Articles
Birthing the fifth dimension
The old economic and political systems
no longer work, they are collapsing around us.
Sometimes it takes a kick in the pants to wake us up. The kick in the
pants has so far been the effects of financial collapse. Thai tolerance
and adaptability have served us well. What happens here and in South-east
Asia generally will be the model for a new way of life. If we in the
East can remain centred in our integrity and caring for those around
us, we can lead the way to new mutually beneficial ways of being.
Thai people have vast agricultural resources and a deeply ingrained
sense of community spirit together with a healthy regard for the sovereignty
of each person. Add to this a centuries old tradition of accessing the
inner wealth of the spirit and you have the elements necessary to generate
a phoenix...the mythical bird of regeneration and rebirth.
Looked at from a wider perspective, what we are experiencing here is
the birth pangs of the fifth dimensional consciousness. The fifth dimensional
consciousness is a way of living in the world which perceives and understands
the physical universe both within and beyond the limitations of linear
time and is also fired by compassion and the sense of being one with
all. While it accepts the right of each to determine his or her own
destiny, it also sees how we are all interdependent in terms of natural
resources and also in terms of the deep empathetic mind link between
beings.
What we think and what we believe determines how we live and ultimately
affects our environment. Each person sets his or her own energy resonator
in motion whenever he or she thinks, speaks or acts. Groups working
together magnify those energies to many times the sum of the individual
contributors.
Groups are already working together to pool resources and energies.
They need to have a direction as a focus for those energies. At present
we are undergoing massive changes and each of us is trying to survive.
The existing power groups are also trying to survive.
Looking at the not too distant past. Somdej Phra Phuttajan (Arj Asokmahaten),
who later became the acting Sangharaja (the highest ranking monk in
Thailand), was jailed from the April 20, 2503 to August 30, 2509 for
helping people to discover the truth within themselves. He sent monks
out all over the country and abroad to promote Vipassana meditation.
That was one of the most subversive things you could do, because it
enabled people to go within and find the deepest truth within themselves.
When people can centre like this they are not easily manipulated by
the powers that be. Their votes cannot be bought. Their hearts cannot
be bought. They are not swayed by media manipulation or peer pressure
because they have recourse to inner peace. A mind that is centred and
peaceful has a spontaneous uprising of joy and compassion. Such a person
will not react to adversity with fear or panic. Inner wisdom is his
guide.
When many people countrywide started to practise in this way, it was
seen to be a threat to the status quo. Somdej (a high rank) Phra Phuttajan
was accused of being a communist and was sent to jail. When I met him
years later, his radiance filled the Viharn (meeting hall) of Wat Mahadhatu
(the name of a temple in Bangkok). The incredible power of the peace
radiating out from the then acting Sangharaja was palpable. The power
of the truth cannot be stopped. And the power of the transformation
that is arising within the hearts of the Thai people cannot be stopped.
When jobs in the factories disappear how do the young Thai people from
the provinces react? Here is an observation from a long time resident
of Bangkok. 'The next day I set off to visit my friend¹s family.
They live in a tiny hamlet 25 kilometers from Khorat. It was fascinating
to see all the nephews and nieces who had returned from lost jobs in
factories now building simple shelters around the parents' home. The
place was teeming with children and the sound of laughter. Everyone
was also pitching in bringing in the rice harvest. Thailand's rural
diaspora appears to have gone into reverse.'¹
People are being laid off. Many who have been too busy to take any time
out for themselves can think about what it really important in their
lives. They do not have to force themselves into a pattern dictated
by external factors. They have time to breathe.
The educationalists are seeing a difference in the way that would-be
university students are applying for courses. They are no longer going
for the fashionable subjects such as mass communications or engineering.
Instead they are applying to study biology and agriculture, subjects
which are based on real basic needs of the community not the emphemeral
creations of fashion.
When you have time to be with yourself and go within, a wonderful thing
can happen. You begin to connect with the reservoir of peace within
and you can hear your inner self.
When you know what your real needs are and you are in tune with your
own balance, you will not act in a way that will harm yourself or others.
Thailand is a Buddhist county and most people are familiar with the
five precepts. The five precepts do not only tell us what not to do.
They also indicate harmonious ways to coexist with others. They are
built upon the universal principle of harmlessness and loving kindness.
When keeping the Five Precepts not only do we not steal, we also give
Dana (financial or other help).
Not only do we not tell lies, we also speak out in a way that is inspiring,
supporting and helpful.
We do not simply avoid committing adultery but we show our love and
caring through our most intimate relations with our partners. This enables
us to grow together in the wondrous expression of reciprocal sharing
in sexual expression. Through this deep sharing many energy blockages
can be released enabling us to develop emotionally and spiritually.
It can only happen in a situation of mutual trust.
Not only do we not take drink and drugs which cloud the mind, but we
live in a way which will promote well-being for our physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual well being. In the same way as we avoid foods
which contain carcinogens and toxins, we also avoid mental food which
can disturb the mind.
Have you ever picked up a popular newspaper printed in a foreign country?
It can seem quite strange when you look at the content of the stories.
As a non-resident of that country, you are not familiar with the background
to the stories or the trends of fashion there. Sometimes when you read
the stories, they seem quite irrelevant to your personal experience.
But to the people who read that paper regularly, the stories appear
relevant and important. When you become unquestioningly caught up in
the web of familiarity, it seems relevant and important. When you mentally
step outside that web for a while you can see it with new eyes.
By not watching the TV or listening to the radio, you can step outside
the information which is bombarding your senses almost continuously.
Another way is to take quiet time for yourself, spending it in contemplation
or meditation, examining which is already in your field of awareness
without adding more sights, sounds and diversions to it.
The mass media may be controlling how you think and feel, by simply
filling your awareness space. I was quite shocked when I first arrived
in Thailand, to see households where the children had no shoes, roofs
had holes and everyone was painfully thin, yet they had their TV on,
seemingly non stop. How many people do you know who turn on the TV almost
as soon as they arrive home? In the west too, boredom is equated to
some terrible disease.
Generally, the mass media are controlled by those who have money (eg.
big businesses) or power (government agencies). It is in their interests
to create desire for their products or services via the media.
Now with development of user-based communications technology, people
have greater control over where they access information and are able
to verify that information from many sources. Some examples of user-based
communications systems are mobile phones, the Internet, faxes and to
some extent cable TV, especially where it is interactive or where there
are community TV opportunities.
Central control leads to a limitation of opportunity. We can only receive
what someone else has decided to show us. When you use systems such
as mobile phones or the Internet you can bypass the paths of central
control.
During the last coup here in Thailand, it was young business people
with their mobile phones who got the news out about what was happening.
Martial music on the TV and radio and blank-paged newspapers could no
longer hide the truth from the people. At the time of writing, both
the computer industry and those who use the Internet are protesting
the move to impose central control on the Internet in Thailand.
Even if controls are imposed, there are other ways to communicate and
the Thai people with their age long culture of Bhavana or mental development
are uniquely placed to make use of these. There are mind links between
people a group vision is emerging which is to be felt in the heart centres
of the earth first. Thailand is one of the heart centres. And here and
simultaneously all over the world, individuals and groups, some religious
others environmental or concerned with healing in many forms, are pooling
their mental energy to promote peace on earth.
Stated in Buddhist terms they seek to bring the essence of the Lord
Buddha alive in the hearts of all men. They wish to manifest the great
qualities of the Lord Buddha, wisdom, purity and compassion in their
daily lives, in the way they interact with families, friends and colleagues.
Stated in Christian terms they wish to provide suitable conditions for
the arising of the Christ consciousness in the hearts of men. Together
we are birthing a new way of being, a new dimension of existence based
on truth, compassion and love.
The determination and responsibility for a new world order and each
person¹s experience of happiness lies with that person.
Scientists no longer pretend to observe anything with complete objectivity.
The mind which observes has an effect on the object being observed and
the quality of that mind colours the observation. In Vipassana meditation
the practitioner observes the body and mind in the dynamic ever-changing
vitality of present experience. He comes to see how experiences, sensations,
feelings and thoughts arise and pass away. He sees how every fleeting
moment of consciousness is dependent upon others and how all is interrelated
and interdependent.
The doctrine of Paticcasamupada (Dependent Origination) details the
process of the arising of each moment of consciousness dependent upon
conditions. It also shows how the process can be cut so that freedom
from ignorance can be attained. It is ignorance that causes unsatisfactoriness
in its myriad forms to arise in our experience. Although it is possible
to memorize and analyse the doctrine and understand it intellectually,
it is only when the process is experienced within the conscious living
laboratory of one¹s being, that it can cut through the Gordian
knot of ignorance and unsatisfactoriness.
In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the images if Indra¹s jewelled net is
used to show **the infinite variety of interactions and intersections
of all things. The net is woven of an infinite variety of brilliant
gems, each with countless facets. Each gem reflects in itself every
other gem in the net, and its images is reflected in each other gem.¹
In each gem moment of consciousness all the other gems are reflected.
Within each mind moment we affect the consciousness of others. In the
same way that the resonance of a pure, high note can set glasses singing,
so our thoughts and actions set up waves of conditioned reaction within
our environment.
People who live in contact with Buddhism grow up with an understanding
of the laws of cause and effect. A good action will eventually produce
a beneficial result and vice versa. Sometimes the result may not be
immediately obvious - in fact it may take lifetimes to manifest, but
eventually it will manifest.
It is a principle of physics that energy can neither be created nor
destroyed. Energy can only be transformed from one form into another.
Centreing and allowing the experience of the present moment to come
into your awareness, acknowledging it and letting it go when it has
run its course, purifies energy. This transforms the energy, you the
experiencer (for wisdom has arisen) and all who come into contact with
you.
Everything we think, everything we feel, everything we say and do constitutes
a form of energy.
Each of us is a powerful energy emitter in every waking or sleeping
moment¹. The way in which we emit that energy attracts people and
experiences which are resonating on the same frequency. Like attracts
like. When we are in a state of vibrant balance and vital peace, we
will attract to ourselves more of the same.
So each inner transformation affects the wholeness of being. When individuals
tune into inner peace, the effect is felt around them When groups come
together and focus their combined energy, the effect resonates throughout
the Earth.
Many groups are working together for personal transformation and world
healing. Many of those groups synchronise world healing sessions to
magnify the effect. This is not new. Since 1946 groups worldwide have
synchronised their meditations with the exact time of the full moon.
They use the 'Great Invocation¹ which focuses on the reemergence
of love, light and divine will on earth. What is different now, is that
the coordination network of groups have expanded tremendously in the
speed of communication, the breadth of contact and the urgency of the
task. Through Internet links, fax links and satellite technology, healers
in Australia coordinate with native Americans in Rochester New York,
psychologists in Bali and monks in Bangkok.
At times of equinoxes and solstices there is an increase in concentrated
effort. Whenever peace is threatened or there is a disaster, energy
is sychronously directed to that place. Each positive thought resonates
through the jewelled net of world consciousness.
Planetary Activation Groups are forming, they are 'spiritually committed
defenders of earth¹s environment.¹ One such group states 'What
characterizes this period is our need to connect with ourselves and
with each other. Consciousness is currently expanding on our planet
and we are now looking for a truly acceptable way of applying this new-found
reality.¹
Each time you listen with openness to those around you and you dare
to speak out about how you feel in the 'wake up¹ situation of financial
instability you find yourself in, there is the potential for the beginning
of a new group.
At this time, the repercussions of the financial situation are being
felt across the country. People are being shaken awake. Working together
with tolerance and compassion we can create a way of life which is far
more happiness-giving and coherent than anything which existed before.
From the still centre of your heart arises the energy of light and love
and joy. These set up a resonance field which can birth a new dimension
of being - the fifth dimension.
Here a member of a world healing group attempts to convey something
of the vastness of the interaction being effected on a world scale.
Each person in the group would have had a slightly different but complimentary
experience.
After the initial calming and alignment of attention within the group,
we consciously connected with the centre of the Earth and the energy
fields surrounding the Earth. As concentration effortlessly deepens
awareness becomes refined and I become simultaneously aware of the microcosm
of personal being and the macrocosm of the interconnections within a
universal oneness. I was observing the alignment of the planets of the
solar system, the galaxy and even our universe from a place beyond yet
within those..... yet I was also rooted in the body - and the whole
permeated with love. That love was self arising from the little child's
heart within me, and within the hearts and awareness of all those who
participated. It is our separation which defined and gave consciousness
to the oneness.
Which newborn child does not feel love for his mother. And which mother
would not willingly and joyfully undergo the labour of birth for a loved
child?
What we are experiencing here and now in South-east Asia are the birth
pangs of an enhanced consciousness which is born from the love and wisdom
of awakening humanity.
Quotes taken from
** From The sun in my heart by Thich Nhat Hanh
From The light shall set you free by Dr Norma Milanovich and Dr Shirley
McCune.