Our Natural Laws are those that are emphasized and expressing here in our life. Like our DNA, we’re all built of the same laws but each of us have a small percent that vary in emphasis, leading to differences in physiology, ability, personality, and life events.
Making our gifts, strengths, and weakness more conscious makes our life easier, even if we are not always happy with what we find. Tools like Jyotish can help us see dynamics that are less conscious.
Liberation frees us from identification and attachment to these dynamics but does not end their influence. We still have a body-mind as a vehicle for living in the world. It maintains its own emphasis and momentum.
Some of that will wind down over time through purification and a lived life. But some is the nature of what is here.
I’ve mentioned being surprised by what has fallen away and what has stayed as the baggage has been cleared. Some life interests may be driven by identity roles rather than laws. And some “bad habits” can turn out to be our laws. Purification liberates the laws to flow more freely so we come to better reflect them. We let go of resistance to life and allow nature to unfold as it will.
However, we don’t want to idolize natural law. There are laws that, while necessary to express, we may want to direct a little. For example, we all need a little inertia to maintain a physical form. But if we allow inertia to take the upper hand, we’ll find this reduces clarity.
We’ll discover specific tendencies that may continue well after awakening. Things we’d consider undesirable and yet they still express. Some of them are surprisingly subtle but potent.
They can show up in lifestyle, work, relationships, food, the works.
I’m not referring to acting out traumas or unresolved needs. I mean natural tendencies that don’t encourage health or harmony. They require being conscious and using deeper discrimination.
As we drop the resistance and “keeping a lid on it,” we may gain much more energy. That too must be productively directed or it can cause problems. Fire is wonderful for transformation but it can also burn.
Liberation is not an abdication of responsibility. We’re still in this world. Life becomes easier, but that’s not an excuse to get sloppy. As we become more conscious, the power of our attention increases. This means we have to be alert to what we feed with our attention.
We’re like a gardener tending the garden. Spring has sprung but we may need to weed a little. And that takes knowing what’s a weed and what’s a blessing. 🙂
Davidya
Very interesting!
I recently became aware that there is a field “behind” my energetic bodies that is a “natural-laws-body” (for a lack of better words). with that came a deeper understanding of them and then they became integated (merged) with the other bodies. that seems to help with release, healing and harmony of the overall system.
I have a question david: what about those laws that do not express harmony? For me that was not fully clear in your article. Can they be changed or transmutated? Or do they stay?
Thanks!
Hi Michael
Excellent experience.
From my perspective, there are natural laws functioning at all levels. But as you get more subtle, they become more primary as you observed. Some people describe them in hierarchies.
And yes, the simple experience/ making conscious brings knowledge and purification. And that brings more harmony.
The subtlest laws work in profound harmony. The article is a reference to more localized laws expressing through this or that specific form. I discovered I had the idea that anything I personally considered undesireable would fall away over time.
Instead what I found was that some things I considered desirable fell away and other things I didn’t didn’t.
I’ve also found this is reflected in the jyotish chart.
It’s not that we change them, it’s that we change our relationship with them. Attachments fall away, emphasis can shift…
As you’ve seen, when things become more conscious it can quite change how we are with things.
Make sense?
Yes understand what you mean.
🙂
Jyotish again.))
Will do it soon.
Hi Alex
(laughs) Yes, it’s been on my mind. Just read Andrew Foss’s new book Yoga of the Planets. It explores the influence and mantra of each planet in each pada (about 3 degree section) of a chart. (also for transits, dashas, etc)
That and some related reading have brought some clarity about the laws here. 🙂
(it’s not an introductory book – you need to have a precise chart to use it)
“I discovered I had the idea that anything I personally considered undesireable would fall away over time.”
Yep, that is a great discovery – very liberating. It is like when the tide goes out, revealing a lot on the sea floor. 🙂
The very interesting thing is once we are clear inside and out, the more knowledgeable and comfortable with ourselves inside, this gets reflected and expressed in daily life. As my relationship with myself expands and improves, so does my life in the world(s).
The even more interesting thing about that relationship, is that the syncing up in and out, brings about a support in life, even when not consciously intended — stuff just works out. As if God himself gives us the benefit of the doubt, day to day. A positive bias in life regardless of expectations.
Just as nature has a forceful response to our violation of her laws, the same appears to be so when we nurture and respect life, silently accumulating a wealth of ongoing cooperation and support from life itself. It is both very humbling and unimaginably fun at the same time.
I like the analogy, Jim.
Well put.
David, what do you mean when you wrote, “I mean natural tendencies that don’t encourage health or harmony. They require being conscious and using deeper discrimination.As we drop the resistance and “keeping a lid on it,” we may gain much more energy.”
I think this has happened to me these past 2 years, that I have a natural tendencies which I is destructive. I recognize it but seem not able to stop. When you say drop the resistance, didn’t I drop the resistance that is why it acted out? When you keep a lid on it, then isn’t that same is repressing it. I don’t want that destructive tendency to have its head back on the surface.
Hi Lynette
The first part of the quote is more about after you do a bunch of clearing, you discover your natural laws within.
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This is quite different from having old unresolved baggage coming to the surface in unconscious ways causing reactive behaviors and acting out. That’s not being naturally destructive, it’s having pain that is seeking a way to be seen.
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With experience and awareness, we come to recognize how this shows up for us. Then we can recognize the pattern and redirect it. For example, if we tend to lash out at others, we learn to recognize the rising dynamic and we redirect it in healthier ways, like in emotional release, sports, or similar.
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As we become more conscious of our inner dynamics and heal that “pain body”, the tendencies fall away. This does take time but the benefits are very worth it.
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In other words, these are not part of who we are or our natural laws. They’re just part of the past that hasn’t yet healed.
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It can feel very personal and can have personal consequences. But just as you are not a broken leg, you’re also not an unhealed trauma. It’s not a personality defect. It’s something old to let go of, not something to hold on to as part of who I am. That makes it harder to let it go of.
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When you say “I don’t want that destructive tendency to have its head back on the surface.” This is the opposite. This is saying you’re unwilling to experience it and would rather repress it. That’s the ego wanting to control. Thats not how we heal.
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But neither is lashing out.
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We do want to take responsibility for our behaviour as acting out is unconscious and can hurt others. But again, thats about learning to be conscious. Meditation will help you there as you discover your deeper nature.
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You may find tackling smaller challenges easier at first until you “get” the process. Then you can begin to work on the big ones. Some of this will also heal naturally through effortless meditation.
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The second part of the quote is about energy. It takes a lot of energy to resist and suppress our baggage. As we gradually heal, we let the pressure off and less and less energy is needed. This frees up all that energy for life. 🙂
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Just be patient with yourself. It takes time to shift the tides. We’ll have stumbles. But now you’re stumbling forward rather than deeper into the muck…