Sunday, December 28, 2003
Cariņo: Inner renewal
By Linda Grace Cariņo
Paradigm shift
IT IS the end of 2003, Roman count. While we are in the midst of the Filipino version of the Christmas holidays and its ubiquitous merrymaking, it is also that time of year when we all think of the coming year, 2004. More to the point, we are probably thinking of the new year and how to welcome it. And a lot of us try and figure out how to make it truly new.
So there are resolution makers who resolve to do one, two, three, or more things in the coming year. Some usual resolutions are to stop smoking, to cut out this or that from the diet, to get on and stick to a workout program. To go to church services more than once a week, to go once a week, to go to mass. More difficult ones, for a distressing some: to smile when greeted, to smile at least once a day, to smile.
Come the new year, the group I call Sommistas (Charley's disciples) release any and all clutter from their homes, clean said homes from top to bottom, perform rich-uals to call forth more prosperity in the coming year, which they welcome in brand new clothes, from underwear to accessories. This is supposed to be best accompanied by a mental clearing of clutter, that release of old, negative ideas that unnecessarily take up space in one's psyche. Actually, it is "sommistically" more important to work from the mental to the physical, i.e., clean up the mind (the inner) and the outer will follow. But for those for whom it is not easy to release negative thoughts, cleaning the outer (house, room, things) may just bring about the inner change.
Much like playacting. An actor who has difficulty internalizing a character (working from the inner: emotions, thoughts, creation of history, etc...) can be directed with external points. A director can give such a one (or s/he can give oneself) movements, mannerisms, costumes, etc... that will hopefully trigger the internal, and make the act come real.
However, at this time of year, we really ought to be more concerned with making new our inner selves. This could be a contradiction in terms, though, because the innermost self is indeed always but always new, it being the Essence of Being that cannot be defiled. In some belief systems, it is called the soul. In others it is recognized as Light. In yet others, it is given yet other names. What remains common to all such recognitions is that this innermost self is divine, not human. It is the truest Truth in each of us, that part that cannot be sullied by anything worldly. It is the Divine God in each of us.
To "renew" ourselves is thus to allow that Divinity to take over the etheric, the mental, the emotional, the physical selves. In the discipline I follow, these selves are called the "four lower bodies." These four lower bodies are, unlike the Godself, susceptible to all manner of impurity - in thought, in word, in emotion, in deed. It is these, negative thoughts, ill feelings, nasty behavior, even misdirected and misused psychic energies, that are impure. They are not truly of the Godself. Rather they are undisciplined, often ignorant releases of destructive energy that rebound karmically on their originators.
As we celebrate the coming of a new year, we would do well to touch base in no uncertain ways with our innermost selves, the Essence in each of us that is the same for all of us, a Divine Light within. It is this Light that needs renewal, if even only at this time of year. For the hardy, this renewal should be a more frequent journey, in monthly spiritual retreats, weekly church services, daily meditations.
Of course, for the really gifted, living from the point of Inner Divinity and letting it take over life is just the way it is.
Happy New Self!
(December 28, 2003 issue)
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