A Glimpse of Synthesis
7/2/03 - Richard V. Dalke, MS
The question for us is - "How do I live my life with abundance and joy."
Do
we get there by setting goals and hard work or by giving not a thought for tomorrow and just going with the flow? Or maybe
there is another way. Have you ever noticed that life sometimes has a way of serendipitously bringing joy to us, as we are
busy paying attention to something else.
In the early 1800's a man by the name of G. F. Hegel
taught the philosophy of dialectics. Hegel stated that ideas and our levels of awareness could evolve through three steps;
a thought, a contradiction to that thought and then a higher conception that involves but transcends them both. The terms
we often use today are thesis, antithesis and synthesis. Thesis is the original thought or idea, antithesis is the opposite
and synthesis is the higher conception. The image in my mind is one of a triangle. The thesis and antithesis represent the
two ends at the base of the triangle, the synthesis represents the peak of the triangle. One example would be: passiveness:
it's opposite - aggressiveness: the synthesis; assertiveness.
Let me share a short story that
describes this process -
The thesis is doing our work, antithesis is doing God's work, synthesis; doing both with the
same action.
I first heard this at a Toastmaster's meeting. I took some poetic license with the story and made a few
changes.
In ancient Egypt a man went to work everyday. His job was to take his pot to the community
well every morning and bring it back with as much water as he could carry to fill their personal cistern for drinking and
cooking water for their home. He would make the trip several times per day, and he noticed after a while that he had a crack
in his pot, and water would dribble out. He tried everything he could think of to patch up the crack, but nothing worked.
After several weeks of this, he noticed that flowers were growing along the path he took from the well. They were pretty,
but his attention was on his goal of getting as much water as he could from the well to his home. After awhile he gave up
on trying to fix his cracked pot and just continued to do his work.
One day in his frustration at not being able to
fix the crack he went and sat before his spiritual master and asked him if somehow he had wronged God, or done some sin that
made it so he couldn't fix the crack in his pot. He was so angry that he was losing so much water, he complained to his master
that it made his job that much harder.
His master smiled and said, "you know, I noticed the water that was dripping
from your pot and so I planted the flowers along your path. They are very beautiful don't you think?"
"They
are," he answered, "but who cares about the flowers, my goal is to fill my cistern at home with as much water as
I can in a day's time, so my family will have water to drink and to cook with and to bathe in."
"You are doing
well," said the master, "continue what you are doing, God continues to smile on you."
Feeling a little
befuddled, but somehow reassured, the man continued carrying water, and bit by bit became a little less frustrated by the
leaks in his pot. He even started to pay a little more attention to the flowers and noticed indeed they were beautiful and
began appreciating them more.
Many years later, the man died and as he stood before his maker on Judgment Day, he appealed
to the Deity's compassion.
"I tried my best to reach my goals and carry as much water as I could every day - working
hard to fulfill the requirements of my job and be a pious and God fearing man."
God smiled and said - "You
have done well, my son, but it is not in the amount of water you brought home that I am most proud. It is in the beautiful
flowers that you have watered along the way."
The flowers we water along our way, are the kind words, the healing
touches, the smiles we share with others, the listening ear that brightens another's day, the joy we share. Often our work
is the action that we take; God's work is the attitude we have when we do it, doing both requires an openness to joy - a crack
in our pot.
My brother has a picture in his home, one that I have seen other places - two little girls about 3 or 4 years
of age dressed in angel costumes, standing in a doorway. One of them is staring out the door, as if she is waiting for her
cue to come out. The other one is looking down at her dress, to make sure everything is in place. They are both concentrating
on the goals they are concerned with; both are also unconsciously watering their flowers. We, the observers of the picture
are the flowers; their water is their sweetness, their adorableness, and their innocence.
Remember
our triangle? Thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
Our thesis is how most of us try to answer our original question - How
do I live my life with abundance and joy?
One definition of true abundance that I like is from David Owen Ritz's program
- The Keys to The Kingdom.
"True abundance is the power to satisfy our needs and make our dreams come true."
For most of us our needs include getting the water cistern filled up, and our dreams include watering the flowers along the
way.
This includes setting goals, working hard, staying focused; I call it the nose to the grindstone theory. Getting
as much water to the cistern as possible. I have spent much of my life pursuing that way of living. I went to college, got
a degree, wrote down hundreds of goals, and met many of them. Still something seemed to be missing. The joy, the excitement,
the ease.
Our antithesis comes from the bible.
So Jesus said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not
be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and
the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet
God feeds them. And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small
a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I
tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass which is alive
in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith! And do not
seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. For all the nations of the world seek these things,
and God knows that you need them. Instead, seek God's kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well."
I call
this way of thinking - don't worry, be happy. The beautiful flowers will be watered and will flourish, don't worry about them.
Many of us have tried to find the synthesis, the higher awareness that reconciles these two apparent contradictions.
Working hard on the one hand, don't worry on the other.
Last year at Crystal Mountain I was able to get a glimpse of
the synthesis that I have been seeking for so many years -
Through some techniques I have been
practicing, I was able to create some amazing "coincidences" that helped me answer the question of what my work
is and what is the Universe's or God's work.
I practiced all ten of the steps for manifesting what I want. Two of those
steps are #3, setting a clear intention and then #4, maintaining an attitude of positive anticipation of how the universe
would deliver. I set several intentions over the course of 4 days while we were there.
First
intention: I'd brought one of my drums to the retreat and wanted to have an opportunity to play it with others.
Second intention: my wife is allergic to bees and was hoping to find some Benadryl, as there were lots of bees around.
My intention was to help her find some Benadryl, even though the store there was closed, and we were miles away from the nearest
town.
My third intention: While on a break we went up the chair lift to the top of the mountain
where we could see Mt. Rainer and several other mountain peaks. While up there, I saw several children and a few adults holding
peanuts in their hand. Gray birds about the size of a blue jay would fly up, stop in midair and pick the peanut right out
of their hand. Just watching their flying maneuvers was magnificent. I wanted to have that experience. I didn't have any peanuts
and the little restaurant at the top of the mountain didn't sell any, so I set an intention of somehow finding something the
birds might like, so that I could have one come to me.
Intention # 4: find out what kind of birds those were.
When we let spirit orchestrate the outworking of our clear intentions, things work out in amazing ways, with no struggle
on our part. Here is what happened over the next few days.
Day one:
After registering for
the workshops, we were heading back to the condo we were staying at when three women who we didn't know were walking down
the stairs that we were heading up. Just as they got near us, I heard them talking about setting up a drumming circle that
weekend. I got that little tingle inside myself that told me that spirit was communicating. I told them that I heard them
talking about drumming and that I'd brought one of my drums. They told me they'd be more than happy to let me know where and
when, and that I'd be welcome to join them. The next day I got to drum with a group of dancers and singers.
Day 2: My wife put up a notice on the community bulletin board next to the meeting area that she was looking for
some Benadryl. We hadn't gotten any responses so far. I was heading to the men's room during a break in the program. Just
as I went past the community bulletin board a lady there mentioned to a friend that she wished she knew how to get a hold
of the person who needed the Benadryl, as she had some. I heard her and told her that it was my wife. She didn't have it on
her but was willing to bring it to us the next day. Just then, my wife walked by and I introduced them to each other.
Day three:
We were on the peak of the mountain and couldn't find anything to offer the birds to attract them
to us. We were getting ready to give up and leave when we decided to use the restrooms that were next to the chair lift. On
my way out of the men's room, I saw a Cheese-it lying in the hallway. When my wife came out, I showed it to her and we thought
the birds might go for it. We split the Cheese-it in two and each of us stood up on the top of the ridge, holding the Cheese-it
between our thumb and forefinger. In about two minutes, a gray bird flew up to me and landed on my hand and looked at me for
about 5 or 6 seconds. He didn't even take the Cheese-it. He just looked at me and then flew away. It felt magical.
Day
4:
I'd asked several people on the mountaintop if they knew what kind of birds those were; no one knew. Later, as we
were checking out of our condominium, I noticed a laminated sheet on the checkout desk. It had dozens of pictures of the local
flowers that grew in the area. I picked it up and underneath it was a sheet of pictures of the local birds. I saw one that
looked just like the bird on the mountain - a Clark's Nutcracker. I asked the lady at the desk and she confirmed that that
was the right one.
All of these intentions were satisfied easily, without struggle.
We need to open our awareness a crack so that the universe can create through us. How do we find joy and abundance
- by setting a clear intention and allowing the universe to manifest them.
It is our job to set clear intentions, it
is the universe's job to manifest them. We need to remain at the appropriate vibration to allow that to happen. I call that
vibration positive anticipation.
Start at the level that you can feel positive energy for.
Start with small goals and dreams. Sometimes when you have a large ship tied to the docks, they have huge ropes that are
tied to the ship. Because they are too big to throw overboard for a coworker to grab, the large rope is connected to consecutively
smaller ropes, until there is a small enough one for a shipmate to throw to someone on the dock. The person on the dock who
grabs the smallest rope begins to pull, which bit by bit pulls in the larger and larger ropes until the big one is on the
dock and they can secure the ship to the pilings.
Often our dream or goal is too large of a rope to start with. When
we start at too high a level, our inner critics harangues us, telling us we'll never make it happen, that it's unrealistic,
it's impossible, etc. We need to start with an intention we can sustain an attitufe of positive intention with.
I would like to finish with a poem from a 13th century poet - Rumi.
The breeze at dawn
has secrets to tell you
Don't go back to sleep
You must ask for what you really want
Don't go back to sleep
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
Where the two worlds touch
The door is round and open
Don't
go back to sleep.
