Then and now

I distinctly remember a conversation with my father from when I was 16 years old, where I explained to him that the development of intellect would not suffice. The evolution of a person’s mind must go hand in hand with physical development. Both aspects of our being should be adequately developed to reach higher and higher levels throughout our lifetime. That was then, and my life has been the story of trying to do just that.

Now I am fifty-three years old, and I listen to podcasts about the science of longevity. Yes, I’m that age where we “dismiss past anguishes for the hope of an uncharted future,” as Doris Kearns Goodwin says of Abraham Lincoln in her book “Team of rivals”. One has to have suffered enough in life to be able to do that, for it to make sense, don’t you think? That quote immediately struck me, it spoke to me so profoundly and I thought, have I suffered so much that I need to hear this? Probably. We all do in these troubled times. 

The world, our world, is a mess

Let’s face it, the world is a mess. Worldly chaos might infiltrate our daily lives at any moment and kill our livelihood and creativity if we don’t pay close attention. This almost happened to me this week. Check out this post for reference, but his blog, the newsletters I sent, and my communication with the people interested in what I have to say, saved me. You did—those of you who are following me here too. I am committed, I’ve taken a vow, I trust my integrity, and I hope you do too. In any case, that’s all I have. 

How world chaos messed up my integrity

The past two months have been quite difficult for us all: shootings and terrorist attacks in the streets, holocaust memorial day, soldier’s remembrance day, the war in Ukraine with no resolution and the horrors and dilemmas it brings with it, two trips to Jerusalem of the kids canceled, once for security reasons, once for an unexpected death of a 10-year-old girl two days ago. There’s more, but I’ll stop here.

This past month, I’ve been neglecting my body in that old body-mind equation—a lot of ‘mind,’ not so much body. Consequently, I was sick last week, I feel heavy, and I need to get my nutrition back on track. This is important for us people over 50. That’s just the way it goes. So I commit to that, too, in front of everybody, to go back to my healthy diet that I know and love – no sugars, no milk products, intermittent fasting, and daily exercise. 

Why is this important?

There is much more to our complexity than just body and mind. 

There’s the soul, the spirit, emotions, and consciousness of ourselves and the world around us. We are complex creatures. We must awaken our awareness of this fact, and focus on the subtleties of the relationship between the various aspects of ourselves and who we are in the world.

This is not easy, even in times of peace. We live and love and work and raise children, tend to the sick, and get sick ourselves, and then our energy is down, and we cannot give proper attention… 

Life is this overwhelming thing we need to go through every day.

Stop the world – I want to get off

When I was young, there was this musical from the beginning of the sixties by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. It was later adapted to the screen, and songs were inspired by it through the nineties and into the new Millenium. The title was a constant motive in my mind: “Stop the world; I want to get off.” 

Since then, I have been cultivating the habits of slowing down, disconnecting, and letting go. This has not been easy, for quite a long time, but in the past 10 years it’s been a blessing, and something I highly recommend exploring.

Through the years, I’ve done these in many different ways: 

• * Traveling
• * Writing
• * Meditating
• * Butoh dancing – which is meditation in movement at times
• * Trapeze swinging  
• * Just sitting in the sun and feeling it on my skin
• * Mindful eating
• * Mindful dishwashing
• * Mindful any other daily activities for that matter
• * Shamanic Journeys 
•  

There are many more ways to do this, but you get the point. 

Why is this important?

Stop the world and find the portal

The reason is that this is your portal, the one through which you get deeper into the inner aspects of your being. Suppose you get to the ‘hidden’ aspects of your complex nature. Slowing down lets you feel the movement of your thoughts, and the blood in your veins, listen to your breath, and be conscious of your relationship to the “Mah,” the energetic space around you, between you and other beings.

If you practice this long enough, you reach the soul level; you can listen to your emotions and even reach the “spiritual nature of reality.“

The secret of life lies in the awareness of the delicate, intricate relationships of the different aspects of our being.

We then possess better knowledge and acquaintance of ourselves and can put that in the service of our creative acts, whatever they may be. 

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