Envisioning GaiaMind in Unison 1-23 1997
It is critical to understand the difference between recognizing a potential opportunity and concretely predicting the future. This pattern represents an energetic opportunity, an alignment of forces which we might choose to use to our advantage. But, just as it is critical to know which way the wind is blowing in a sail boat race, that knowledge by itself will not win the race; it is then a matter of the skill and determination of the sailor. So too with the human race, as we attempt to traverse this our most critical passage through the neck of the hourglass of history.
It will not be enough to act just outwardly, nor just inwardly, in these times. The scale of the despair and suffering we face is unparalleled in human history - yet so too is the potential. The challenge seems to be to at once actively imagine the most positive possible outcome, while at the same time facing that which is before us. Envisioning the best is no excuse for failing to face reality and act with courage and compassion in the face of it.
Yet, by some strange paradox of existence it often seems that the instructions for proactive magic are something like this: Actively imagine how everything that 'is' could turn out to be part of a most positive possible outcome. At the same time, fully accept the despair of reality, as it seems not to be that way at all. Surrender fully to acceptance of what 'is'. Then, sometimes, and in my own experience increasingly often, just after you surrender - what you had originally imagined manifests itself. This little exercise is cast entirely in the ethereal plane of intention and awareness and thus leaves out critical steps involving hard work on the material plane, but it does serve to illustrate the point. Envisioning light and accepting darkness are two sides of the same coin.
So, what might we do with this moment of opportunity? My favorite metaphor is dropping a seed crystal into a super saturated solution. This pattern looks like a crystal. The six pointed star has significant meaning in virtually all world religious and philosophical traditions. One exercise might be to try to imagine how the prophesies in all different mystical and religious systems could all turn out to be true, when viewed in hindsight. They might all turn out to describe an event which was essentially indescribable, unimaginable, until it was almost upon us, a collective transformation of consciousness arising out of a collective psychic death and rebirth. Viewed from this perspective the social and ecological crises we face might be seen in a different light, and yet, if the process is to run its course there can be no cheating, no individual escape from psychic death prior to rebirth.
We might all choose in one moment to envision clear white light together in unison, but at the same time, we would be well advised to look the apocalypse which we have so nearly wrought squarely in the face, and decide collectively as a matter of conscious will and intention, that we will do differently. Perhaps we have collectively brought ourselves to the brink of the abyss for a reason, if nothing else than to shock ourselves into waking up. If the planet is growing a nervous system, at some point it must wake up, be born and come to consciousness. But what would that look like? What would collective consciousness mean? Could it be any different than each of us knowing that we are part of the collective, not just intellectually as a passing thought but deep in our core, that we are not separate. This sounds a lot like a functional definition of what the mystics have always described as enlightenment. But millions have strived after such a state for centuries, does it really seem likely or even plausible that a state which has eluded so many for so long would in a matter of moments, weeks, months or even years suddenly become the prevailing state of humankind? I don’t know and certainly wouldn’t presume to claim to, but it does seem that life has an amazing propensity for doing exactly what is necessary to continue itself.
Jim Fournier
August 23, 1996
The website that I found this tidbit of information from technically still exists, but the page that I sourced that quote from is hidden away; either completely deleted from the webhosts files, or deleted completely. Leaving the only trace of it to be a link on the wayback machine; somehow reminding us that despite the warnings that the internet is forever, I've hit enough 404's and 403's to know that it's not truly forever. Youtube videos get deleted or the accounts get removed; Webhosts shut down their servers and news sites move around the way they host things, leaving a person like me scrambling through a million archives and trying to solve how to use webcrawlers to
Mr. Jim Fournier had the right idea, back in 1996. We are all interconnected in different ways, managing ourselves through a world solo when it's truly meant to be lived through as more than one; lifelines connected between blood and friendship and the sort. There's only one good way in or out of this world and that's with the aid of another, the hyper independent state of the world today is not helping anything and as we delve further into the literal WARCRIMES that our government and the governments of other countries are performing every day, we need to beome more intertwined and connected with one another. I don't often post on the internet much about my spiritual or religious beliefs because I feel like nothing good ever really comes from that kind of acknowledgement. There's always someone out there with an argument against what you or I believe, and it's within their right to want to speak on it, just as much as it's within my right to not listen, to avoid the conversations entirely. With that being said, I cannot fathom the world being worse off with people banding together to "fight the good fight" and support one another.
There's only so much a single human being can do and accomplish in their lifetime. And there's a lot more that can be done when people band together and get shit done. We've all seen and heard the jokes about the Amish being able to put up a barn in less than a week... have we considered for a moment that's because they all gather together? The men set themselves to begin the building while the women prepare the food and the drinks, making sure the men stay hydrated and well fed while they work. (I'd like to note that I'm not condoning strict gender roles like this, I'm just pointing out what I have personally seen the Amish do around where I live and grew up.) They come together and all work hard, the expectation that they rest and celebrate once the job is done. It's a primal act, one that even though they keep dressed and keep themselves proper; They live a life closer to what I feel was intended for us all anyways. Would I miss the internet and the things I've learned and done on here? Absolutely... But do I think that it could do many of us a great deal of help to have it stripped from us? I DO. Rip the bandage off and make sure we're done bleeding before you walk away, but it needs to be done. Not enough people spend any time finding the personality of the internet anymore, and as I've proven with the link above, it does still exist.
It's through the digging on the internet that I've found pages that link a lot to astrology and oldschool wicca. It seems there was a large obsession back in the day over it, which now in this day and age I do find endearing. We've always wanted to know what the other side looks like, and the intermixing that they did in the 90's and early aughts with witchcraft and the web is something to marvel at. They would make digital grimoires, post daily astrology charts, they brought the metaphysical into the digital, and I find little bits everywhere. When I was a kid, I remember going online and looking up different magic spells that would help me do things like change my eye color, bring me more money, give me the love of my life, etc.. (calm down kid me, I was WILD) The pages on "black magic" that would "devour my soul" if I performed the spells listed... so much of it is potentially still out there and I dig for it often. Parts of my childhood that I can never relive but I can find again; I can rummage through the old drawers of long forgotten websites; Pages where the webhosts have passed away (I find a lot of memorial pages out there, with the original content memorialized forever) And pages where I don't think even the creator really knew what they were doing. It's a fun little archaeology project, finding these long forgotten relics that just sit there; waiting for that visitor counter to ping one number up.