Thoughts at Easter
Surrender – Death – Rebirth –
In Irish history, Easter is forever entwined with the energetic charge of sacrifice of Easter Week 1916 when the Proclamation of the Republic of Ireland was read out from the steps of the GPO. Those who took part in this open defiance of the subjugation of the Irish people by the Imperial Crown of the British Empire knew that they may well pay with their lives.
For women, this was a historic moment also – the first time in a western country that men and women were declared to be Equals.
Guru Nanaak, the first Sikh Guru – originator of the philosophical and spiritual legacy that informs Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan – also preached and taught that women and men are created equal – his main teaching and one that inspires me was of the One in Everyone, offering an end to class distinctions ( in Sikh Gurdwaras, everyone even the Guru and the King sits on the ground to eat together ), and a vision of an end to Slavery.
The relationship between Ireland and India is also intertwined in myriad interesting ways – from WB Yeats writing the introduction to the stunning poetry of Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitangali, to how the writings of Lord Mayor of Cork Terence Mac Sweeney influenced the leadership principals of Ghandhi. Ireland was the first colony of the British Empire : India, a sister colony. When we are confronted with the charge of cultural appropriation in the realm of Kundalini Yoga : know that the teachings of Guru Naanak were meant for all of humanity – in the early 16th century, he was even acknowledged by Pope Leo X as the “Common father of our race”
In the light of today –
here we are, one hundred years since the Civil War that followed the “Proclamation”,
We can be reminded of courage and sacrifice of
Idealists, Visionaries, Trailblazers –
to go against the status quo and the orthodoxies of their day to take a stand for another way.
In the decades that followed..
What speaks to us still across and despite the years is the enduring call to a better way, a vision, a dream, an “Aisling gheall”.
That vision still speaks to us today – more faintly now amid the fresh din of war and complexity of our time : and yet the world that was imagined then may still be possible. In fact, the sparks of visionary zeal at the outset of Ireland’s “rebirth” sought a better world for all – rather than the narrow sorrow-infused divided narrative that followed, in the wake of war. Such is the power of timeless art and the words wrought in bright hope – innocence and vision, however : the sentiment endures.
At the heart of conflict there is a clash of vision , of agenda, of narrative..
On one side, today, the despots of a centralising industrial Age are found among those who claim progress for artificial intelligence, for robot kind, for the kind of human mind that grew out of a pared back mystery – and has continued to create an ever narrowing world in its own image : efficiency over the art of conversation,
materiality over the power of emotion,
exacting calculating dystopia rather than nurturing the expansive seed of possibility.
Homogeneity rather than natural and organic ( and unscripted ) improvised Life.
What is at stake, to me, seems to be the very essence of what it means to be Human.
And, as the brutal imagination exacts a punishing reward for those who would dare to step out of line, it is in the curvy meandering roads of our unloved potential where refuge can be found in a flower, a rock or a cave waiting for us in the mountains, where , in silence and in darkness, someone once stood to listen to the ever true voice of their soul.
It takes effort of will , today, to push against the relentless stream of distractions, of aggressive algorithms, of marketing, of promises and fear of missing out. It takes commitment and discipline to experience the results of a daily practice – to re-wire and upgrade the mind, to become the creator, and no longer the subject in a theatre of absurd, the grotesque, the unheard.
Our minds release thousands of thoughts every blink of the eye. Our eyes see countless images every day through our devices. We are plugged in and connected : but if we do not carve out space and time to affirm our indivisible essence within the cosmic eternity, we may forget and forgo our identity: as human. The test now is to be human. One beating heart. One capacity to be : more than the machine. It is up to you now. The choices that we make : for One and for All : determine our future.
Is it going to be that we as a humanity make the upgrade
OR
is it that the artificial intelligence machine – gets to decide
Beyond faith and Fate is Destiny.
Our eyes not too blind to see
The Inner “I” needs to make a stand
To be Free
And to move from a perspective of Linearity to a value of Infinity.
Once and for All Time :
Because there is no time like the Present.
Because Life is a Gift.
And I want to LIVE it !
** Join me for 9am Sunday Yoga Class **
(This post starting out was going to be a more personal reflection of my own re-birth …
but perhaps I am only in the first pushes of labour … )
***
This image below was on the wall of the boys’ school founded by Pádraig Piarsaigh – Pádraig Pierce
St. Enda’s, in Rathfarnham Dublin city. Every day the boys would see this image.
The vision invokes a resurrection into innocence and abundance of nature, at Easter time.
The school building and grounds are now open to the public.
