STATEMENTS FROM A PLACE OF HUMILITY. HAVE I GONE MAD?
On the love that exists between each and every one of the elements in the infinite systems that make up creation experiencing existential romance.
Even though I don’t know exactly who I am, I recognize that I’m a living system, part of many other systems. As an integral part of them, I would like to make a statement that nothing has to do with the one made in the 2008 article “STATEMENTS OF AN ARROGANT PERSON,” in which I spoke as an individual system about my own self-improvement and aspects of my evolution. Now, I would like to make STATEMENTS FROM A PLACE OF HUMILITY. These come from a minuscule element, one that—beyond its own self-acceptance—has understood the interconnection between all things, no matter their characteristics. I have written these lines fully aware of my smallness, of the fact that I’m just a part of an immense whole. I feel neither arrogant nor humble; these are just lenses that allow me to see things in me and others. Arrogance allows me to look inwards and humility, outwards. These two perceptions are healthy and necessary in order to transcend internal and external limitations.
Join me in taking a pure look to the outside, to existence and the systems that make it what it is. That is how we can fall in love with everything: experiencing pure humility, which does not seek recognition from others.
The love story between instability and equilibrium
In this existence, some romances are a bit weird. I challenge you to understand them.
Both an atom and a galaxy are systems, and everything in between the smallest and the biggest things are systems that coexist. A body is a system, and also a disease. Sometimes, they fall out of balance and create other internal systems. That is the case for diseases or psychological suffering: they coexist with health and happiness, and they tip the balance one way or another. A healing game of trial and error.
Both elements, those that bring balance and those that have the opposite effect, are necessary. They coexist and complement each other. Similarly, everything is chaos because that is the constant movement of order. Everything is constantly being modified into a different new configuration. Consequently, order is chaos and chaos is order: this is the secret of creativity and creation. Chaos and instability are playing the same game that order and balance are. Love is an expression of that dichotomy. In reality, all elements that are part of a system are eternal lovers who face and find each other, who fight and bond over and over again to bring diversity and evolution.
Each system—big or small—is, in turn, an element inside of another bigger system. Even though it may seem miraculous and incomprehensible, all systems in existence are governed by the same wisdom, as if there were a superior intelligence over and above all of them. To me, that wisdom or intelligence is love.
A city is a system, but also a political party, a religion, a bank, a family, a neighborhood, a company or any other organization. A beehive or a building, a human house or an ant’s nest, an ocean, a mountain range or the weather: they are all systems. Consequently, they are all guided and powered by the same energy that tries to destabilize them over and over again. The difference between systems resides in their capability to keep their components in balance. When a system falls out of balance (something allowed by love), automatic mechanisms are activated to bring it back. Love itself guides all these. It is just a matter of time and patience for balance to be regained. Love allows for everything to be put to the test.
In every system, there are infinite mechanisms that control stability and prevent them from falling out of balance, or rather bring them back into it when it’s lost. Given the fact that all systems are naturally unstable, constant movements and adjustments are necessary: a permanent homeostasis. Thermostats continuously monitor the temperature of these systems and activate one mechanism or another, to manage conflict or harmony and keep them stable. Equilibrium is an infinitesimal point that is continuously changing, moving around, never fixed or blocked. It is not static but variable. It is the very essence that governs all systems in existence: destabilizing and balancing. Those of us who are aware of this can be of service to the systems we belong to. We may be agents that destabilize or that bring balance. But love is always going to guide and impose order.
You hold a system in your own hands
Those of us behind INNER MASTERY, AYAHUASCA INTERNACIONAL AND OTHER COMPANIES IN THE GROUP think of them as a system. Those behind the parent company are different systems as well, and each retreat we organize is a system in itself. These systems are made up of all of those who collaborate: partners, directors, managers, teachers, consultants, experts, facilitators, integrators, participants, students… Some of them invest, others work, pay, collect, collect and pay. Some are readers who read, and many others criticize our work. They all have a place in this system. That is why we actively look to create bonds with each of these elements, to create a common vibration, which is the basis for harmony. We are not separate; we are one. We get involved in the processes that make up this living organism, and our clients, in order to observe and assess what they value or need.
And yet something continues to happen both to my associate Paula Carmona and to me, over and over again: we are visited by an energy that is disheartening. It puts on many faces, such as lack of motivation, exhaustion, annoyance, frustration, and sometimes it’s a force that pushes us towards instability and lack of control. All of these converge in that disheartening feeling. But then, powerful forces appear to bring back balance. To finish this article, I would like to deal with this in depth.
The tragedy is a lack of connection
The disheartening feeling I mentioned above appears when there is a lack of connection between an element and its system. When an element decides to isolate itself, or when some elements exclude others. But this does not only happen with human beings. Planets in our solar system cannot feel disheartened since they are slaves that must unconditionally abide by the laws of physics, which command them to be connected and available. Human beings, on the contrary, have free will and thus can become disheartened. The great challenge for humankind is not to become disheartened even when our mind gives us plenty of reasons to do so.
When do we suffer from a lack of connection? And why?
Life seems to be full of situations that tempt us to distance ourselves from the source of all life, as if each moment were a test to see if we are firmly rooted and conscious of that sense of belonging. Suddenly, something happens, and we reject it or complain anxiously because it doesn’t arrive when we want it to. To become disheartened means that we cease to recognize and be thankful for all that existence sends our way or puts us through. It means that we may even reproach creation or God for not sending us what we desire. It is arguing with the origin, turning against it and being in a state of disagreement with the system that we belong to and in which we serve a purpose. To become disheartened is to be at war with our parents, to be unable to forgive them from our hearts. It is to be ungrateful to those who gave us opportunities.
To be present in existence implies that at all times we are playing a role, and that is why it is said that existence needs us as we are. When we disconnect from creation, we are isolating ourselves because we feel that everything external to us is hostile and dangerous. We remain emotionally detached and are forced to create imaginary realities in order to survive such a disaster. When we encapsulate ourselves, we create an allegedly autonomous being: the SELF. It is also a system, in which elements such as personality, character, temperament, ego, defense mechanisms, masks and lies are vital. It is a profoundly destabilizing system for human life because the Self creates an identity divorced from existence. It is the root of our suffering: to be disheartened because we interpret that we are separate from existence. We have to be careful: if we expel or murder that Self, that imbalance will only deepen. The key to regaining balance is taking back the power it holds over our being. It is recovering the power of our heart. This means consciously reconnecting with existence through love.
In harmony with all systems
To love is to be in harmony with your environment. Osho stated: “Love is not a relationship but something that connects us with everything.”
It seems that the Earth and the human heart are tilted at an angle of 13 degrees. Coincidence or synchronization? It may be evidence that our heart beats in tune with this Earth that we live in, very much in the same way that the Earth moves to the Sun’s rhythm and the solar system to that of the Milky Way. The same is true for other galaxies and even parallel and invisible dimensions and universes. Infinity has no origin or end, no limit. Consequently, being aware of our part in this eternity, in the face of immensity, must humble us.
This consciousness of how insignificant I am makes me humble because I have understood that humility means keeping my heart open, as opposed to yielding and disheartening myself. It means keeping my connection to all the systems I am a part of. Humility allows me to see how small I am in the face of the greatness of existence. Arrogance makes me see my greatness over my limitations. Humility unveils how small I am in the face of all Creation. Arrogance is as important within the system of a person who wants to improve themself, as humility is for becoming a part of everything.
In the same way, that disheartening gestates imbalance. An open heart allows us to be open, to surrender, to ask for forgiveness and to accept whatever may come. It is supreme alchemy: transforming into joy and flowing.
We are here, we are alive, and we are conscious of our possibility to choose. Why don’t we choose to open our hearts? Only if we look to the outside without judging and interpreting and use the purity of our heart, we may be able to allow existence to welcome us. Any imbalance we may have is resolved when the intelligence of the great creating system possesses us.
This is the dance of existence and the orgasm of living when we witness the great power of that supreme being at work in our hearts. It is thrilling!
It is not necessary to fight against the current; there is no sense in trying to oppose the purpose of a system so massive it integrates everything else and knows exactly what it does, guided by love. If you join the creative current, you will end up healing, because that is the ultimate purpose of love.
Ultimately, we will never leave this existence; there is no escape. We are eternal, and in the face of that greatness, everything else feels insignificant. When we intend to evolve, harmonizing with existence and understanding it as it presents itself in our lives, a tumultuous love flows from our hearts, and we can look to the outside at all things and beings and declare: “THANK YOU. YOU ARE PERFECT; YOU COULDN’T BE BETTER. I LOVE YOU.” That infinite voice that travels faster than light will reach every corner of existence and return to us accompanied by all Creation, unified in our very own hearts. That is integration. That is how healing reaches the human heart.
Let’s let it happen over and over again. Everything regains balance; we just have to open ourselves to that marvelous system of love: we belong to it and we are its’ creators.
Alberto Varela