The Process of the Middle Way, Part III

This is a somewhat lengthy but hopefully meaningful conclusion to our topic. The Middle Way is not a structure laid out before you. No one can provide the specifics of your unique path. But there are common elements in our individual journeys as the Mysterious Dr. M. points out in the Handbook. The Middle Way is your ideal way of being in the world. The word Process comes for the Latin processus meaning progression or course. A process is a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. It also implies a natural or involuntary series of changes like the aging process, the process of photosynthesis, a spiritual or ceremonial process, the maturation process, or the process of change. When you speak of the Process of the Middle Way, you are inquiring into the actions or steps that must be taken in order to achieve the Middle Way or the Middle Path in your particular life journey. How can you avoid the emotional extremes that are like jagged rocks making your journey more of a struggle than you want it to be, or than you feel it needs to be?

Remember the first two letters between U and the Mysterious Dr. M.? And remember the image that is printed throughout the Handbook On Being Human, vol. I? The image of the mountain, off in the distance, standing alone, crowned by clouds, yet appearing to be illuminated. In those first two letters, U and Dr. M. discuss the dream that brought them together. And throughout the Handbook Dr. M. uses the image of the mountain to describe the process of our individual journeys through this life. In U’s dream there was no clear path or way, only the inner feeling that U had to reach the top (the Destiny Mandate). Dr. M.’s description of the wheels on U’s car and the process of the wheels gradually rounding are hints at the difficulty of achieving the Middle Way. The fact that there is no clear path in U’s dream also indicates difficulty and that the ultimate route that U takes to the top of the mountain will be the consequences of U’s choices. And as another hint about our life journey, notice again that the image of the mountain is in the distance. You know that from a distance and even when you are in the midst of the climb, you cannot always tell how many peaks, fissures, and valleys lay on your path. And finally remember that Dr. M. tells U that he has traveled into people’s dreams who have given up on their journey because of its difficulty. Throughout the Handbook Dr. M. encourages you and me to trust in the process!

In the last Post we repeated, the Process of the Middle Way is about being sensitive and responsive to the signals and signs that indicate when you are approaching an extreme (going off-path). In other words, it is U trying to be in the moment to traverse the immediate challenges of the terrain and also looking ahead in order to anticipate the future choices that will ultimately get U to the top of the mountain. But you can't anticipate everything! Sometimes on your journey you may come to a sudden drop, requiring a sudden downward (or backward) movement. Think about struggling to climb to the summit of some difficult mountain only to find that you will either have to retrace your steps and try another route or you will have to risk a potentially life changing fall into the darkness below not knowing the depth of the abyss. Either way, you are going to have to go down before you can climb up the next peak.

Sudden downward movements can present their own set of choices about how you should respond to your experiences. The first thing to remember is that it isn’t just happening to you! Sudden downward movement is part of the nature of our common journey in life. No one escapes the experience. It is a part of the Laws of Vibration and Rhythm. The second thing to remember is that there is always a lesson to be learned from a sudden downward movement, a lesson that (if learned) will make your choices wiser and your journey smoother in the future. The third thing to remember is that your response to a sudden downward movement in your life will determine the depth of the movement. A host of negative feelings, attitudes, and behaviors can emerge during sudden downward movement if once again the Fight-or-Flight Response suppresses the Peaceful Space Response. A negative response to sudden downward movement increases the cracks and deepens the fall. When you allow your energy signature to shift towards envy, jealousy, resentment, anger, cynicism, animosity, bitterness, malice, and general negativity, you open the Door of Misfortune for more adversity, woe, and tribulation to come into your life as Dr. M. points out in the Handbook. A positive response to sudden downward movement (trusting in your process, aligning with the Prime Directive, Creating Peaceful Space, listening to your Ori) will heighten your intuition and creativity, illuminate the lessons to be learned from your experiences, seal the cracks in your energy signature that required the lesson, and enhance your ability to recover from the sudden downward movement with greater personal power.

The Prime Directive says that the Process of the Middle Way is to seek pleasure and avoid pain for yourself and others, to transform negative energy into positive energy through your conduct in the world, and to nurture life and struggle against death for the welfare of the planet and the coexistence of all living things. The Peaceful Space Response is a response to the conditions that you call into existence when you align you life with the Prime Directive. In the Handbook, the Enia proclaim that the Peaceful Space Response is a necessary condition for the sustainable existence of social order and life on this planet.

Whether we are talking about our hypothetical young lady, or Michael Steele, or U in the Handbook, or you, the Process of the Middle Way is really the process of learning to trust in yourself and in the universal laws that you see operating in your life. Who among us has not had that strange sense that the universe or something unseen within it has had some influence in your life, that it has saved you from some hardship or misfortune, that it has warned you without words of some event to be avoided, or that it has guided you toward some opportunity or good fortune? The Middle Way in your life can only be realized by you listening to your self, your Ori. Therefore, the Process of the Middle Way must be an act of paying attention to your self, of listening to yourself, and of trusting yourself. As Dr. M. points out in the Handbook, the Yoruba word Orisa is said to derive from Ori (to see) and sha (to choose) – meaning to choose to see. To choose to see what? To see your own way to be a positive influence in the world, your way of seeking, avoiding, transforming, nurturing, and struggling while avoiding the extremes!

Living in alignment with the Prime Directive

is a choice to which everyone should be invited!
You have been invited!

Create Peaceful Space! 
Trust Your Process!

Peace, Love, and Health!

Preview The Handbook On Being Human, vol. I