When I started this blog a year ago I was still a beginner in metaphysics and spirituality.
But I had done quite a bit of research on key facets of “the crisis”.
Enough at any rate to have reached the firm conviction that society’s dominant mode of thinking is strictly incapable of delivering credible “solutions” to the crisis.
The only way forward, I thought, is to look for a completely different approach, one that would undoubtedly entail insight into the subtle side of existence. And I felt compelled by a sort of inner force to participate in the quest for that new paradigm.
For some time I had already been on a strange journey of research, writing, and experiencing.
The latter proved the most essential and most challenging because it involves trusting intuition and letting go of deeply encrusted beliefs.
You don’t learn intuition like you learn maths or grammar, through the exercise of deductive reasoning and memory. You only discover intuition and develop it through experience. Books, videos, guided workshops can help to a certain extent. But in the end, it’s your readiness to open your mind and your heart which allows this amazing faculty to grow in you.
My first awakening to intuition had occurred about ten years ago. At the time I was on the management board of a “business unit” owned by a very large corporation. The business unit was in the process of being sold off and I had to find another position within the larger group.
While actively looking for a new job I realised that, however proactive my search, at 55, I needed “a bit of luck”. In other words it didn’t all depend on me. I wasn’t in control. Having no choice but to accept dependency on a higher something changed me deep inside.
Looking for a job involves lots of phone calls and e-mails. In my new mindset I developed the following routine: whenever I had a draft e-mail ready to be sent, I first paused and listened carefully to the inner “little voice”. If it said yes, I would send the mail straight away, if it said no I would wait. And I did the same before making any phone call.
I soon noticed that every time the little voice said no, something justifying the delay turned up, like some new information, or the fact that the other person contacted me first. Conversely each time I acted without delay having received a green light from the inner voice, things turned out well. Not once did I have any reason to regret the inner voice’s discreet guidance.
Another remarkable thing occurred at that time. It was a stressful transition period and I used to walk before lunch to try and relax. Perhaps because I was in a mindset of acceptance I did manage to relax surprisingly well during these walks. To such an extent even that I experienced the first instances of perfectly clear vision without wearing glasses.
This was extraordinary as I had been short sighed since pre adolescence and regularly suffered from tensions around the eyes. But during these walks, without glasses, I felt new agreeable sensations in the muscles and nerves around the eyes and I had brief moments of perfect natural vision where I could see all details usually completely blurred . It was wonderful and very encouraging. Just what I needed in a period of great uncertainty.
Finally I got a new job. I continued to try and pay attention to intuition and to seek deep relaxation, but being again on a more “normal” patch brought back old habits of giving too much importance to non essential stuff and not being properly connected to the inner voice and subtle body sensations.
The new job consisted in liaising with agencies and analysts looking at environmental, social and governance issues from the point of view of financial investors. This unusual position in between finance and the soft side of business was an excellent observation point to see how the system really works. It was exceptionally revealing. And it set me on a path of personal research into the key interactions between the economy, finance, ecology, society and technological change.
End 2007 I had the opportunity to participate in a major international conference held in the European Parliament in Brussels on the theme of “Beyond GDP”. Hundreds of experts from all over the world were gathered to discuss how macro economic indicators could account for environmental degradation and societal evolution. The debates were fascinating, but nothing practical came out. A few months later, the financial crisis struck a mighty blow to the entire edifice of finance and growth obsessed economics.
I pursued my own research with renewed ardour in the now sure knowledge that a phenomenon absolutely unprecedented in human history was happening and developing rapidly.
While it had become quite clear that the dynamics of this global multifaceted crisis were unstoppable as long as dominant mentalities remained what they were and had been for millennia, I also started to suspect that something more profound and more subtle was at play on our planet.
I began to take a serious interest in alternative thinking and knowledge: spirituality, esoteric traditions, parapsychology, dowsing, etc.
Although I had been eating organic for many years, had used the services of acupuncturists, osteopaths and homeopaths, and had always been interested in the big questions on the meaning of life, I was still largely a materialist. Not that I had much interest in flashy cars or expensive gadgets, but in the sense that I considered that what we see is more or less all there is, and that what is not yet known will some day be discovered and explained by science.
But gradually it downed on me that the materialist vision is extraordinarily restrictive, totally at odds with evidence experienced through life and far from rational.
Little by little I began to question every belief I had been led to take for granted for most of my life.
Could we rationally maintain that we knew and understood reality when perceptions through our five senses are so limited compared to the vast, infinite subtlety of the universe?
Was there any sense in assuming that things just happen by chance when it is quite obvious that synchronicities with a minute probability occur frequently and in a way that clearly points to conscious intention?
As explained earlier I had already experienced the power of intuition, but now I realised that intuition expressed itself in more ways than one: through synchronicities, through symbols, through every event of life, big or small, through changes in the body, pain, disease, fatigue, …or energy and pleasurable sensations. Techniques such as dowsing could help amplify the messages of intuition.
The absolute folly of fragmenting knowledge in separated disciplines buried in silos hit me like a punch in the face. It doesn’t make any sense, and yet the whole system of education and the academic and scientific community are organised on the basis of fragmentation, separation, clans, power bastions guarded by egos and vested interests.
The entire mode of thinking of our civilisation appears deeply flawed. It is a legacy of centuries, millennia of a fragmented, myopic, anthropocentric worldview. Dogmas inspired by power seeking and beliefs endorsed by ego have interfered with honest rationality and pushed aside intuition.
In June 2011 I attended a conference and spiritual retreat at Findhorn in Scotland, a place famous in the new Age / new though arena. We were among like minded people. There was much kindness, hugging, laughter and honest querying, and a few gentle tears. A vast majority of attendants were women, like in all events where the subtle side of existence takes precedence over narrow materialism and the obsessions of ego.
Although the event brought fresh lights and confirmed things I had already discovered through my own journey, it left largely unanswered the question of how to deal with the dark side of life while nurturing an attitude aligned on pure love and harmony.
Teachers in spirituality based healing and personal development focus on guidance provided by a benevolent universe. Great, I buy into that totally. But, can we concentrate on our own healing and personal improvement while the world around us, as opposed to the universe, is heading to disaster? While a corrupt elite keeps lying, manipulating and repressing with ever more harshness?
I greatly respect the teachings of Deepak Chopra, Eckart Tolle, Doreen Virtue and many others emphasising the positive, but at the same time I am attentive to the controversial metaphysical research of David Icke on the conspiracy front.
The crux of the matter is that while healing and life improvement through spirituality is all about releasing fear, resentment and despair and connecting to beauty, harmony and kindness to self and others, it has to be practised at a time of turbulent transition where negativity on planet earth looks like reaching a paroxystic high.
We all need to learn how to navigate through this transition. To navigate honourably, without a “me first on the rescue boat” attitude, with honesty, and a sense of wholeness, of deep respect for nature. This, in fact, is what my blog is about.
The first post was published on 31st October 2011. Nearly 120 have been published since. Their list appears on the page “blog”.
While recognising the primacy of intuition, I still like to use the tool of deductive reasoning to analyse limited bits and pieces. So there are frequent posts dealing with the world economy and finance, with their collateral effects on nature and society. And quite a few exposing the dominant system’s propaganda regarding a wide array of issues spanning from 9/11 to vaccination.
In the future, I guess there will more posts relating to self healing, healthy eating, communication with animals. And also more posts on metaphysics addressed in an accessible, practical and enjoyable way.
We are at a turning point in human history, everyone can feel it. Some honest materialists do their best to analyse the failure of the dominant system and expose official lies and manipulation. But they soon find themselves pretty stuck.
Real progress can only come from critical mass spiritual change. Light workers try to offer help and guidance. I am trying to be one of them.
Finally, a book will eventually appear. I can’t tell you when.
Fear not, always feel welcomed to this site.
Love,
Leo
Copyright © Leo Foresta 2012
Leo Foresta 