Where does your mind go when you think about speeds? A modern mind thinks: “How fast?” The speeds of cars, trains, aeroplanes, sound, light; the speeds of the natural worlds… the speed of thought…
The world keeps moving at break-neck speeds, in many contexts. The question being: Where is it going so fast? Why the great hurry to go to seemingly nowhere, and with such pressure and stress? Can anyone provide a sensible answer to the question: “Where is the world going so fast?”
If you are working for a 21st century organisation, you are likely experiencing the impact of the ‘speeds of progress’. An experience that becomes quite acute in those that must adhere to deadlines, and especially the stressful consequences of not meeting one.
The processes of human development and human evolution – of the spiritual kind – live far and away from the processes that characterise the 21st century. It is therefore important to be able to differentiate between the speeds of culture, and the organic speeds of human development. Between the speeds and pressures that are enforced upon us, and the natural speeds and energetic pressure systems of the evolutionary dimensions of living.
Let’s bring this close to home. Do you meditate? If you do, you know that the first thing that happens upon entering a meditative state is slowing down. When we slow down, we connect to the slow end of the inner spectrum, that has a different resonance to the faster end. And that different resonance – or inner beat – makes it possible for us to evoke and connect to the forces that attend processes of a meditative nature.
Now consider a walk in nature. Not the fast-paced fitness-centric walk, but the kind of walk where you allow yourself to slow down, listen, and sense the natural magnetisms that radiate from the ground, flora life, and the overall energetic nature of the eco-system.
Let’s briefly touch upon moments where we find ourselves contemplating questions such as:
– “How did the being that I am come into existence in the first place?”
– “Why is it so that having the right attitude is so energetically empowering?”
– “How does self-healing work?”
– “What is the one little change that if I make at this time, will generate the biggest positive impact in my life, and possibly the lives of others around me?”
There is such a thing as ‘contemplation speeds’, which is state causing when it is in play. Note that it’s largely about being in process, and what the process yields over time, rather than having a quick answer-driven mindset.
The speeds of love
Before moving on, connect for a moment to something that you love doing, where there is no obligation or external pressure for you to be doing. What does it feel like when you think about it? What does it feel like when you are into it, in abandonment, in an uninterrupted way? Doing what we love doing – provided it is constructive – attracts energising, revitalising, healing forces, out of a whole spectrum of possibilities.
Inner speeds live at the heart of these processes. From fast outside, slow inside; to slow outside, fast inside. We constantly and seamlessly move along the inner speeds gradient, which, as has been touched upon in many previous Fulcrums, divides into the doing and being domains with their natural speeds, and the speeds of something else, which is at times referred to here as ‘the third way’.
Did you notice that when you need to perceive what is happening – in many contexts – there is a need to slow down, to a point of inner stillness, which is a state that lives in proximity to the evolutionary dimensions of living.
Here is an on-route ponder: What is the speed of stillness…? The speed of a still state that makes it possible for us to sense the presence of things that move at mind boggling speed…?
What is the speed of human development? How fast does it move…?
Consider human progress throughout the ages. It is quite easy to observe the speeds of the development and evolution of science and technology. But how much real personal development has gone on in, say, the last 1000 years? Is the world a better, kinder place to be in from a purely human perspective? In what ways are humans more personally developed now than in past times? The answer is a bit of a mixed bag, isn’t it? If we extend a bit further into the past, there is much evidence to suggest that ancient wisdom trumps modern wisdom in many ways.
What stands out about these times is the presence of an evolutionary window of opportunity, appearing from timeless Creational realms, channelling an unprecedented flow of energies and new intelligence, with new horizons of possibility to develop and evolve coming into view.
However, the presence of new possibilities is one thing; realising them is a whole other matter. Having a gigantic stash money sitting in the bank is of no use if the account holder spends it like a drunken sailor, instead of investing it wisely, guided by constructive, mindful intentions, and especially, know-how. And the reason why know-how – and its integration into our daily living – is quite crucial in this process is that it is needed to break away from fixing habits and old paradigms which much of the world is mired in. And most importantly, align and tune to the onsetting evolutionary future of humanity, which the framework of the 21st century is blind to.
If you want to go a little deeper into an expanded example of developmental knowhow, perhaps listen to The Vital Balance Fulcrum podcast (12 minutes long).
What we are experiencing is an evolutionary quickening. The symptoms of it happening are everywhere. One example out of many is a powerful urge experienced by many of us to look for new ways forward, driven by the instinct that real change is quite possible if enough of us want it, and are there for it to happen.
One of the reasons for 42 degrees Celsius being such a critical marker in our body’s temperature is that a higher temperature is lethal for enzymes, and in turn, for the body’s metabolism amongst other processes. As we know, enzymes are there to quicken metabolic processes by a factor of millions-fold to what it may take otherwise. So, no life without enzymes.
Let’s take this to another octave – the energetic dimensions of human development. Knowhow is a developmental enzyme. Without the right kind of knowhow personal development may happen, but at a far slower rate, falling short of realising a vast range of possibilities that lie in waiting. Some have been in waiting for millions of years for this window of opportunity.
Moving on with the enzyme analogy, like the body’s enzymes, developmental enzymes in the form of energetic essences cannot sustain in the heats of the great rush to nowhere. So, we need ways and means to manage ourselves, and survive the inflictions of the modern world.
Bringing this Fulcrum to a point, one of the key developmental tasks of the times is to listen and slow down; slow down and listen. To listen to our many instincts – each inner life has its own instinct – and slowing down to make it possible to listen, sense, feel, draw close to not just what is important, but what what is important is joined to.
To be sure, fast is not better than slow, and slow is not better than fast. Both are equally important in the flow of living and evolving. It is a question of balance.
Fast and slow at many levels – how well do you know you…?
With best wishes,
David
World Copyright 2024© David Gommé