Step 2: Reconnecting with your unconditioned intelligence
Once you recognize your conditioned separate self perpetuated by the societal matrix, you are at choice. You can see the matrix for what it is while still navigating your life within it. The difference is, when you see the matrix, you gain an option to voluntarily broaden your view. (See Part I and Part II of the series.) In the background an un-conditioned, universal intelligence awaits those who check it out; a medicinal dose of cannabis can take you there.
Resilience does not come easy living in the matrix. Quite the opposite. For the most part, the guiding principles and beliefs of the matrix cultivate disconnection – from ourselves, others and nature. Disconnection thrives on the ground of a binary, either/or type of thinking. Blame, anger anxiety, stress and depression result.
As mentioned in Step 1, our society’s guiding principle of competition as not only important, but superior to cooperation, colors our thinking and behavior. Shades of being stubborn, unfeeling, unforgiving, rigid, uptight and/or defended are considered ‘normal’ and to be expected.
It’s all in your head
What happened? Have we trapped ourselves in ‘the matrix’? Have we forgotten both what we deeply value and who we are?
“It’s all in your head” is a phrase that has been said for decades to unkindly suggest that someone’s psychosomatic disorder (soul pain) lacks any real physical corollary and is illusory. Yet considered thoughtfully, the corollary exists because of the body/mind connection. Patterns of thinking become habitual and express themselves as emotions crystallized as physical pain. [1]
Pain can lead us to believe the problem lies exclusively within ourselves. Certainly we might need to re-evaluate our lifestyle choices, etc, but the cause of our malaise is often a response to external situations and circumstances generated by the matrix.
It’s no secret that today’s environmental and social politics have taken a huge, emotional toll on individuals and flooded downstream to family, friends and colleagues. Polarization and tension runs high. Many feel depressed and hopeless. Soul pain can be existential when questioning the meaning of life.
Leaping back – your sanity or your life
No one really wants to surrender their wellbeing to the downward spiral our society is taking; yet relief is hard to come by.
The only real ‘fix’ is taking matters into our own hands. Each of us has the power to voluntarily ‘leap back’ from the fray and start a restorative walk-of self reflection. Temporarily pulling the plug on the new media could be helpful. To this point, Albert Einstein said it best:
“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”
Human nature informs us that only once someone realizes they are hurting themselves, and possibly others, can they find the will to heal themselves.
I believe that the extreme polarization of today’s society warrants a counterpoint response of equal intensity if to reverse the trajectory. A thoughtful medicinal dose of cannabis, based on age, weight, health profile, lifestyle, etc., can open the possibility of ‘zooming out’ to connect with unconditioned universal intelligence and get needed distance from everyday patterns of thought and behavior.
Doing this many people:
- Recognize a world outside an either/or mindset of: right/wrong, black/white, good/evil, light/dark, left/right
- Reconsider any rigid thought patterns
- Feel more connected with nature
- Recognize their emotional triggers/ narrative of blame
- Gain a sense of self-responsibility
- Realize they are not a victim
- Get a new outlook on life
- Sense being part of something larger
- Find meaning where there was none
- Experience a bodily-felt sense of self-acceptance/love towards themselves
Resilience, calm and personal impact
Dr. Catherine Panter-Brick, Anthropology professor at Yale has studied resilience and its many variables due to cultural and environmental factors. Her definition of resilience is:
“Resilience is a process to harness resources to sustain well-being.”
Resilience also includes: calm, going with the flow, acceptance, coping skill, capable of changing course, recovering quickly from difficulties, managing impulses, and the ability to be happy, again, after a trauma, etc. Resilience requires deliberate action and cannabis is a potential resource to harness to sustain well-being.
Once having gotten a glimpse of the wisdom imparted by medicinal cannabis (or in any other way), we can awaken from the trance of our conditioned self with new understanding and renewed mental wellness.
Our renewed mental wellness spills over to how we feel physically, and how we treat others, including those with whom we don’t agree. Reconnected individuals affect their sphere of influence like a stone thrown in a pond creating concentric circles. Seeming contradictions of gender, politics and religion become irrelevant to what it means to be human.
Next – Final Step 3: Normalizing well-being and happiness
Each step is so multi-dimensional the way you describe it and that in itself is helpful even before introducing the cannabis. I’ve been integrating my use of cannabis with both mental and physical explorations as a way to integrate more of what I’m thinking or learning into my physical awareness. Both aspects benefit as my body becomes more flexible along with my mind.
Thank you for your insights and encouragement to grow and change on-goingly.
Hi Nancy,
Cannabis used medicinally and responsibly can open the door to the possibilities of better mental and physical well-being. For some it provides an opening to a refreshing spiritual dimension, as well. I appreciate how you share your own experience. Thanks!
As a former addictive pot smoker, rethinking the legitimate use of marijuana has been a journey because of the decades of guilt and shame I unconsciously associated with its use in any form, regardless of the benefits I experienced along with the downsides. I appreciate the clear, professional and sensitive tone you bring to the work.
I wholeheartedly agree with your thinking and approach, which I find to be both holistic and humanistic. I especially liked your recognition of the role of competition and the effect of external stressors.
Thank you, Dr. Callaghan, for your kind words. I feel like I’ve gone out on a limb with this series but at the same time have had a personal mission to bring this information forward for the sake of so many who are suffering.