Turn Social Conflict Into Consciousness

by John Maxwell Taylor

Have you ever noticed when people express themselves negatively towards you, you sometimes have a "gone" sensation, as if your spiritual energy just flew away. According to Barbara Ann Brennan, author of Hands of Light, some people cannot get life energy directly from the surrounding atmosphere so they must get it "predigested" from someone else. That means you and I!

Unfortunately the human race has become addicted to negative emotions and this can put a toxic spin on the energy that passes between us in our interpersonal interactions. Life Energy is our "Daily Bread." If someone wants to steal it they do so by making you vibrate on the same negative frequency as themselves. They may give an unpleasant look, or launch a verbal attack to make you react and start leaking energy.

Most are familiar with the phrase "he just lost it." What has been lost is ones sense of self. The real person vanished under a veil of physical and emotional reactions. This causes a loss of energy which is needed for our personal evolution and world service. Therefore, I believe we must train ourselves to never lose "it" (our sense of self), no matter what is going on around us.

Interpersonal friction can create a certain psychic heat or tension that activates soul awareness if we get out of our heads and into our bodies when trouble starts. A key technique for doing this process is called "Sensing and Feeling" which I learned from "Gurdjieff Work." This relatively simple process allows one to feel every part of the body, mind and emotions simultaneously.

One preliminary aspect you might like to try is to develop an ongoing awareness of your left foot. Try focusing upon it to the exclusion of all else, as if you mind was actually inside your foot. Mentally scan the toes, the sole, heel, ankle, while trying to sense the total feeling of the foot. Hold this awareness for 30 seconds and you may start to feel a tingling sensation. This is your personal life energy, your "chi" merging with the Earth energy entering your body through an acupuncture point known as the "bubbling" spring on the sole of the foot. With practice one can learn to feel this tingling sensation throughout the entire body which is in essence conscious awareness..

By doing this exercise you will soon discover that when someone launches a verbal attack, you will be able to get out of the head instantly and start "sensing and feeling," — not just the left foot but the entire body. The energy coming from the other person will not trigger mental reactions and make you say and do things you might regret. You become more not less because of your ability to make the right response and seek peace with the other person.

I call this system of spiritual self defense, "Sociological Aikido," drawing on the fact that traditional Aikido, although developed as a martial art, is actually known as "the path of peace." Granted that verbal conflict, innuendo and put-downs are often the social norm, we can learn to apply the attitudes and mental outlook behind many spiritual disciplines to the arena of personal encounters and create a synthesis of technique that help us deal with the difficult aspects of our social lives.

Also, from the Gurdjieff work, I learned to remember myself and see the difference in a persons eyes and speak to their "essence" eye to draw out the soul, or block ego by giving a direct look to their "personality" eye. Can you see the difference in your eyes? One reflects your essence, that which you were born with, the other reveals all you learned from life. Try looking in the mirror. Alternately cover one eye. Your essence eye is the one that is clear, innocent and spiritual. Your personality eye is the one that has seen the world. Becoming aware of this difference gives you a tremendous advantage when looking at people

Finally, remember no one has the right to take away your spiritual energy. You need it for your own evolution. The question is, can you be aware of it under pressure? Can you get out of your head and your reactions and remember yourself at will. To be reactive is to be asleep to the greater possibility of feeling your divine nature at any moment. So sense and feel. Say often throughout the day with all the focus of body, mind and emotional energy as one force, "I want to remember myself." To be a peacemaker one must first be able to find it within. As Yogananda said, "Change yourself and you will reform thousands."

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