The questions we face today are no different than those faced by our predecessors: How do I live authentically? How do I achieve peace of mind without turning my back on those in need? How do I attune myself to the world around me?
For the ancient Toltecs and the civilizations they inspired, the highest expression of their lifeway was embodied in the mystical philosophy of Flower-and-Song.
Flower-and-Song is a difrasismo, a common form of expression in the Nahuatl language that uses two words to form a metaphor for a third, more expansive, concept. It is often translated as "poetry" but its meaning is more comprehensive than that, indicating that its practitioners strive to live a "poetic life." Examining the difrasismo a little makes this clear.
Flower in this context involves a three-stage engagement with the world. The first stage involves seeing each moment--and whatever that moment holds--as perfect as a blossoming flower. The second stage involves seeing each moment--and whatever that moment holds--as already fading and passing into death. The final stage involves bearing these two visions simultaneously in the heart, engaging the moment and what it holds with the full emotional realization that it is perfect and dying.
Far from an intellectual exercise, this practice demands the greatest courage, for to face these two soul-shattering emotions at the same time requires us to open ourselves to the profoundest joy and grief all at once. Without flinching from the perfection before us, we are filled with awe at the impossibility of spirit taking form in matter. Without flinching from the inevitable death of everything we know and love, we cannot help but burst apart with grief and empathy.
This is a lifeway, in other words, of spirit warriors, those who exert constant effort to defeat their self-defeating attitudes and behaviors. It is the lifeway of those who use death to awaken authentic gratitude for being alive and sharing this shape-shifting perfection with others. When we experience it fully, Flower evokes a kind of spiritual nostalgia for the present moment that ennobles us and all our lives touch.
Song in this context means that the most authentic act we can perform is to give expression to the dual realization attained in Flower. This is the reason that the difrasismo is generally translated as "poetry." But the deeper implication of this mystical philosophy of life means that Song involves treating every moment as an opportunity to express the truth of Flower. It involves treating this entire lifetime as a single act of expressing the continuous vision of Flower. It means using every thought, word and deed to embody the lifeway of Flower-and-Song.
Treating all things as miracles that pass away too soon, our thoughts, speech and actions take on a new caliber and timbre. We concentrate on what is present instead of what is absent and we discover new depths of patience and tolerance. Our lives take on greater meaning and our contributions meet with greater success. We treat everything and everyone more nobly and we are enriched immeasurably.
As a spiritual practice, Flower-and-Song enters each moment asking two questions: What is in front of me? How am I treating it?
What is in front of me? opens us to the ultimately unknowable nature of the world. By questioning the absolute nature of our perceptions, we come to accept the extraordinary mystery everywhere veiled by ordinary appearances. It is a question that, once taken seriously, forces to us to look closer at the world: Is this merely what I have become accustomed to seeing through daily contact--or is it the sea of spirit in all its manifest forms?
How am I treating what is in front of me? demands that we watch our inner actions--our thoughts and intentions, our wishes aimed at things outside ourselves--as well as our outer demeanor and reactions. Am I acting nobly or mean-spiritedly? Am I ennobling my life or trivializing it? Am I rising above pettiness or descending into it? Am I treating others like superiors or inferiors, all in pursuit of my self-interest--or as peers bravely facing their own death as well as they can? Am I spreading ill will, discord and sorrow wherever I go--or compassion, collaboration and joy?
In our book, The Toltec I Ching, Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and I discuss the deeper implications of such a spiritual practice:
The spirit warrior breaks through the barrier separating matter and spirit. Such a barrier is erected in our minds by the constant training we receive from those who find advantage in promoting the separation of people from nature, from each other, and from their own true self. If people everywhere perceived matter and spirit to be the same thing, after all, the ignorance, cruelty, and suffering that make up much of human history would end. If we were all to experience the material form of nature as spirit, we would stop harming it by diminishing it faster than we help it replenish itself. If we were all to experience the material form of people everywhere as spirit, we would stop harming one another by acting as if our own rights and desires were superior to their own. If we were all to experience the material form of our own individual bodies as spirit, we would stop harming ourselves by doubting that every thought, feeling, and action plays a pivotal role in eternity. Breaking through such a mental barrier is a matter of constant training, as well. If we do not use every thought, feeling, and action to intensify our experience of matter as spirit, we continue to desecrate the temple of nature, the temple of civilization, and the temple of individuality.
Those following the lifeway of Flower-and-Song find that it reveals the wellspring of rejoicing forever bubbling just beneath the surface of appearances. It engages the world as a vast mystery of unimaginable potentials and aims to participate in its ongoing creation in ways that benefit the most. It is not so much something we do on our own as much as it is music we hear and feel and long to play, a dance we cannot wait to join. It arises from our depths to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Holding to such a practice for extended periods of time has certain foreseeable consequences. By forcing us to focus complete attention on appreciating the perfection of everything as well as mourning its inevitable passing, it trains us to attend fully to the moment, drop off inner talk, participate in life authentically, and honor everything as an equal knowing it must die.
But it has certain unforeseeable consequences, as well. By blurring the imaginary boundary between self and world, it opens new senses and allows us to perceive the spirit within all matter. By blurring the imaginary line between flawed and flawless, it opens our hearts to the sacredness of all form. By blurring the imaginary boundary between animate and inanimate, it opens our eyes to the formless awareness forever transcending the very form it inhabits. By blurring the imaginary line between time and space, it opens our minds to the unchanging presence through which all changing forms move.
The Lifeway of Flower-and-Song, then, is a spiritual practice of Inner Activism--it sensitizes us to our tendencies toward self-interest and alienation, replacing self-defeating habits with those of spontaneity, creativity, and good will. It shifts our focus away from personal success toward a heartfelt longing for peace and prospering for all.
And it constantly reminds us that the Golden Age of Humanity is within our reach if we but dare hold out our hand.
~
The Toltec I Ching, by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and William Douglas Horden has just been released by Larson Publications. It recasts the I Ching in the symbology of the Native Americans of ancient Mexico and includes original illustrations interpreting each of the hexagrams. Its subtitle, 64 Keys to Inspired Action in the New World hints at its focus on the ethics of the emerging world culture.
Click here to go to the main site to see sample chapters, reviews and the link to Larson Publications for ordering the book.
my best to the both of you!!
wm
When I began reading your post I smiled in recognition of our recent conversation. Then the resonance swelled into the concentration of meaning you and Arithrianos wrote about. Thank you for the momentary experience of eternity.
How wise the Toltecs were about the inner universe. How sad that the closest English translation to 'difrasismo' is 'poetry', a word that connotes exquisite verbal expessions of life, but says nothing about exquisite living. How deprived we are to have lost that deep wisdom and the language to communicate it.
In asking myself just now if we could coin an equivalent word to suggest the meaning of 'flower' and 'song" I flashed on a dream from many years ago that featured the puzzling word 'scatheon." After researching the parts of the word I concluded it meant God (theon) wound (sca, the beginning of scar). Having experienced a god wound to my psyche that resulted in a radical inner transformation, I found this word deeply meaningful. While 'scatheon' doesn't express the meaning of 'flower and song,' which is about the joyful practice of living consciously and not the spiritual pain that opens us to this lifeway, it might be a useful addition to the vocabulary of spiritual teachers and seekers.
I'm devouring The Toltec I Ching and salute you for persisting in a practice that has transformed you into a spirit warrior capable of living life's song.
With deep gratitude,
Jeanie
Thank you for the thoughtful addition to the conversation.
I very much appreciate the "scatheon" utterance from the unconscious. As you may remember, I had a dream where I was bitten by a spirit-dragon: god wound, indeed. It seems to me, too, that there isn't enough attention paid to the symbology welling up from our unconscious, not just when we are dreaming asleep but when we are dreaming awake......and not just our individual unconscious, of course, but the profound symbolic actions and images pouring forth from the collective unconscious constantly. Have we as a culture forgotten how to read symbols? Have we become so literal-minded that the deeper meanings of what we perceive now sail past our conscious minds without ever being noticed?
It gives me great joy to know that you are finding The Toltec I Ching valuable—and for recognizing that it is, beyond its traditional use, a training manual for spiritual transformation. I look forward to any comments you might ever have in regard to it.
Once again, I refer folks interested in this kind of symbolic conversation to your new blog site: http://jeanraffa.wordpress.com/2010/04/
Wishing You Well,
Wm
Jeanie
this is such an amazing piece of work, the meditation is flawless in the potential for enlightenment.
after my last read of it, i woke up to something i had not realized was sleeping.
i have read this since it was published in hp but havent been able to write.
do you have a website?
sending you gardenias via the universal post svc ;)
pema
i'm very grateful that these words have found a place in your heart-mind.
i hope you will feel like sharing what awakens when the time comes.
i have other articles and information that might interest you on this website: http://thetolteciching.com/blog/
thank you for the lovely spirit flowers!
be well and ecstatic!
william
May all be well and happy!
thank you for the kindness of your words and thoughts. your loving-kindness in spreading encouragement and trust does not go unnoticed.
may all, including ourselves, be well and happy, indeed !!
wm
My privilege, dear friend. Trust you and Richard will have one of the loveliest days ever, anywhere!
By the way: I hear you are moving your radio show on shamanism to Co-Creator Network.com !
Exciting. They are wonderful people to work with !
Will the show have the same name? Please write back and let us know what day it will be on live....
All The Best To You Both,
Wm
I believe it is important that we all engage, especially in business, with others that resonate, align, and synergize with us. It feels like a move with open possibilities.
love to you Wm
Christina
Thanks for you clear-sighted reply. I enjoyed reading this several times and have found something new each time. I'm especially intrigued by this: "....given that meaning and time are interwoven, the meaning has to have concentration in order to penetrate the fog of materialism...." A very interesting way to approach the matter of meaning and memory--It's so true that by concentrating meaning in the moment it achieves a purity and longevity that memory alone cannot. I really appreciate the phrase "meaning and time are interwoven". So well-said!
Thanks as always,
William
This calls to mind that wonderful saying by Gandhi: "There comes a time when an individual becomes irresistible and his action becomes all-pervasive in its effects. This comes when he reduces himself to zero."
How strange that mindfulness and mindlessness should mean the same thing, no?
All The Best,
Wm
I'm going to incorporate it into my practice.
Thanks so much for writing about it.
Toni Bernhard
www.howtobesick.com
Thank you for noting the spiritual connection between the two practices. This is indeed a profoundly compassionate discipline, one that expands both our awareness and capacity to care about all life.
I wish you well with your project. It looks extremely worthwhile.
All The Best,
William