It is expected that in about 5 billion years our sun will die. Recently, the Hubble Space Telescope, trained on the planetary nebula NGC 6210 some 6,500 light years away, photographed a star, slightly less massive than our sun, suffering its last gasp.
A dying star forms a planetary nebula (actually just gas and dust, but resembles a planet when viewed from a great distance) when it expels its outer layers. In its death throes, a star spews out multiple layers, including platinum and gold electrons, in irregular patterns. In what’s known as the last breath, it leaves behind a tiny, extremely hot remnant called a white dwarf.
In an unusual parallel, romance meets empiricism, giving rise to the poetically and scientifically correct image of gold as the last dying breath of a dying star – its ultimate extinction.
I don’t know if a star breathes as such, but children (and I suppose teenagers) of the sixties fell prey to Joni Mitchell’s opinion. She sang, “We are stardust. We are golden.” Many did not know any better, but if the Sons of the Sixties had been inspired to put into practice the ideas about prana in the yoga manuals of Ernest Wood and Richard Hittleman, they would at least have realized that they were breathing. The root of the word inspiration is “inhale” and this revealing connection opens up your inner meaning and associations, as well as your potential to stimulate personal enlightenment in both the spiritual and knowing senses.
Because if inspiration, that mysterious essence that visits us in life and promotes enthusiasm, meaningful action, and connects heaven to earth, is so common, ordinary, predictable, and freely available, then why aren’t we inspired all over the world. time, or at least? as often as when we inhale?
As the ancient alchemists might have said, the philosopher’s stone of self-knowledge enables us to turn lead into gold, or our worldly humanity into our divine nature. In inner alchemy, for example, a key concept is the refinement of essential matter in vital breath and spirit. Taoists practice breathing exercises, massages, and martial arts to this end with great commitment.
In today’s New Age literature and pop psychology we are often warned that our attitude dictates our commitment to our learning potential. It manifests and expresses itself through our responses: simplistic, contemptuous, doubtful, cynical, angry, resentful. Other ways to respond to statements of truth or guidance are: strangely sad, yearning-filled (some distant longing for which you cannot find words), hesitant, hopeful, scared, hurt, relentless, fixed, or unyielding.
Like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the nearly 1,000-page authoritative manual of diagnostic criteria used by mental health professionals and insurance companies, descriptions of illnesses and diseases exceed descriptions of wellness. But detect the logic. Our attitude only produces a positive response when we become receptive, open, and insightful. However, there are a myriad of ways to sabotage this response and find our way into negativity.
And the logic is this. I drive to London, England from York. The route is to take the A64 to the A1 and then the M1 to the end. This is the route because it will get me there quickly, safely, and cheaper than any other route. However, if I take a wrong turn and take the M18 towards Sheffield just past Doncaster, I will have a detour of 20 miles or more adding time, more danger and more expense to my trip. Whether by mistake I take the M62 towards Hull or stay on the A64 towards Leeds, the result is the same. In reality, there is only one effective route.
In another uncharacteristic parallel, inner work corresponds to outer life by amplifying and reflecting the fact that one form is correct, while there are a multitude of wrong forms. Is it any wonder so many get lost and seek guidance?
“I don’t know who I am / But you know life is for learning,” Joni Mitchell sang in that stardust / gold song. Knowing who you are is the goal of personal enlightenment, as in “Who am I?” or “What is a human being?” The fundamental meaning of enlightenment is wisdom, knowledge, and there is even some connection to feathers. The word “drive” has the curious German meaning of “push from behind”, reminiscent of the Taoist concept of “leading from below.”
In an ancient Taoist story, a man feels an irrational fear that the sky will fall and destroy his home and family. He was advised by a friend that the sky was everywhere and consisted of nothing but the air in which he walked and breathed, so how could anyone fear the collapse of the sky?
The fearful man replied that if the heavens were accumulated air, then there was no danger of the stars falling. The friend replied that the stars were simply illuminated bodies of air, to which the fearful man replied, “What if the earth sank under my feet?”
His friend replied that the earth was a filling space of solid mass. “It’s everywhere,” he said, “because you can walk all day and night without ending, so how can you be afraid that it will break under your feet?” Apparently, the fearful man experienced great relief at the explanation and began to live confidently.
We are approaching a universe that breathes with the friend identifying the planets as bodies of air and the earth driving from below. To tie in that correspondence, let’s say the ancient Taoists who used to say, “Look neither to the left nor to the right,” got it right and moved on without distraction. Each time, according to an old story, they set foot on the ground and refused to take for granted the fact that there was stability and matter around their feet, so inspired by gratitude were they for the blessing of everything they needed. to be rooted. .
Perhaps they were inspired as often as they exhaled.
