Lou Gold wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:29 am
Can this be an 'immanence' in the sense of a manifestation from potential such as "Let there be Light" -- A coming from rather rather than a moving toward?
I'm not sure I understand your question. I only suspect that you are asking if we are moving
only toward or we are
also moving away. If that's the case, the answer would be that we are constantly alternating between the two in rhythmic patterns. There are countless such rhythms.
One grand rhythm is the overall Cosmic involution and evolution. But this doesn't mean that everything moves monotonically away and towards. It's
rhythms within rhythms everywhere. Expansion and contraction, away and towards. The cultural epochs are such rhythms. Our incarnations too - we move away when we incarnate and expand in our earthly life then we move 'toward'. It's also interesting to note here the duality. From certain perspective we can say exactly the opposite - when incarnating we contract from the wide expanses of space into a single bodily vehicle then we expand again into the One Cosmic environment. So both are correct - it's two different perspectives of seeing the same thing.
Another of the many rhythmic modulations is the daily waking/sleeping cycle. At morning we expand into the sensory world/contract into the body. At night we contract away from the senses and draw into our core, which is at the same time expansion away from the body and into the wide expanses.
The rhythm is also modulated through the whole day - with every feeling, thought, action we either become engulfed and contract into something or expand and encompass the whole. Our every thought is born of a rhythm - we expand with our will toward the unknown Idea and then contract a thought-perception.
So it's not about restricting ourselves into monotony. Existence simply doesn't operate in this way. It's more about expanding in consciousness (which is also achieved only rhythmically) to recognize the rhythms and bring them into harmony. A symphonic orchestra is an analogy. Everyone experiences their rhythms, the violinist moves the bow back and forth, the tubist breathes in and out through the instrument. Yet harmony occurs only if everyone strives to synchronize with the overall rhythm of the partitures and then on a higher level with the conductor. Cosmic Life is harmonious already. It's humans' task to expand their consciousness and synchronize with the living and rhythmically breathing Life of Cosmic Ideas, so that our smaller contractions and expansions can always be in harmony with the higher context. What we call evil can be considered as the fact the beings devise their own rhythms and the result is Cosmic cacophony.
Now the symphony analogy might be understood as a threat to freedom - that we become puppets for the higher rhythms. But it's not so. The rhythms shouldn't be envisioned as something that restricts but as something that defines the domains of potential. We are actually
most free when we recognize these domains and use their
full spectrum. It's another kind of freedom to say "who are these these rhythms that I should conform? I bow to nobody!" and then we try to realize potential that's at the very borders of the domains (because even if we want to, we can't realize inaccessible potential). And it's a valid type of freedom - no doubt about it - it's the freedom to restrict ourselves.
We are too small to override the rhythms larger than us. We can't override the rotation of the Earth and the day/night cycle. Then if we want to play non-conformist and go star gazing at noon we shouldn't be surprised if we return home filled with frustration and anger. This is a childish example but truth is humanity is currently even less than a child in regards to the hidden rhythms that are not directly perceptible in the sensory world. We again feel the frustration and anger, only that we don't understand that we're trying to star gaze at noon or sunbathe at night.