In a culture that is outwardly and objectively focused, process is mostly a mystery. Without wisdom traditions to guide us through the inner pathways of life, many end up in the therapist’s consulting room. Some of us break down severely before we begin to see and act on what is really the truth.
I wonder if we can become attuned to process as the reality of our lives. Process, I believe, requires us to recognise the essential meaning of existence: call it God, Spirit, Buddha or any other name, something in this universe loves us. The universe is held together by love. This cannot be explained by mental reasoning but is a subtle realisation of the heart. Even in the darkest abyss of despair, the universe is still held together by love.
When we realise that life is meaningful, we begin to deeply appreciate process. At each stage in life we are called to certain challenges, certain questions are asked of us, and it is the way we respond that shapes us. Our responses are inevitably influenced by personality, psychological development, culture and other factors, but they are nevertheless opportunities for growth, for wonderful libratory leaps in development. It’s also true that sometimes all that is required is to find the appropriate attitude for a particular stage of life – we simply need the key for the lock, not to rebuild the entire lock. That may be no small task.
Process implies continuous movement and change as life unfolds from one state to the next endlessly. The development of human consciousness means we have the choice to align with the essence of life or negate it: we can choose to be with it or fight against it. Regardless of our conscious attitude, being and unfoldment simply flow on.
I’ve been privileged to be around a few people who were dying. Often because of our strong emotional responses and the suffering of the dying person, we don’t see that a process is under way. The challenge is to find the meaning in the suffering, in the process. Dying, it seems to me, requires a great letting go, and a reckoning of our life in total. We have to accept and deal with the mistakes, miscreations and unfulfilments of our past as well as the beauty and joy we have experienced along the way. We often say that in old age we want a quick death, but to have that opportunity of letting go in dignified circumstances is a great gift and preparation for the next stage of the journey, whatever it is.
The different stages of life each have their threshold at which we are tested before we plunge into the next stage. For all of us these thresholds relate to our physical existence: birth to childhood to adolescence to adulthood to middle age to old age. For a few, those who are actively engaged in inner work, there are also the thresholds and initiations particular to the inner life. As we approach the end of a stage, there is usually great tension as the old patterns and the new collide – we may want to hold on to that which is known and secure but which no longer satisfies us fully. Suffering – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual – arises as a result and the grace with which we enter the new is related to how we meet the challenges at the threshold. Only love and compassion and the best in ourselves that we have been able to develop to that point can serve as tools in our endeavour.
An awareness of process allows us a measure of ease in life – we no longer thrash around in a world of objects devoid of meaning, but begin to see and act in accordance with inner patterns. The source of those patterns is life itself, the forms that are created in time and space and that are bound by the physical and spiritual laws that apply in temporal reality. The deeper we look, the greater the depth that is opened to view, even if that means an increase in the size of that which is unknown.
Process is therefore a door into the many layers of reality and into the wholeness of being. It could be said that all things, in as much as they are subject to constant change, are actually processes – dynamically evolving, affecting other processes and in turn affected by them in many ways. I think humanity fully waking up to process will represent a quantum leap in consciousness: separate, dualistic reality will no longer be the template for our actions as something far more subtle and sophisticated takes hold. We can already see awareness in this direction growing in the sciences but collective psyche and culture takes a long time to shift. In the meantime, we can all continue to develop attunement to process, acting as explorers in our own lives and life overall.
