Holding the Tension of Opposites

Richard Tarnas, author of Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, writes about his upcoming workshop, Understanding our Moment in History, to be held at the Pacifica Institute in Santa Barbara in March.

“Our time is pervaded by a great paradox. On the one hand, we see signs of an unprecedented level of engaged global awareness, moral sensitivity to the human and non-human community, psychological self-awareness, and spiritually informed philosophical pluralism. On the other hand, we confront the most critical, and in some respects catastrophic, state of the Earth in human history. Both these conditions have emerged directly from the modern age, whose light and shadow consequences now affect every part of the planet.

We seem to be living at the end of an era. The past and the future are converging in our time with extraordinary force. Old structures are cracking, the moment of creative chaos is upon us, and the drama of our age has become a great question: What new principles, what new structures — social, political, economic, ecological, psychological, spiritual — will emerge to shape our future? So much is at stake. We are facing a threshold of fundamental collective transformation that bears a striking resemblance to what takes place on the individual level in initiatory rites of passage, in near-death experiences, in spiritual crises, and in critical stages of what Jung called the individuation process. Can we find a place of equilibrium, an eye in the storm, from which we can engage this time of intense polarization and radical change? And in such an era of transition, what is the role of “heroic” communities which carry principles and perspectives that run counter to the mainstream modern world view?”

This is the large view, brilliantly articulated. In my own life and in my observation of others close to me, I see paradox at work everywhere, grinding down the old structures and making space for new emergence. Many people are finding this time very intense.

A couple of stories to illustrate the intensity…

On New Year’s Day, I was preparing to offer my eighty-year-old guest, a dear friend, wise-woman and healer, a session with my new sound-work, Love Songs — Tuning the Body-Soul. This practice has evolved over many years and was particularly shaped after the recent renovations here at Grey Heron. Two months of daily meditations at the end of last year gave me the framework for the new practice, and Dorothy’s visit, on the morning of the new year, seemed a perfect time to launch the new venture.

Tidying my desk in preparation, I opened a piece of mail only to discover that I’d been caught, on camera, rolling through a red light. The fine was a whopping $325!

Here was the paradox — being reminded of ‘stopping’ just when I am about to make a great leap forward! In that moment, I was intensely aware that I could not collapse into a self-pity drama nor could I ignore this sign and fly off into some spiritual fantasy. I had to hold both realities, not just my highest aspiration. What a powerful message at the start of 2012!

Another story… While my friend was recently touring the Mayan temples, she stumbled and sprained her ankle. Visiting this sacred site was a high-point in her life, for she has a deep understanding of sacred geometry and divine architecture. Again the paradox, the agony and the ecstasy, right in the same moment. Shocked but also grasping the significance of the event, she grounded herself and focused her breath, then, reaching out to touch the ground with one hand, she ran the energy from this highly charged landscape through her body. Appreciative that she had just been shown this technique, her ankle healed much more rapidly than expected.

Marion Woodman talks about the necessity to develop our ability to hold the tension of opposites. As we hold both the darkness and the light within the fiery container of our personal lives, something new is born, a gift of Life for all.

Childbirth is a perfect example of a transformative paradox. Giving birth is painful, particularly in the final stages yet we hold steady through the labor, knowing a miracle is about to occur. We bear the agony and we delightedly anticipate the baby’s imminent appearance.

I’m also aware that we rarely give birth in isolation. Neither should we expect ourselves to always hold the tension of opposites alone. More than ever, it seems vital to seek the people and places where we are truly met and nourished. We should cultivate opportunities to be lovingly witnessed. At the same time, we need to be cautious about entertaining judgements, our own or those of others, that would compromise the birth process, for none of us can see the baby making its way into the light. We are all being worked in the fiery crucible of transformation.

May we hold steady, in the quiet moments of our aloneness and when we are together.

May we breathe through the challenging times, witnessing and encouraging each other to keep moving.

May we not collapse under the pain and stress but hold our hearts open, staying focused on what is birthing through each of us.

May we have the grace to remember that this is what we came to do, and not shy away from glory born through times of great darkness.

May we truly welcome each birth, our own and others, celebrating and protecting the new life as it emerges everywhere.

Advertisement