and now.

I believe it is only by this absolute and al-embracing acceptance that we can really start living in the here and now. Sometimes it can be really hard to accept ourselves fully and to just be with the feelings of love, connectedness, gratitude and wholeness that I believe are our absolute birthright. Someone once said that we have to reject the truth first before we can truly accept it. I don't even know whether this rings true for everyone, but I have certainly experienced it in this way. Furthermore I believe that a lot of people have this kind of experience and the wonderful thing about it is that we can really feel reborn once we leave our masks behind and embrace life in all its beauty and glory. I am thankful every now for being able to share what I feel and think in a conscious and loving way. Ofcourse sometimes it is still a struggle or even a fight, but the light is getting clearer and clearer. This week I overheard some people in the swimming pool talking about God, Jesus and faith and I joined their conversation. The amazing thing was that we could connect so easy and naturally that it felt as if we already knew eachother. I experienced that when we can speak from heart to heart there is an acceptance (and actually an embrace) of the other which makes it so natural and enlightening to communicate with eachother. I believe that certain experiences are very valuable and that they can truly change the way we behave and feel towards others. Since once I have thought the complete opposite I am deeply and completely convinced that this capacity for enlightened communication is lying dormant in each and every individual. And I believe that through these conversations (and all these inspiring writings here at Gaia and elsewhere) we can contribute to the development of this great potential that lies in every human being. I sincerely believe that we can create a conscious and enlightened future together in this way.

Peace, Light and Love to All!

Marijn