After reading this wonderful posting, one can't but help start to imagine some of the many ways in which life on planet earth would become kinder, more creative and less toxic were we to bravely go further down the road of self-love -- a kind of surrender to the deeper truth about ourselves that inhabits every cell of our bodies. The Abrahamic religions with their vengeful and jealous God seem to have made Western Culture particularly prone to self-hate, and therefore as a Westerner (and evangelical-christianity-survivor) the challenge has been acute.
Extending relationships to how we relate to situations (and not just people) opens up a great new way to resolve the various "I'm-in-the-wrong-film" material scenarios we can sometimes find ourselves in. I know there is a lot more mileage to be travelled on this topic in future postings. I look forward to them (cue: and so should everybody else 😊 ).
The ongoing hard sell of 'Salvation by Technology" will bring with it increased authoritarianism (as one can well see in China with its 700 million cameras), and self-love-knowledge might be the only energy/force capable of empowering us genuinely in such critical times. What you are writing is a life-line both now and for the future. 💜
When all around is dark, a carefully prepared rope from A to B is all you need; people just have to hang onto it and feel their way forward in trust that it will lead them from the dark Anthropocene to the light of the Symbiocene.
Indeed Joshua, the world would be a wonderful place! If everyone would care for themselves as much as they do for others we would all be taken care of.
It's somehow easier to care for others than it is to care for ourselves; which from one point of view does seem a bit bizarre. "Love thy neighbour as thyself" may be less a command, and more a statement of how things work.
Very, very beautiful, Veronika! ♥️ I so agree, relationship with self is paramount. And it's fractal. As within, so without. I love that the symbiocene is all about animistic/panpsychism values. It's an extraordinary model you've developed, thank you so much for sharing it with the world. And I am wholly intrigued by the exercise with the chalice and sword. I'm going to give that one a try myself. 🤗
Thank you so much, Jenna. Fractal and holotropic, yes. Every 'exercise' or practice is a movement towards wholeness. The 'chalice and sword' visualisation comes from Assagioli's work, called Psychosynthesis... these practices have lead to my work, and the basics of holism and fractal phenomena are fundamental to both.
The journey from fear to love is the miracle of our lives. Self love is the door to self forgiveness and self healing. Synchronosophy. Shift happens.
Delphi and Blake sing loudly. Having stood in that place in Greece and having got lost in between the words of the other I see the path. It always takes the poetry of self love to guide the way home in the symbiocene.
This was a wonderful article I will chew on slowly! Your own story so captivating.
You and Josh are elders. Thanks for lighting the way.
Thank you so much Jamie! Theodore Roszak ~ I've heard the name but never read his work (yet ~ just found the book online, thank you for that tip) ~ Bill Plotkin is on an inspiring path too!! I've read his 'Wild Mind' many years ago and keep dipping into his current work.
I believe there have always been elders. I've met some throughout my life ~ they may not have used that word.
In past generations we were living in collective cultures. Eldership was an arrow held by specific wise people, usually a circle of Wise Elders, which makes a lot of sense.
While this is still happening today, in our individualised cultures, I think we are more and more called to connect with our own Inner Elder. We are called to become our own guides.
Some people have a sense of calling for Eldership from an early age (this is true for both Josh and myself) It still took us a lifetime to step into that calling.
Now I can see younger 'Elders' stepping into their calling much earlier (one beautiful example is Asia Suler, author of 'Mirrors in the Earth) Although some of her work will undoubtedly still undergo radical transformation, our contemporary culture encourages people to step on that path in a very public way much earlier.
It sounds to me as if the call for wisdom and Eldership is stirring within you as well. Trust that calling of the heart❣️
I’ll see you in the circle! In cuoreosity into the symbiocene I walk into a place I’ve always been and knowing it for the very first time. Whatever elder means I am sure it will shape the light as love calls me home. Bless you.
There is much to unpack here, but love is the beginning and the end. When I was in grade school, we were taught bible stories, including the creation myth and Adam and Eve. I never understood the story as just.
As a six-year-old, I asked why should people suffer afterward because Adam & Eve "sinned." Well, I got the usual unsatisfying answer. Unsatisfying, because my inner being knew it was nonesense. Childhood innocence should not be ignored.
I did not grow up in a home with much love or validation or acceptance. I am not angry with my parents, since they could not break free from their own demons. I have, with varying degrees of success, understood what has kept me from love and acceptance of my Self. Judgment and Criticism get in the way.
I love William Blake and Charlie Chaplin and see much wisdom in the grain of sand and in the little tramp.
As young children we understood. We could clearly see where our elders got things completely wrong. I fully agree with your assessment of the impact of A&E's 'sinfulness'. That seed was already planted long before Christianity.
But then the Christians managed to get themselves tied up in knots completely with J who 'died to forgive all our sins' and yet we (in my home) had to go to church on Sundays and pray for 'forgiveness of our sins'. Nothing made sense! We could see it all along. And yet it takes a lifetime to unravel this entangled mindset.
Thank you Veronika, for sharing this new part ! in the first 2/3 I thought I love myself already, but your apotheosis changed my mind completely. My selflove is merely based on my self acceptance due to the fact I felt I met the standards of my upbringing.. but I learned from you that is not self love… I really need more tine and rereading for the fullest understanding. Thank you for opening my eyes!
I think self-love is a process which as you say, goes via self-acceptance. The clue that changes everything, in my mind, is the word 'unconditional'. Fully developed self-love is unconditional. I still catch myself out too, sometimes, not fully loving myself in certain situations. It may express itself in different ways (for example when I don't fully trust myself, or value someone else's opinion higher than mine, or disregard my own instinct...which in the end always proves to be true ~ for me!)
Moving from self-rejection to unconditional self-love is definitely a journey. In later chapters I hope to be able to share practices which lead to this destination.
Wow, so much to consider … and l think l have jumped a couple of chapters 🤦♀️. No matter, l need to re read everything…. And again. 🙏. The notion of self-love l have found to be a bit of a paradox in spiritual ‘teachings’ l have encountered. Unconditional love, in how l have experienced it, was a realisation and experience of love, in and beyond this Earth plane - simultaneous though and inclusive of relationship (during John’s illness). Understanding we are of love and all loved helped release egoic patterns that were embedded. So, do l love myself … if it means l am largely free of the shackles of societal conditioning, and aware of those that linger … yes. Does it mean l understand what forgiveness entails re ancestral patterns, our own choices, that of others etc …. All of it? Taking responsibility for self … yes. I am a work in progress 🤦♀️☺️🙏. Grateful for the learning.
Thank you for your writing, it inspires me to continue to see the universe within all of us. I love that there is mystery and that by universal design, we are encouraged to trust, have faith (in a non-religious sense for me) that we are safe and a vast intelligence is what the universe is. We are an aspect of its creative design, and can access snippets of it while having this human experience. We are observing ourselves from the realm whence we came. And while we don’t know all while here, that’s ok because l don’t think we are meant to? This knowledge helps me process (surrender and accept) the human experience and l guess in that acceptance (still requires action), self love is actualised, if l label it as such? 💜🙏🤗
I think you have summarised the whole process perfectly here. Acceptance in itself is a process (and so is surrender). Self-love (in my experience) is indeed actualised through unconditional self-acceptance (which can be a lot harder than it sounds, initially). But with small deliberate steps and commitment to the process entirely achievable.
Yes, that's how I see it too. The universe within all of us. And also all of us in the universe. That's why self-love is not a 'selfish act' but a practice which benefits the universe and all of us 💗🙏
Yes 🙌. And yes, self acceptance and surrender is bloody hard, still on that process. I think it is an act of courage 😊. Definitely small steps. Yay, all of us in the universe too. More clarity 🤗. Thanks Veronika 🙏🏼💜
With every chapter I’m catching up to now, I feel the deepening and interweaving and great anticipation for your following chapters. Yes to “love is the force of oneness that holds the living universe together.” 💕
This is a wonderful post! Your posts are so rich with wisdom, I need to read it over and over again! To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance, Oscar Wilde said. I think he is right. Self-love is not a destination but a way of living. And it is indeed the key to happiness, freedom and a fulfilled life. 💕🙏 Thanks for your words!
Thank you so much! It was a pretty amazing period of my life (after a time of biggest shit, as shared in earlier chapters). My hope is that sharing this gives hope and courage to my fellow travellers on this journey of life. Thank you for being here 💕🙏
After reading this wonderful posting, one can't but help start to imagine some of the many ways in which life on planet earth would become kinder, more creative and less toxic were we to bravely go further down the road of self-love -- a kind of surrender to the deeper truth about ourselves that inhabits every cell of our bodies. The Abrahamic religions with their vengeful and jealous God seem to have made Western Culture particularly prone to self-hate, and therefore as a Westerner (and evangelical-christianity-survivor) the challenge has been acute.
Extending relationships to how we relate to situations (and not just people) opens up a great new way to resolve the various "I'm-in-the-wrong-film" material scenarios we can sometimes find ourselves in. I know there is a lot more mileage to be travelled on this topic in future postings. I look forward to them (cue: and so should everybody else 😊 ).
The ongoing hard sell of 'Salvation by Technology" will bring with it increased authoritarianism (as one can well see in China with its 700 million cameras), and self-love-knowledge might be the only energy/force capable of empowering us genuinely in such critical times. What you are writing is a life-line both now and for the future. 💜
Thank you so very much❣️❣️
A life-line for now and for the future. That's a good way of looking at it.
Perhaps a life-line from the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene...
What more could I wish for? 💕🙏
When all around is dark, a carefully prepared rope from A to B is all you need; people just have to hang onto it and feel their way forward in trust that it will lead them from the dark Anthropocene to the light of the Symbiocene.
Indeed Joshua, the world would be a wonderful place! If everyone would care for themselves as much as they do for others we would all be taken care of.
It's somehow easier to care for others than it is to care for ourselves; which from one point of view does seem a bit bizarre. "Love thy neighbour as thyself" may be less a command, and more a statement of how things work.
Very, very beautiful, Veronika! ♥️ I so agree, relationship with self is paramount. And it's fractal. As within, so without. I love that the symbiocene is all about animistic/panpsychism values. It's an extraordinary model you've developed, thank you so much for sharing it with the world. And I am wholly intrigued by the exercise with the chalice and sword. I'm going to give that one a try myself. 🤗
Thank you so much, Jenna. Fractal and holotropic, yes. Every 'exercise' or practice is a movement towards wholeness. The 'chalice and sword' visualisation comes from Assagioli's work, called Psychosynthesis... these practices have lead to my work, and the basics of holism and fractal phenomena are fundamental to both.
Thank you Veronika. Goose bumps with this one as I was leaning into Theodore Roszaks’s book on being an elder. The theme has been writing through me.
Are there any real elders left? Will there be any in the future if most of us never truly even encounter adulthood? Bill Plotkin writes to this well.
https://www.animas.org/wp-content/uploads/Intro-to-ESDW-for-Animas-website.pdf
Who will guide us? IRSS is rampant.
The journey from fear to love is the miracle of our lives. Self love is the door to self forgiveness and self healing. Synchronosophy. Shift happens.
Delphi and Blake sing loudly. Having stood in that place in Greece and having got lost in between the words of the other I see the path. It always takes the poetry of self love to guide the way home in the symbiocene.
This was a wonderful article I will chew on slowly! Your own story so captivating.
You and Josh are elders. Thanks for lighting the way.
Thank you so much Jamie! Theodore Roszak ~ I've heard the name but never read his work (yet ~ just found the book online, thank you for that tip) ~ Bill Plotkin is on an inspiring path too!! I've read his 'Wild Mind' many years ago and keep dipping into his current work.
I believe there have always been elders. I've met some throughout my life ~ they may not have used that word.
In past generations we were living in collective cultures. Eldership was an arrow held by specific wise people, usually a circle of Wise Elders, which makes a lot of sense.
While this is still happening today, in our individualised cultures, I think we are more and more called to connect with our own Inner Elder. We are called to become our own guides.
Some people have a sense of calling for Eldership from an early age (this is true for both Josh and myself) It still took us a lifetime to step into that calling.
Now I can see younger 'Elders' stepping into their calling much earlier (one beautiful example is Asia Suler, author of 'Mirrors in the Earth) Although some of her work will undoubtedly still undergo radical transformation, our contemporary culture encourages people to step on that path in a very public way much earlier.
It sounds to me as if the call for wisdom and Eldership is stirring within you as well. Trust that calling of the heart❣️
I’ll see you in the circle! In cuoreosity into the symbiocene I walk into a place I’ve always been and knowing it for the very first time. Whatever elder means I am sure it will shape the light as love calls me home. Bless you.
Indeed! We are already creating this circle right here, which I LOVE 💖🙏
Thank you so much for being part of my circle and welcoming me into yours. This is very special.
There is much to unpack here, but love is the beginning and the end. When I was in grade school, we were taught bible stories, including the creation myth and Adam and Eve. I never understood the story as just.
As a six-year-old, I asked why should people suffer afterward because Adam & Eve "sinned." Well, I got the usual unsatisfying answer. Unsatisfying, because my inner being knew it was nonesense. Childhood innocence should not be ignored.
I did not grow up in a home with much love or validation or acceptance. I am not angry with my parents, since they could not break free from their own demons. I have, with varying degrees of success, understood what has kept me from love and acceptance of my Self. Judgment and Criticism get in the way.
I love William Blake and Charlie Chaplin and see much wisdom in the grain of sand and in the little tramp.
Thank you Perry!
As young children we understood. We could clearly see where our elders got things completely wrong. I fully agree with your assessment of the impact of A&E's 'sinfulness'. That seed was already planted long before Christianity.
But then the Christians managed to get themselves tied up in knots completely with J who 'died to forgive all our sins' and yet we (in my home) had to go to church on Sundays and pray for 'forgiveness of our sins'. Nothing made sense! We could see it all along. And yet it takes a lifetime to unravel this entangled mindset.
Thank you Veronika, for sharing this new part ! in the first 2/3 I thought I love myself already, but your apotheosis changed my mind completely. My selflove is merely based on my self acceptance due to the fact I felt I met the standards of my upbringing.. but I learned from you that is not self love… I really need more tine and rereading for the fullest understanding. Thank you for opening my eyes!
Thank you Pauline 💕🙏
I think self-love is a process which as you say, goes via self-acceptance. The clue that changes everything, in my mind, is the word 'unconditional'. Fully developed self-love is unconditional. I still catch myself out too, sometimes, not fully loving myself in certain situations. It may express itself in different ways (for example when I don't fully trust myself, or value someone else's opinion higher than mine, or disregard my own instinct...which in the end always proves to be true ~ for me!)
Moving from self-rejection to unconditional self-love is definitely a journey. In later chapters I hope to be able to share practices which lead to this destination.
Indeed! It's the unconditional that's the key. Self-love means to acknowledge that we ARE the Love we are searching for!
Wow, so much to consider … and l think l have jumped a couple of chapters 🤦♀️. No matter, l need to re read everything…. And again. 🙏. The notion of self-love l have found to be a bit of a paradox in spiritual ‘teachings’ l have encountered. Unconditional love, in how l have experienced it, was a realisation and experience of love, in and beyond this Earth plane - simultaneous though and inclusive of relationship (during John’s illness). Understanding we are of love and all loved helped release egoic patterns that were embedded. So, do l love myself … if it means l am largely free of the shackles of societal conditioning, and aware of those that linger … yes. Does it mean l understand what forgiveness entails re ancestral patterns, our own choices, that of others etc …. All of it? Taking responsibility for self … yes. I am a work in progress 🤦♀️☺️🙏. Grateful for the learning.
Simone, I am in awe and admiration of your journey with unconditional love ~ in and beyond this earth plane ~ we are always work in progress....
Thank you so much for being here 💕🙏
Thank you for your writing, it inspires me to continue to see the universe within all of us. I love that there is mystery and that by universal design, we are encouraged to trust, have faith (in a non-religious sense for me) that we are safe and a vast intelligence is what the universe is. We are an aspect of its creative design, and can access snippets of it while having this human experience. We are observing ourselves from the realm whence we came. And while we don’t know all while here, that’s ok because l don’t think we are meant to? This knowledge helps me process (surrender and accept) the human experience and l guess in that acceptance (still requires action), self love is actualised, if l label it as such? 💜🙏🤗
I think you have summarised the whole process perfectly here. Acceptance in itself is a process (and so is surrender). Self-love (in my experience) is indeed actualised through unconditional self-acceptance (which can be a lot harder than it sounds, initially). But with small deliberate steps and commitment to the process entirely achievable.
Yes, that's how I see it too. The universe within all of us. And also all of us in the universe. That's why self-love is not a 'selfish act' but a practice which benefits the universe and all of us 💗🙏
Yes 🙌. And yes, self acceptance and surrender is bloody hard, still on that process. I think it is an act of courage 😊. Definitely small steps. Yay, all of us in the universe too. More clarity 🤗. Thanks Veronika 🙏🏼💜
that is precisely the practice of Synchronosophy (which I'm planning to write about after my summer break). It does get easier with practice...
Great 😊. Yes, it is getting easier though it has taken me 5 years to get to this point. 🤦🏼♀️💜🤣☺️
With every chapter I’m catching up to now, I feel the deepening and interweaving and great anticipation for your following chapters. Yes to “love is the force of oneness that holds the living universe together.” 💕
This is a wonderful post! Your posts are so rich with wisdom, I need to read it over and over again! To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance, Oscar Wilde said. I think he is right. Self-love is not a destination but a way of living. And it is indeed the key to happiness, freedom and a fulfilled life. 💕🙏 Thanks for your words!
Thank you so much 💕🙏
yes Veronika, that will surely be very helpfull. Looking foreward to that! 🥰
💖🙏
Thank you so much! It was a pretty amazing period of my life (after a time of biggest shit, as shared in earlier chapters). My hope is that sharing this gives hope and courage to my fellow travellers on this journey of life. Thank you for being here 💕🙏