Rules for Living

1. Focus on the good

2. Speak what you believe to be true

3. Be open to seeing how you might be wrong

4. Find a community and interact with them - serve others

5. Treat everyone as you would your best friend, operating from love - the idea that everyone is connected (you are them and they are you)

6. Trust others are doing the same

7. Ask questions more than making statements

8. Assume ignorance over malevolence - everyone's doing the best they can with what they currently know

9. Forgive yourself for your own ignorance

10. Forgive others for their's

11. Learn how to be less ignorant

12. Never stop learning, and aim up!

13. Enjoy the exploration, and keep a playful sense of humour!

14. You've chosen the reality you currently find yourself in because a part of you enjoys it - consider what that is

15. If a part of you is not enjoying it, you have the power to choose differentl

Reality Cake

** The following are my personal thoughts, understanding, and reflections ** ~ Divine consciousness is non-dual - it’s a single consciousness that exists as all things in all time. However, consciousness manifests itself as dualistic reality - everything in reality exists as part of a pair of diametrically opposed opposites: left/right; up/down; in/out; male/female; order/chaos; yin/yang.

~

Imagine the whole of reality as a square cake (stay with me!), demonstrated visually with the black square - 50 percent of the cake consists of X (eg chocolate), and 50 percent of it consists of Y (eg vanilla). The diagonal line represents the ratio between chocolate and vanilla - the leftmost point is 100% chocolate, 0% vanilla; the rightmost point is 0% chocolate, 100% vanilla.

~

Now imagine slicing the cake (represented by the red lines) into pieces. Even though the whole of reality exists in binary terms, each slice of reality is made up of a varying constitution along a spectrum. (The cake, in reality, can be cut into infinitely thin slices.)

~ In reality, some things get expressed absolutely (eg our physical male/female bodies), whereas some things exist as unexpressed potential along the spectrum, and only appear relativistically when expressed and observed at a particular moment in time.

~

For example, take masculine/feminine: any person (ie a slice of reality cake) can exist anywhere on that spectrum of slices, from being 100% masculine, 0% feminine; to 0% masculine, 100% feminine; OR anywhere in between. Everyone will be in the category of masculine/feminine, but the proportions of each will vary from person to person, and potentially from moment to moment.

~

So, paradoxically, (but also not), the whole of reality is simultaneously both binary AND infinite (non-dual).

Masculine/Feminine

I’ve decided to stop using the terms ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ or ‘divine masculine/feminine’ to describe qualities or attributes (other than relating specifically to gender) because I don’t believe them to be useful constructs. I’d postulate that a non-gender-derived differentiation, like ‘yin/yang’, would be more apt and beneficial.

Non-Dual Shaiva Tantra expresses no interest in gender-essentialism - there is no energetic division between Masculine and Feminine; these are merely societal archetypal constructs - useful labels imposed upon us that, as a result, create division and unconscious conformity.

Divine Consciousness is non-dual, so consists of all qualities irrespective of gender-based labels. Gender is merely the manifest expression of specific existing polarities, and no energetic quality is inherently masculine or feminine (eg strength is neither inherently masculine or feminine - just because it’s (stereotypically) a quality exhibited more by men, that doesn’t make it a masculine quality). All qualities can be expressed in a way that is either healthy or unhealthy. A healthy divine being has the capacity to embody any and all qualities along the spectrum created by the polarities.

The challenge in a conscious relationship is for both parties to know where along the spectrum they are residing when, as well as the other, and have a mutual understanding and appreciation of knowing when to reside in a particular polarity respectively.

A relationship that plays into gender-based polarity is possibly more simplistic, as each party can play into the archetypes and so knows their respective roles. These relationships whilst typical and, in some ways, perhaps easier and advantageous, don’t necessarily/likely facilitate mutual growth towards healthy balanced individuals.

A conscious relationship is considerably more nuanced due to the continual individual growth and polarity switching. A typical relationship is born of attachment to ego constructs by both parties, whereas the challenge with conscious relationships is that the ego constructs aren’t over-simplified and are constantly evolving, so there isn’t the same opportunity to attach to them.

It’s possible that a healthy conscious relationship is the connection between two transcendent consciousnesses enjoying the mutual exploration and evolution of ego constructs from a place of non-attachment, as opposed to the attachment to, and unhealthy indulgence in, ego constructs. This is most successfully navigated through awareness and constructive, conscious communication.