The ancient Celtic concept of "personal sovereignty" defined:
"We are all born embryonic gods and goddesses and, when we achieve maturity, we have a filial duty to assist our kith and kin"
- Maireid Sullivan, Celtic Roots in Australia, 1992
Our expectations can be strengthened by PROOF.
When we can't 'prove' that we will be able to experience a 'higher' quality of consciousness in “life after death” we MAY choose to fulfill our goals by relying on a preferred 'endorsed belief system': 'belief before proof', referred to by scholars as "the theory of teleological reality"
-Aristotle/ Christian Wolff,1728, Richards, 1980(pdf).
If our ability to direct our 'Alpha brain-wave capacity' is the source of our capacity for wide-ranging 'insight' as a natural evolutionary part of brain chemistry, I want to learn how to contribute to 'naturally' developing those innate capacities, especially if we can learn to 'shape' our thinking by applying our imaginative powers to support optimistic interpretations of our experience: - exercising "personal sovereignty" the consequence must be egalitarianism.
"A visionary world view is the wand that makes dreams real,"
- Maireid Sullivan, Celtic Music for a new-world paradigm, 1995
Ancient Celtic culture promotes the concept of ‘personal sovereignty’ as central to a successful life’s journey. This way of life has little to do with where one dwells because in the sense of our inner life, we are travellers in the imagination as well as on the physical plane, and our thoughts and feelings are our landing places. Kindred spirits are our companions, like the stars which help us navigate through life.
Concepts that come out of the ancient wisdom archetypes are as powerful as the concepts that come out of the most up-to-date understanding: For example, the ancient concepts of yearning, journeying, infinity, eternity, heaven, magic, angels, spirits, luminous beings, enchantment, vision, divine, sacred - and then the modern concepts, such as quantum consciousness, the speed of light, tachyonic sound, morphic resonance, electromagnetic fields, etc.
True to tradition, most Irish people hold the arts and learning in high esteem.
Bardic poetry has a following amongst those who speak Gaelic, but many people in Ireland cannot claim to be of Celtic heritage. Many other ethnicities have been assimilated by Irish society, over hundreds of years. The traditions were nearly lost when the people who really knew the old high culture were forced to leave Ireland from as far back as the thirteenth century. Especially large numbers had ‘escaped’ by the end of the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century. Millions died in the late 1840’s famine/genocide and the millions who were evacuated had lost touch with their heritage by that time. A new mythology of ‘Irishness’ and modified forms of the traditions were created within a completely new socio-political structure.
Coming to terms with tragedies of history has caused people from all nations to overlook the high level of civilization achieved by their ancestors. For example, how many people know that long before the European-wide establishment of the Roman Catholic Church and it’s concept of ‘original sin’, the Irish Celts embraced "Christ Consciousness" because their ancient philosophy heritage represented the pinnacle of thinking and being.
‘Enlightened’ Irish understood that "Christ Consciousness" referred to the evolution of consciousness based on individual comprehension of 'personal sovereignty' represented as “the kingdom is within”: This interpretation evolved into contemplative teachings on "Celtic Christianity" led to Ireland becoming known as the Isle of Saints and Scholars. This significant historical perspective deserves to be taken seriously today.
‘Personal sovereignty’ is a concept that can be traced way back in very ancient Celtic culture. It has similarities to ancient Yogic theories. Perhaps it is part of the tradition that gave form to the enlightenment expressed in the magnificent Indo-European Vedas.
Consciousness ‘in the body’ is a vast field of exploration with an amazing pedigree. In ancient Europe, as in India, knowledge through ‘body consciousness’ had realized a great height of wisdom.
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Today’s science tells us that ninety-nine-point-nine percent of every cell in the body is empty space and that every thought affects the chemistry of the whole body. Every thought has a chemical attached to it.
In November, 2006, scientists discovered that human DNA is more inconsistent than previously thought. Leading scientists have discovered that 200 genes in our genetic code are borrowed from bacteria. In other words, most of the cells in the human body are actually not human, but made up of the same material that forms the earth. Researching DNA is a much like studying astronomy: the more we learn, the more we discover there is to learn.
Carl Jung believed the world is psychologically contained within each of us. He believed the health and wellbeing of the individual is intertwined with the wellbeing of the whole society.
Rupert Sheldrake’s theory is that memory and other information is stored within the microtubules of every cell. These are living, self-organizing and causal information systems called holodynes. The radical news is that we can learn to access them and transform them. Holodynes exist within a quantum field dynamic that creates a ‘morphogenic’ effect, which resists change. To transform these fields, we need to understand ‘field shifting’. Ancient Celts called it ‘shapeshifting’.
The ancient Celts believed, “we are all embryonic gods and goddesses.” We can achieve god-hood in our lifetime, which is our true purpose, and when we do, “we have a filial duty to assist our kith and kin.” It’s all about the individual’s capacity to interpret and develop his or her own unique 'sovereign realm' of reality.
The concept of ‘Anam Cara’ (Anam means ‘soul’ and Cara (or Chara) means ‘friend’) describes how we meet our soul friends through respectful interaction. It takes profound respect to know anyone in a significant way. We reach out to another and we realize that we are at the threshold of another being’s reality, and there is the vast, wondrous unknown. We give ‘energy’ or take it away by the attitude with which we approach others.
The concept of ‘Personal Sovereignty’ brings two opposite meanings together - ‘personal’ and ‘sovereignty’. Very simply, this refers to one's individual realm of being; where one has complete control, autonomy and responsibility; where one has the final word on defining or interpreting one's reality and place in the universe.
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The relevant message for today, from Celtic heritage, is that love is made profound by knowledge. Celtic tradition emphasizes subtlety over obviousness. The hidden is more important than the revealed in that it has greater prospects for interpretation of hidden possibilities. It draws us in deeply, whereas that which is obvious doesn’t require imagination.
I use traditional Irish dancing as my metaphor to show how we can comprehend a greater dimension of insight. This is an exercise for the imagination: While it would help to know how to dance the simplest form of jig, it doesn’t really matter if that isn’t possible. The dance can be imagined.
Prepare as you would to dance a simple Jig. Close your eyes, and imagine yourself standing very straight and still. Let your body feel very light and weightless. Imagine you are bouncing up and landing back down on your toes, just lightly enough to spring back up again. Focus on the point where you body feels weightless, at the point where you can imagine yourself springing up.
Continue to focus your imagination on feeling weightless, until you experience a fresh, heightened awareness of your body.
Maintaining focus is the key.
You will become aware of the field of energy flowing around and through your body.
Imagine being held up from the Medulla Oblongata, at the base of the brain, the first entry of the nervous system into the embryo.
When there is an opportunity to actually dance to the music with someone else, it is really great if both people have done the imagination exercise first. Then, when you move toward the other person in the dance, you will feel their energy field touching yours long before you come close to each other. It is a thrilling sensation. Notice how your ‘energy’ and attitude affects others, and likewise, how their presence affects you.
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