In 1872, a Lakota medicine man named Black Elk had a vision. Here is an excerpt of that vision in his own words, quoted from Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt. “A voice said, ‘Behold this day, for it is yours to make. Now you shall stand upon the center of the earth to see…’ Then I stood on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.”
Where is this “I” that sees more than it can tell and understands more than it sees? Wherever it is, its perspective must be greater than our collective attitudes, beliefs and assumptions. Our language has been developed in order to define our worldview and to sustain a collective value system. If “I” see more than I can tell, I perceive a reality that is beyond the collective ego’s ability to define or describe. If “I” understand more than I see then I have access to information that is primal to the visible world or manifest universe.
To “see in a sacred manner” is to see through the eye of the mystics. The mystics say the origin of this sacred sight is “the all Seeing Eye,” the “sovereign I,” the “I am that I am,” the “third eye,” the “eye center.” Where is this eye that can see more than it can tell? The kingdom of heaven is within you.
“Now you shall stand upon the center of the earth to see…” From your individual perspective, you stand at the center of the world. Look in any direction in a 360° hoop. You are the central point where everything you are not intersects. Your outline is the inline of everything else. That line between in and out is your ego-lens. In an astrological chart, that central point is indicated by the “rising sign.” The ascendant, as it is also called, determines the structure of the whole chart. The astrology chart is a two-dimensional representation or blue print of your entire psyche/soma structure – “the shape of all shapes.” The hoop, the circle, is the most complete representation of the Total Self possible in a two dimensional form.
The ascendant is determined by calculating when and where you were born (when=time, where=space.) With your first breath, you entered the time space continuum – with a unique perspective and gifts that only you can provide.
In many eastern philosophies, the time/space continuum is defined as the web of Maya (illusion.) The web of Maya is a philosophical construct we use to define the phenomenal world. “The hoop of the world” is an illusion, an inadequate, limited psychological construct to describe the indescribable spirit of all things that “must live together like one being.”
You are not who you think you are. Your personality is an ego-mask you imagined in order to interact with a collective fantasy. You are far more than you pretend to be. You are a mystery. You are an aspect of a Great Sacred Mystery. When you extract your attention from the collective fantasy and assemble it in the heart of the mysterious being that you are, you will see in a sacred manner “the shapes of all things in the spirit.” And, from that secret place of the most high, you will see “round about beneath [you] the whole hoop of the world,” “a hoop of many hoops,” and “what is holy” in this holographic universe – “wide as daylight and as starlight.”
The day, the hour, the minute you were born a mysterious event occurred. A divine child of the “one mother and one father” crossed the event horizon and got lost in a bizarre fantasy. Your job is to remember who you were then, are now and always will be. Behold this day, this hour, this minute, this unique perspective – for that day is yours to make.
Bill J. Fleming
ShadowLight Consulting Services 