EVOLUTION : The Body's Intelligence
Excerpt from ‘THE BOOK OF SECRETS’ by Dr Deepak Chopra
A Special thanks to Kayo Hansen for compiling this article!
Excerpt from ‘THE BOOK OF SECRETS’ by Dr Deepak Chopra
A Special thanks to Kayo Hansen for compiling this article!
"My body and the Universe come from the same source, obey the same rhythms, flash with the same storms of electromagnetic activity. My body can't afford to argue over who created the Universe. Every cell would disappear the second it stopped creating itself. So it must be that the Universe is living and breathing through me. I am an expression of everything in existence.
At this moment, you are seamlessly flowing with the cosmos. There is no difference between your breathing and the breathing of the rain forest, between your bloodstream and the world's rivers, between your bones and the cliffs of Dover. Every shift in ecosystem has affected you at the level of your genes. The Universe remembers its evolution by leaving a record written in DNA. This means that your genes are the focal point for everything happening in the world. They are your line of communication with nature as a whole. The Universe thinks and works through you...'"
~ Dr Deepak Chopra
At this moment, you are seamlessly flowing with the cosmos. There is no difference between your breathing and the breathing of the rain forest, between your bloodstream and the world's rivers, between your bones and the cliffs of Dover. Every shift in ecosystem has affected you at the level of your genes. The Universe remembers its evolution by leaving a record written in DNA. This means that your genes are the focal point for everything happening in the world. They are your line of communication with nature as a whole. The Universe thinks and works through you...'"
~ Dr Deepak Chopra
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What's playing through your DNA at this moment is the evolution of the universe. We tend to think of evolution as a straight line march from primitive organisms to higher ones. A better image would be of a bubble expanding to take in more and more of life's potential.
The force of evolution is infinite, but it can work only with what the observer brings to it. A mind closed off to love, for example, will look out on a loveless world and be immune to any evidence of love, while an open mind will look out on that same world and find infinite expressions of love. 
The Wisdom you are already Living - The Body's Intelligence
None of these items are spiritual aspirations; they are facts of daily existence at the level of your cells. 1. HIGHER PURPOSE: Every cell in your body agrees to work for the welfare of the whole; its individual welfare comes second. If necessary, it will die to protect the body, and often does - the lifetime of any given cell is a fraction of our own lifetime. Skin cells perish by the thousands every hour, as do immune cells fighting off invading microbes. Selfishness is not an option, even when it comes to a cell's own survival. 2. COMMUNION: A cell keeps in touch with every other cell. Messenger molecules race everywhere to notify the body's farthest outposts of desire or intention, however slight. Withdrawing or refusing to communicate is not an option. 3. AWARENESS: Cells adapt from moment to moment. They remain flexible in order to respond to immediate situations. Getting caught up in rigid habits is not an option. 4. ACCEPTANCE: Cells recognize each other as equally important. Every function in the body is interdependent with every other. Going it alone is not an option. 5. CREATIVITY: Although every cell has a set of unique functions (liver cells, for example, can perform fifty separate tasks), these combine in creative ways. A person can digest food never eaten before, think thoughts never thought before, dance in a way never seen before. Clinging to old behaviour is not an option. 6. BEING: Cells obey the universal cycle of rest and activity. Although this cycle expresses itself in many ways, such as fluctuating hormone levels, blood pressures, and digestive rhythms, the most obvious expression is sleep. Why we need to sleep remains a medical mystery, yet complete dysfunction develops if we don't enjoy its benefits. In the silence of inactivity, the future of the body is incubating. Being obsessively active or aggressive is not an option. 7. EFFICIENCY: Cell function with the smallest possible expenditure of energy. Typically, a cell stores only three seconds of food and oxygen inside its cell wall. It trusts totally on being provided for. Excessive consumption of food, air, or water is not an option. 8. BONDING: Due to their common genetic inheritance, cells know that they are fundamentally the same. The fact that liver cells are different from heart cells, and muscle cells are different from brain cells, does not negate their common identity, which is unchanging. In the laboratory, a muscle cell can be genetically transformed into a heart cell by going back to their common source. Healthy cells remain tied to their source no matter how many times they divide. For them, being an outcast is not an option. |
 9. GIVING: The primary activity of cells is giving, which maintains the integrity of all other cells. Total commitment to giving makes receiving automatic - it is the other half of a natural cycle. Hoarding is not an option.
10. IMMORTALITY: Cells reproduce in order to pass on their knowledge, experience, and talents, withholding nothing from their offspring. This is a kind of practical immortality, submitting to death on the physical plane but defeating it on the nonphysical. The generation gap is not an option. Cells know that they are fundamentally the same. They recognize each other as equally important. Every cell in your body agrees to work for the welfare of the whole. The primary activity of cells is giving, which maintains the integrity of all other cells. In a healthy body, every cell recognizes itself in every other cell. The first secret is to let your body's wisdom point the way. The purpose here is to extend your body's comfort zone into behaviour and feeling. Let your words express aspirations near your heart that make you feel like your true self. For example: 1. HIGHER PURPOSE: I am here to serve. I am here to inspire. I am here to love. I am here to live my truth. 2. COMMUNION: I will appreciate someone who doesn't know that I feel that way. I will overlook the tension and be friendly to someone who has ignored me. I will express at least one feeling that has made me feel guilty or embarrassed. 3. AWARENESS: I will spend ten minutes observing instead of speaking. I will sit quietly by myself just to sense how my body feels. If someone irritates me, I will ask myself what I really feel beneath the anger - and I won't stop paying attention until the anger is gone. 4. ACCEPTANCE: I will spend five minutes thinking about the best qualities of someone I really dislike. I will read about a group that I consider totally intolerant and try to see the world as they do. I will look in the mirror and describe myself exactly as if I were the perfect mother or father I wish I had had (beginning with the sentence 'How beautiful you are in my eyes'). 5. CREATIVITY: I will imagine five things I could do that my family would never expect - and then I will do at least one of them. I will outline a novel based on my life (every incident will be true, but no one would ever guess that I am the hero). I will invent something in my mind that the world desperately needs. 6. BEING: I will spend half an hour in a peaceful place doing nothing except feeling what it is like to exist. I will lie outstretched on the grass and feel the earth languidly revolving under me. I will take in three breaths and let them out as gently as possible. 7. EFFICIENCY: I will let at least two things out of my control and see what happens. I will gaze at a rose and reflect on whether I could make it open faster or more beautifully than it already does - then I will ask if my life has blossomed this efficiently. I will lie in a quiet place by the ocean, or with a tape of the sea, and breathe in its rhythms. 8. BONDING: When I catch myself looking away from someone, I will remember to look into the person's eyes. I will bestow a loving gaze on someone I have taken for granted. I will express sympathy to someone who needs it, preferably a stranger. 9. GIVING: I will buy lunch and give it to someone in need on the street (or I will go to a cafe and eat lunch with the person). I will compliment someone for a quality that I know the individual values in him or herself. I will give my children as much of my undivided time today as they want. 10. IMMORTALITY: I will write down five things I want my life to be remembered for. I will sit and silently experience the gap between breathing in and breathing out, feeling the eternal in the present moment. The mystery of life is an expression not of random accidents but of one intelligence that exists everywhere. |
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BEING IN THE *DHARMA (*The principle of cosmic order)
This set of circumstances, both inner and outer, is what Dharma provides. Which is to say that when you feel ready to move forward, reality shifts to show you how. And when you aren't ready to move forward? Then there is the backup system of Vasana, which moves you forward by repeating those tendencies that are embedded in you from the past. When you find yourself stuck and unable to make any progress at all, the following circumstances usually apply: 1. YOU AREN'T READY TO MOVE: The experience of an old reality still fascinates you. You keep enjoying your habitual way of life, or else, if there is more pain than enjoyment, you are addicted to the pain for some reason not yet revealed. 2. YOU AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION: Your mind is caught up in distractions. This is especially true if there is too much external stimulation. Unless you feel alert inside, you won't be able to pick up the hints and clues being sent from the one reality. 3. THE ENVIRONMENT WON'T SUPPORT YOU: When you try moving forward, circumstances push you back. This kind of thwarting means that there is more to learn, or that the timing isn't yet right. It also can be true that at a deep level you don't see yourself moving forward; your conscious desire is in conflict with deeper doubt and uncertainty. 4. YOU FEEL THREATENED: by the expansion you would have to make, preferring the safety of a limited self-image. Many people cling to a contracted state, believing that it protects them. In fact, the greatest protection you could ask for comes from evolution, which solves problems by expansion and forward movement. But you must own this knowledge completely; if any part of you wants to hang back in a constricted state, that's usually enough to block the road ahead. 5. YOU KEEP SEEING YOURSELF AS THE OLD PERSON: who adapted to an old situation. This is often an unconscious choice. People identify with their past and try to use old perceptions to understand what is happening. Since perception is everything, seeing yourself as too weak, limited, undeserving, or lacking will block any step forward. |
ON EXPENDING ENERGY
If you have ever committed yourself passionately to anything, you've found that the more energy you devote to it, the more you have. Passion replenishes itself. What drains energy, strangely enough, is the act of holding back. The more you conserve your energy, the more narrow become the channels through which it can flow. People who are afraid to love, for example, wind up constricting love's expression. They feel tight in the heart rather than expanded; loving words stick in their throats; they find it awkward to make even small loving gestures. Tightness develops fear of expansion, and thus the snake keeps eating its own tail: The less energy you spend, the less you have to spend. Here are a few steps that can cause the channels of energy to expand: • LEARN TO GIVE: When you feel most like hoarding, turn to someone in need and offer some of what you possess in abundance. This doesn't have to be money or goods. You can give time and attention, which actually will do much more to open your channels of energy than giving away cash. • BE GENEROUS: This means generous in praise and appreciation even more than generous with your money. Most people hunger for praise and get much less than they deserve. Be the first to notice when someone has done well. Appreciate from a full heart and not just with formulaic words. Praise in detail, showing the other person that you actually paid attention to what he or she accomplished. Meet the person with your gaze and stay connected as you praise. • FOLLOW YOUR PASSION: Some area in your life makes you want to spend all your energy there. For most people, there's a built-in inhibition about going too far, however, so they don't really spend themselves even in those areas. Be willing to go the limit, and then go a bit further. If you like to hike, set your sights on a mountain and conquer it. If you like to write, start and finish a book. The point is not to force yourself but to prove how much energy is really there. Energy is the carrier of awareness; it allows awareness to come out into the world. By devoting more energy to any endeavour you increase the reward of understanding that will come to you. Every observer creates a version of reality that is bound up in certain meanings and energies. As long as those meanings seem valid, the energies hold the picture together. But when the observer wants to see something new, meaning collapses, energies combine in a new way, and the world takes a quantum leap. You, the observer, bring your version of reality into being. Before anything happens to you it is conceived in the imagination - that is, in the state where images and desire are born. These images then unfold into expressed objects and events. While that happens you enter the event subjectively, which means you absorb it into your nervous system. The simplest way to describe this three-part act of creation is to say that you imagine a picture, then you paint it and finally step inside. 'Creation is creating itself, using consciousness as its modelling clay. Consciousness turns into things in the objective world, into experiences in the subjective world.' |
(Excerpt from ‘THE BOOK OF SECRETS’ by Deepak Chopra)
A Special thanks to Kayo Hansen for compiling this article!
http://psychedelicadventure.blogspot.com/2009/07/human-evolution-bodys-intelligence.html
A Special thanks to Kayo Hansen for compiling this article!
http://psychedelicadventure.blogspot.com/2009/07/human-evolution-bodys-intelligence.html