The Burdens We Carry

      

By Arthur Versluis

The Burdens We Carry    The wind carries it in its belly; the earth nourishes it. Emerald Tablet       The alchemical path is conveyed with symbols and metaphors. It is not that there is literally an astral shell. Rather, the astral shell is a symbol, conveying a certain psychic and spiritual way of understanding our predicament. Likewise, it is not that we literally are carrying burdens, like a suitcase, or a weighted yoke. Rather, this too is a symbolic way of expressing a truth about ourselves. What is it that keeps us in our same unhealthy habits, that prevents us from realizing fully who we are and flourishing? What is wrong with us or awry in our lives that makes us continue in the same dysfunctional patterns despite ourselves? On some level, of course, we know.   THE BURDENS WE CARRY   We are human pack animals, weighed down with all the baggage we carry. Who has burdened us? Of course, we inherit baggage, not only per- sonally, from our families, but also generationally and socially, from soci- ety as a whole. Many of these generational and social burdens are actually lies presented as truth, but of course if we are immersed in the system, we won’t recognize this. How could we? We need a reference point from outside the system in order to see. We can call finding that vantage point piercing the astral shell.             But even dimly beginning to recognize from this new perspective that we are burdened means that we can continue to grow. There is a little light, where before there was just darkness. In darkness, we can’t see, but when there is a little light, we can begin to make out what before we could not, and this in itself is a major breakthrough. We begin to recognize that so much of what is taken for granted in society is mistaken or misleading. Material reality is not the only reality. Spiritual life is not just belief.             We begin to see through the social façade. We begin to see the burdens we carry as different kinds of baggage. Some are valises or trunks we’ve never even looked inside, but have carried along for generations, others are more familiar to us, and a few are definitely our own.                                           Generational baggage includes that of your people and their history, as well as the prevailing views and social system shared by others, including also those of other peoples that intersect with our own in some ways. This is collective, shared, not only individual, but we forget that we participate in it, conditioned as we well may be that our “individual” identity is all that matters. We are subject to the vast forces of history, the sweep of social systems, conditioning from educational systems, government, and corporate propaganda, and advertising, much of which is akin to the air surrounding us that we also do not see. And we are subject to generational forces, to patterns passed down through tribes and families that can gather strength as they are reinforced unconsciously by previous generations, by those around us, even by us. In some cases, these forces can take on a kind of semi-autonomy as a kind of tribal-familial entity, some-times referred to as an egregore.                           An egregore might be presented or regarded as a god, but in reality, it is a very particular kind of collectively generated and reinforced entity, usually temporary, though possibly long-lived, that requires the continuous attention and intentional contributions of its adherents and that in turn may be able to grant worldly boons. We see something like that entities manifest through public spectacles such as sports and politics, as well as in some religious phenomena. It feeds on public attention, and it may in some cases be associated by adherents with luck or good fortune in worldly endeavors.             A term like egregore is a way of expressing metaphorically a kind of addictive psychological power that affects many people, not just us. It is a way of describing a collectively produced and reinforced entity or kind of consciousness that may be difficult for us to recognize on our own, and that even then, may seem difficult to gain freedom from. But once we have understood the concept, we can begin to apply it and to see how it operates in the world around us, as well as how we can free ourselves from its hold.             Of course, societal, generational, and familial baggage is not something we can or need to erase, even if that were possible. Social forces, systemic propaganda, generational and familial patterns all are beyond us as individ- uals, with causes that go far back in time and that obviously affect or entrap many people, not only us. We can point this out to others, but whether they will listen is another matter. What we can do, and indeed, what we must do, is move toward greater consciousness, greater awareness that these forces and patterns exist, which also moves us toward greater freedom.             Modern technological society is filled with addictions and distractions. In fact, much technology functions as a combination of addiction and distraction—it’s not as though we can remove these elements. They’re woven into its very nature. Games, virtual reality, social media feeds, online “hits,” all are designed to suck us in and keep us immersed in them. Technological distractions are inherently addictive—they’re intended to be that way. Woven into these distractive and addictive media is larger social programming. Ideology, propaganda, distraction, addiction, fear- mongering . . . all of these work to keep us in the dark in different but coordinated ways. These are also the burdens we carry.             All these elements, which are both outside and inside us, are inter- woven with our own habitual patterns. Angry, jealous, spiteful, greedy, prideful, thoughtless patterns, along with the wrongs we’ve done, our mistakes, and our foolishness are all embedded in us through repetition. And there are the interpersonal dynamics that reinforce such behavior, with our partner, with our siblings or parents, with friends, or with coworkers. Perhaps we’re not aware of such dynamics at all—or perhaps we are only dimly aware and feel powerless to stop ourselves from lashing out or taking some other impulsive action. All these are burdens we carry.             We can lay our burdens down. We may or may not be able to con- vince others, or to affect their journeys, but we definitely can under- take our own journey from entrapment toward freedom. The first step is to realize that these burdens exist, and that we carry them along with us, remaining unconscious of them and their power over us. We have dualism and materialism inculcated into how we see the world, while spiritual dimensions of life are ignored and denigrated. We are embed- ded in familial dramas; we are caught in all-too-familiar patterns. But nonetheless, at some point, we began to awaken; we began to glimpse light, and then, in time, to move toward it. This is the process of laying our burdens down.              How do we do this? By turning our attention to the light within. The dark is very familiar to us, and so the light, any light, is a little unusual. This is why we practice becoming familiar with the light.