(Concluded from Part 3.)
Lessons Learned
Before starting in, I need to say I’m not sure that we always have to break through to a new paradigm.
I’ve had several instances in my life where awareness has dawned without the need of a breakthrough. (1) But some situations are stubborn and may require it.
Increasing anomaly or inner turbulence may sometimes be a sign of mental or emotional difficulties, but it could just as easily be a sign of maturing perception and understanding.
In our society we develop cartoon ways of seeing people. “Eccentric genius” or “mad hatter” are examples of judgments we coin to describe a person sensitive to increasing anomaly.
My suggestion is to see increasing anomaly as a sign that we’re reaching the end of the road with one way of being and look for the new road to begin.
Here’s what I’ve learned from this tumultous exit of one paradigm and entry into another.
Just as with a vasana, we don’t want to project our frustration outwards. A simple statement that we’re experiencing inner turbulence should be enough (but it also may not be) to gain us the room we need to go through the passage from a less adequate way of seeing things to a more adequate way.
Since we’re all going to be experiencing a lot of anomaly in our society as we advance to higher-dimensional perceptions and understandings, it may make the way easier for us if we come to accept growing cognitive dissonance as a fact of life that we may all need to adjust to and make allowance for. We may need to cut each other some slack in this area in the days ahead.
If we ourselves feel anomaly, I recommend relating to it the same way we’d relate to a vasana: by noticing how we feel and naming it; by asking the mind to serve its faithful function of sending us a picture of what caused the anomaly and attending to the picture that arises; and then by allowing whatever process of awakening and resolution that follows to occur.
It would help if the person affected by the rising dissonance recognizes that it’s a process of letting go of a paradigm that no longer serves (whether we know what that paradigm is or not) and allows the rise of a new paradigm that lets us manoeuver in the circumstances we face (not like we’ll know what that paradigm is beforehand either).
The anomaly we feel may be too great to just pretend that nothing’s happening. Our frustration level may be too high to just carry on as if things are normal.
If we’re not accepted while in this phase, it may become difficult to be around others. Their frustration would add to our frustration and breakdowns could occur.
If we can be granted space while going through this process, or find a quiet place or an outside space to be in while we allow the new paradigm to emerge, that may save us all a lot of wear and tear. (I was granted space and I thank those who did so.)
We’ll know when the new paradigm arrives. Archimedes is depicted jumping out of the bathtub, hopefully clad in a towel, and running through the street when he had his paradigmatic breakthrough.
We call these “Aha!” moments and they can lead to great discoveries. We may feel ourselves swell with satisfaction, the end making up for the journey.
But it can feel like a rocky ride while we’re going through the turbulence.
OK, time to rest. And then go off exploring this new land.
I’m going to give you a rest for a day from the current subject and then continue establishing a beachhead in this new land of self-mastery.
Footnotes
(1) In fact there are explosive and quiet breakthroughs. My heart opening of March 13, 1987 is an example of an explosive breakthrough. Changing my vote from hostility to harmony is an example of a quiet breakthrough.