Wisdom #22

Christmas '23 my Beloved gave me a tiny notebook, with a condition.

"This is not for poems," he warned (possibly thinking of the mess of scribbles that make up my notebooks),"it's only for wisdoms."

I've a nose for limitations that yield good quarry, hence I surrendered with gladness. Whenever I came across words that seemed worthy of copying out by hand, another page was filled in my little book. In all this time, I have gathered a total of 32 wisdoms. I haven't nearly half-filled the book. 

Then, last Thursday, he sent me a link to a YouTube clip, which I listened to while doing the dishes a moment ago. The clip makes for pretty worthy listening at this time in human history. It triggered my memory of a wisdom I'd written in one of my journals at the time (November '24) – my very own wisdom, born from my own experiences of a lifetime, which I decided to jot down in my little book. When I was done and had dried my hands, I went and found what I had written down. This:

Wisdom #22

I simply cannot think in groups. I can feel in and with groups, but think only as an individual.

– Silke Heiss, 9th November 2024

C'est tout. That is all. All-important, I'd say without a moment's hesitation, at this horrific time of historic mass psychosis (this link leads to the same YouTube video* as the one above). 

A wisdom based on pure experience. And: won from closely, but closely observing my own mind over the many decades.

*If you want the video in shorthand, please refer to Silke's Wisdom #22. Most importantly, please apply the wisdom as a daily practice. Earmark this blog. Think for and by yourself alone. Practise it. Stand firm. It's f***ing hard and completely vital for the survival of the human being. 

Note: being. Not species. The human being is far, far more important than the human species, who are, as we can clearly see, not important in the least.

Navigating a self-altering future

The attractiveness of 'the law of attraction' in everyday life is that it declares that you have the potential to control your thoughts. Of all things possible to control, one's own thoughts are perhaps the most rebellious of all. It is a sweet victory to be able to claim truthfully, "I control and, indeed, lead my thoughts." Even where one manages to achieve it occasionally, my experience teaches that it remains, daily, an effort. Writing down your thoughts does help.

The elusiveness of our thoughts may be, because many thoughts are not exactly conscious; nor, frequently, are they owned by, or originate from within, the self. 

In 'Staying Connected', Rudolf Steiner went so far as to say that our thoughts are infusions from the spirits of the dead in their attempts to lead (presumaby they could also mislead) us. I have yet to get through, let alone understand, his book Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path. I do not have my own copy and vaguely recall early passages in that book being concerned with discovering one's true motivations; I confess that I still belong to that class of lesser mortals for whom dwelling on true motivatons initiates a definite adventure into smoky territory.

I won't even mention the infusion or influence of thoughts from the living into our conscious- and subconsciousness - I am sure that every person reading this can attest to the confusions, convictions, delusions and intoxications caused by mental and physical continguity with the living. 

Yet everywhere, these days, is the popular slogan seen - 'Build the future YOU want'. On one level, this could be seen as an open rebellion against David's plea, 'I shall not want', in Psalm 23. (Some bright sparks have deemed fit to translate this line as 'I lack nothing', but that is too monodimensional for me.) Yet it would be fair to give the slogan the benefit of the doubt - building what you want can by all means chime with the laws of Nature, or God, or the general good, all of which are forces far more long-lived than the potent little microcosm of your self.

The climate of the times tends strongly towards encouraging the assertion of individual human will over him- or herself, in order to harness and calibrate experiences, decisions and choices, and I strongly motivate for self-control in thought and action - it's a pretty exciting thing to be investing time and energy in, mainly because it grants you the possibility of genuine friendship with the most elusive aspect of your life: your embodied self on this earth, thoughts and all.

Once you begin to be able to change ancient patterns in your behaviour, you are rearing, or re-parenting, your self. This generates new imaginative possibilities for you - possibilities beyond imagining, so to speak. It does mean no longer tolerating stuff that once used, maybe, to be 'inevitable'.

Perhaps some of these free-flowing strands are useful to you as you navigate and build.

Blue cranes in fallow fields. Photo by Sigi Heiss.

 

 

  

Why should spring not meet with winter?