In an interview published Fall 2006 in Unified Energetics, my teacher Lonny Jarrett was asked: “In your experience, how do you balance compassionately meeting patients where they are while simultaneously pointing to something beyond their development?”
His response is the basis for my blog title - Direct Transmission - as the personal development for the sake of my patients which he speaks of has become my primary focus and challenge over the last three years I have studied with him:
“... What I try to do with patients is to make a connection between whatever it is they’re complaining about, and how they behave and what they believe. Ultimately, so they can see that they are making choices and are not victims. What I find is – to paraphrase my teacher, Andrew – everyone wants to get better but nobody wants to change ...
“...I think the goal is less to meet the patient where he or she is and more to push myself to live what I know. Consciousness is directly transmittable. If I have a higher perspective, because I’ve seen more, and I’m living up to it, this creates an “evolutionary tension” a natural pull in the best part of a patient that wants to come further ...
“... One thing for sure is that if we’re really mostly aligned with the sensitive part of ourselves that needs to be handled delicately, that victimized self, then we’re not going to take anyone else on. If we think that we as practitioners are these sensitive selves that can only take so much, and that we don’t want to be judged or held to live up to anything, then we’re sure not going to do that with patients.”
I played around with a bunch of different possible titles, but what made my decision is the Chinese characters that compose the concept of “direct transmission”. For anyone who has not studied Chinese, the strokes of each single word is a story unto itself.
“Direct transmission” is composed of four characters, each with their own virtuous story, and some that, when combined, take on an exciting additional meaning. The story told by these characters speaks to the fundamental principles of Chinese Medicine in an evolutionary context that Lonny points to in the above referenced quote.
I'm sure if I broke down these characters further into their individual radicals, an even more exciting story of Evolutionary Enlightenment would unfold, but since I have not yet unpacked my radicals dictionary, we will just have to examine the words in their entirety for now:
直 zhí: upright, straight, vertical, just
接 jiē: access, to connect or extend
直接: direct, immediacy, with urgency
Our first character symbolizes the upright stance of man between Heaven and Earth. He is the creator of consciousness, and his duty is to achieve vertical development for the sake of what is right and just and will serve the cosmos.
Our second character is the explosion of positive energy – he cannot simply evolve by sitting still, he must extend out and connect with others.
When combining these two characters to form the word “direct” there is an urgency that is added to the mission – not tomorrow, but right now in this very moment. The ego wants more time, always, but the Authentic Self is ready to change and move straight ahead in an instant.
传 chuán: to express, hand down, teach, transmit
输 shū: transportation, delivery, transfusion
传输: transmission
In our first character, through his own struggle to remain upright and evolve vertically in the world, man becomes a teacher to others. His actions speak louder than his words, and unless he is willing to take on the teachings himself and live them, they will not be received by his students. He must transmit them.
In our second character, the lesson is delivered and received by transfusion which can only occur when the teacher has embodied the teaching. This transfusion involves a giving of one's own self - the blood, the virtues that he already contains within himself.
And so consciousness can only be directly transmitted to others if one is living up to what one already knows himself. As much as we all want to struggle with this bold statement, because it requires an amount of honesty and effort that is often mind-blowingly uncomfortable, the reality of this truth plays out time and time again in my own treatment room. When I am focused on changing the patient, nothing happens. But every time I let go of this external focus and turn the mirror upon myself and my own shortcomings, something radical happens in the treatment room. As I take on the personal challenges I know I need to change and improve in my own life, my patients suddenly become alive, excited and motivated to do the same for themselves. It is a direct transmission of consciousness - and it's available to every one of us if we are willing to do the work.
January 2, 2010
January 1, 2010
A Public Event
For a long time I have privately chronicled my thoughts and intellectual developments. I even went so far for a few years to keep a secret online blog, mostly filled with personal drama that reflected the self-indulgent height of my moral maturity. It contained, amongst the many tails of silliness and other trivial squabbles that teenage girls are prone to focus on, several choice entries of real, serious philosophical inquiry that showed a glimpse of the larger context upon which my thoughts were often focused at that time.
But when a server crash erased over a year's worth of unbacked entries, I was completely devasted by the loss of so much mental production. I swore off journals, blogs and writing as a whole.
Over the last year, however, as I have made a serious commitment to examining and living the virtues of an Evolutionary Enlightment (EE) teaching, I have found myself spending countless hours composing in my mind my observations and corresponding but ever changing conclusions about health, spirtuality and moral obligations. This teaching, and the time I have spent contemplating its implications has by far and large revolutionized my work as an acupuncturist and practitioner of Chinese Medicine (CM). I have received most flattering praise and positive feedback about my skills in the treatment room which I attribute 90% of to the learnings and practice of the EE teachings introduced into my life three years ago by my teacher - a leading edge scholar of CM and the spiritual practice of medicine.
But while I have been eagerly applying this newfound knowledge and understanding of CM to the treatment room, I have continued to shy away from producing any written works of substance on the matter. I could lie to myself and others by saying that it all stems from the trauma of losing so much of my previous amateur work. But in my increasing wisdom and ability to view my actions in a more honest light, I know this is simply an excuse of the ego. The real reason being a fear of judgement - the ego always wants to look good - and fear of making a mistake - as that which I observe and write today should (if I am really seriously engaging at the edge of postmodern consciousness) appear to be naive and foolish in a year, two years, ten years time as my understanding and thus wisdom deepens.
But no one wants to appear naive or foolish - not in a public realm, right? So why I have I committed to beginning a new, fully public blog in which to record and share my observations?
The answer lies in the New Year's Address for 2010 published and discussed in a live webcast today by Andrew Cohen. The address was entitled: "Making a Statement" and what struck me was Andrew's assertion:
"... [I]f you are the highest expression, as far as we know, of the leading edge of the entire evolutionary unfolding, then what you do is always a reflection of the process itself. The way in which you engage with the world is a statement about how you see and understand the process that gave life to you. The expression of your own humanity—your greater or lesser degree of inspired moral development, higher virtue, and spiritual enlightenment—is an expression of what the leading edge of the process actually is. Your life—the life you are living right now—is a public event, an evolutionary event, an event that says something significant about Life itself. The way you are, as an individual, is your personal contribution to what evolution looks like here and now."
... Your life is a public event ...
Let that soak in a bit. A PUBLIC event.
Even if we'd like to believe we are living in private; even if our focus is so narrow sighted that we cannot see beyond our own private world of personal events, that which we think, say, and do on a daily basis - every moment - is a reflection, a declaration of what life is in and of itself. We define life and reality by our choices. We define humanity by our actions. Even when no one else is looking, we are creating a statement about what it means to be living a human life.
And that statement can never be anything but public because it creates reality and reality te public sphere in which all human beings exist and interact.
Andrew went on to say: "So when you begin to recognize that your own presence here in this world is part of something infinitely bigger than yourself, you feel a sense of obligation awakening within you—a spiritually inspired obligation to be the very best you can be for the sake of the process itself."
I'm not sure yet what "the very best I can be" looks like - it's a concept I've been really struggling to grasp for the last year now - since the time that my teacher called me to step up to the plate and decide "what I really want to do". I knew the answer the moment he asked me the question, but the immediate questions that followed in my mind - how do I do it; how can I do it; who am I to have such great aspirations for mankind and who am I to believe I could actually accomplish any of them - these still remain unanswered as I face my own overwhelming self-doubt complicated by equally narcissistic pride.
But without the final answer, I do feel as though I have a good idea where to start - and that start begins with writing and sharing my thoughts and experiences with CM and EE in a public way that serves to benefit and inspire others - at the risk of my ego looking less than perfect from time to time (or most of the time).
So with that I begin this blog and publish my first entry. May 2010 be a year of great cultivation and evolution for all.
But when a server crash erased over a year's worth of unbacked entries, I was completely devasted by the loss of so much mental production. I swore off journals, blogs and writing as a whole.
Over the last year, however, as I have made a serious commitment to examining and living the virtues of an Evolutionary Enlightment (EE) teaching, I have found myself spending countless hours composing in my mind my observations and corresponding but ever changing conclusions about health, spirtuality and moral obligations. This teaching, and the time I have spent contemplating its implications has by far and large revolutionized my work as an acupuncturist and practitioner of Chinese Medicine (CM). I have received most flattering praise and positive feedback about my skills in the treatment room which I attribute 90% of to the learnings and practice of the EE teachings introduced into my life three years ago by my teacher - a leading edge scholar of CM and the spiritual practice of medicine.
But while I have been eagerly applying this newfound knowledge and understanding of CM to the treatment room, I have continued to shy away from producing any written works of substance on the matter. I could lie to myself and others by saying that it all stems from the trauma of losing so much of my previous amateur work. But in my increasing wisdom and ability to view my actions in a more honest light, I know this is simply an excuse of the ego. The real reason being a fear of judgement - the ego always wants to look good - and fear of making a mistake - as that which I observe and write today should (if I am really seriously engaging at the edge of postmodern consciousness) appear to be naive and foolish in a year, two years, ten years time as my understanding and thus wisdom deepens.
But no one wants to appear naive or foolish - not in a public realm, right? So why I have I committed to beginning a new, fully public blog in which to record and share my observations?
The answer lies in the New Year's Address for 2010 published and discussed in a live webcast today by Andrew Cohen. The address was entitled: "Making a Statement" and what struck me was Andrew's assertion:
"... [I]f you are the highest expression, as far as we know, of the leading edge of the entire evolutionary unfolding, then what you do is always a reflection of the process itself. The way in which you engage with the world is a statement about how you see and understand the process that gave life to you. The expression of your own humanity—your greater or lesser degree of inspired moral development, higher virtue, and spiritual enlightenment—is an expression of what the leading edge of the process actually is. Your life—the life you are living right now—is a public event, an evolutionary event, an event that says something significant about Life itself. The way you are, as an individual, is your personal contribution to what evolution looks like here and now."
... Your life is a public event ...
Let that soak in a bit. A PUBLIC event.
Even if we'd like to believe we are living in private; even if our focus is so narrow sighted that we cannot see beyond our own private world of personal events, that which we think, say, and do on a daily basis - every moment - is a reflection, a declaration of what life is in and of itself. We define life and reality by our choices. We define humanity by our actions. Even when no one else is looking, we are creating a statement about what it means to be living a human life.
And that statement can never be anything but public because it creates reality and reality te public sphere in which all human beings exist and interact.
Andrew went on to say: "So when you begin to recognize that your own presence here in this world is part of something infinitely bigger than yourself, you feel a sense of obligation awakening within you—a spiritually inspired obligation to be the very best you can be for the sake of the process itself."
I'm not sure yet what "the very best I can be" looks like - it's a concept I've been really struggling to grasp for the last year now - since the time that my teacher called me to step up to the plate and decide "what I really want to do". I knew the answer the moment he asked me the question, but the immediate questions that followed in my mind - how do I do it; how can I do it; who am I to have such great aspirations for mankind and who am I to believe I could actually accomplish any of them - these still remain unanswered as I face my own overwhelming self-doubt complicated by equally narcissistic pride.
But without the final answer, I do feel as though I have a good idea where to start - and that start begins with writing and sharing my thoughts and experiences with CM and EE in a public way that serves to benefit and inspire others - at the risk of my ego looking less than perfect from time to time (or most of the time).
So with that I begin this blog and publish my first entry. May 2010 be a year of great cultivation and evolution for all.
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