The most difficult thing-but an essential one-is to love Life, to love it even while one suffers, because Life is all. Life is God, and to love Life means to love God.
Leo Tolstoy
Wow! My head is full, my heart is heavy and my body is tired and sore. lol...This is an experience of dis-harmony; dis-ease and simply being out of balance. I am not settling into Self but temporarily operating from a 'driver-less' mind instead.
At the same time witness consciousness is watching, observing without judgment this human tendency within me. As a person who gets excited about learning...I am in awe as I watch myself . Even though, mind 'thinks' I would rather be or 'should' be experiencing the joy of sun and Self rather than this dense cloud cover between them...it is still so very interesting.
I guess, I am a bit in awe as an objective observer standing in the back ground of my psyche. As I look about I can see we are all in here. :) (No...I am not in a dissociative fugue("multiple personality" reaction)...I promise...lol) . I just see the different elements of Shakti at work.
I ask, "Am I closed or open to Shakti?"
It is just so cool to look at this sense of un-ease from the view of Self without attachment to it, without judgment, without a heck of a lot of words to wrap around it. It just is and because it is...it should be. There is no need to resist it, fight it, or struggle against it. This is what is unfolding in this moment and it is perfect simply because it is. The more I watch this...the more excited I get. It is so weird lol.
What is Shakti?
I wanted to get a better mental grip on what Shakti is (to appease my chattering ego). Shakti, as described by Michael Singer, is the energy of spirit that flows beneath the mind. This differs somewhat from B.K.S. Iyengar's definition that Shakti includes the mind stuff. So wanting to fully understand what I am watching inside me with the mind first, I am looking for other definitions and descriptions of it.
Dr Swami Shankardev Saraswati and Jayne Stevenson from the Yoga site Big Shakti describe it as the creative energy of the universe. They write that it is the essence of feeling good and everything that has this energy flowing trough it is alive, illuminous and desirable. Most importantly, they describe it as the foundation for consciousness...not necessarily all of consciousness but the foundation for it. When directed inward it allows us to raise our consciousness so we can become connected to something greater, to the Source and all as One. It is not our true essence...it leads us to it.
In Hinduism Shakti is personified as the Goddess of creation. The Chopra Center describes it as a divine cosmic energy that moves through the universe. It is a universal source of energy, power and creation.
In Taoist terminology it might be called Chi. In Christian terminology it might be defined as the "Holy Spirit". In ACIM it is the Holy Spirit that can lead us to our source.
So ?
Shakti...or whatever word you use to call it, is the energy that vibrates under the surface of our superficial beings. It is the Life force, the prana, the joy and bliss of our existence. It is what moves us toward the essence of who we truly are and back to God or Source . When we are open to it, feeling it, sinking into it...we feel joy, love, wellness etc. We love Life.
When mind gets in the way with its very limited degree of Shakti energy, telling us that this moment right here is not what we want for whatever it judges it as...we may be closed to it. We not love Life so much.
So even when mind attempts to convince us that the moment is "wrong" the Life force energy of Shakti still flows through us...we just cannot feel it because we are closed to it.
When we open up and allow the moment to be what it is without resisting it or struggling against it ( not closing)...we feel it, no matter what is going on around us or within us. We love Life!
Hmm! So I guess I am feeling Shakti because I am loving Life right now regardless of what she is throwing in my direction. I am excited about my new discoveries as I study self and Self in action. That is pretty cool.
References
B.K.S. Iyengar. (2014 ) Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health. New York: Penguin Random house
Michael A. Singer (2007) the untethered soul. Oakland: New Harbinger
Dr. Swami Shankardev Saraswati & Jayne Stevenson ( August 2015) What is Shakti? from Bigshaktihttps://www.bigshakti.com/what-is-shakti/.
Shakti: A Universal Force. (n.d.) Editors at The Chopra Center. https://chopra.com/article/shakti-universal-force
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