Breathing stars, inspiration and the maze of correspondence
It is expected that in about 5 billion years our sun will die. The Hubble Space Telescope, focused on the planetary nebula NGC 6210 some 6,500 light-years away, recently photographed a star, slightly less massive than our sun, dying its last breath.
A dying star forms a planetary nebula (really just gas and dust, but looks like a planet when viewed from a great distance) when it ejects its outer layers. In its death throes, a star sheds multiple layers, including platinum and gold electrons, in irregular patterns. In what is known as its last breath, it leaves behind a small, 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 breath of a dying star, its final fading expiration.
I don’t know if a star breathes like one, but the children (and I suppose the teenagers) of the sixties fell prey to Joni Mitchell’s opinion. She sang: “We are stardust. We are gold.” Many didn’t know any better, but if the Children of the 1960s had been inspired to put the ideas about prana into practice in Ernest Wood’s and Richard Hittleman’s yoga manuals, they would at least have realized that they were breathing. The root of the word inspiration is “inhale” and this revealing connection opens up its inner meaning and associations, as well as its 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 with earth, is so commonplace, ordinary, predictable, and freely available, then why aren’t we all inspired? time, or at least as often as when we inhale?
As the ancient alchemists might have said, the Philosopher’s Stone of self-knowledge allows us to turn lead into gold, or our mundane humanity into our divine nature. In inner alchemy, for example, a key concept is the refinement of essential matter into life breath and spirit. Taoists practice breathing exercises, massage, and martial arts for this purpose with great commitment.
In today’s New Age literature and popular psychology, we are often warned that our attitude dictates our commitment to our learning potential. It manifests itself and expresses itself through our responses: simplistic, dismissive, doubtful, cynical, angry, resentful. Other ways to respond to statements of truth or guidance are: strangely sad, full of longing (a distant longing for which you can’t find words), hesitant, hopeful, fearful, hurt, relentless, fixed, or unyielding.
Like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the authoritative nearly 1,000-page manual of diagnostic criteria used by mental health professionals and insurance companies, descriptions of illness trump descriptions of wellness. . But discover the logic. Our attitude only produces a positive response when we become receptive, open and insightful. However, there are a plethora 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 make a wrong turn and take the M18 to Sheffield just after Doncaster, I will suffer a detour of 20 miles or more, adding time, more danger and expense to my journey. If I mistakenly take the M62 to Hull or follow the A64 to Leeds, the result is the same. In reality, there is only one efficient route.
In another uncharacteristic parallel, the inner work corresponds to the outer life by amplifying and reflecting the fact that one path is right while there are a multitude of wrong paths. Is it any wonder so many are lost and looking for guidance?
“I don’t know who I am/But you know life is for learning,” Joni Mitchell sang on that golden/stardust song. Knowing who you are is the goal of personal enlightenment, as in “Who am I?” or “What is a human being?” The root meaning of enlightenment is wisdom, knowledge and there is even some connection to feathers. The word “drive” has the curious German meaning of “to push from behind”, which is reminiscent of the Taoist concept of “driving from below”.
In an ancient Taoist story, a man is filled with the irrational fear that the sky will fall and destroy his home and family. A friend advised him 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: “And if the earth collapsed under my feet?”
His friend replied that the earth was a solid mass that filled space. “It is everywhere,” said he, “because you can walk all day and night without coming to an end, 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 with confidence.
We are approaching a breathing universe with the friend who identifies the planets as bodies of air and the earth leading from below. To link that correspondence, let’s say that the ancient Taoists who used to say, “Look neither to the left nor to the right,” got it right and moved on without being distracted. According to an old story, whenever they set foot on earth they refused to take for granted the fact that there was stability and matter around their feet, so inspired to gratitude were they blessed by all they needed for their connection. to Earth. .
Maybe they breathed in as often as they breathed out.
