A Course in Miracles teaches that we can be angry only at an interpretation and not a fact. ACIM also teaches that while we may have a high tolerance for suffering, it is not without its limits.
Often, we seem to go through a cycle of a painful ego storm where there is a strong surge of anger and upset directed outwards or towards ourselves. Eventually, we feel ready to settle down, like child after a temper tantrum, so we can be soothed, comforted, and held in the embrace of the Beloved.
It is in this space that we open to allow the defense of anger to gently soften, maybe even dissolve and melt away, like frozen ice on a warm, sunny day. However, often it takes a miracle (an inner shift within the mind) to allow this alchemy of healing to happen.
For me, this happened yesterday with the vision of Indra’s Net. Allow me to explain.
Indra’s Net (also called Indra’s jewels or Indra’s pearls) is a metaphor which first appeared in the Vedic tradition from my native India somewhere around 1000 BC. It was then further developed and refined in the Buddhist tradition.
Indra’s Net is an amazingly beautiful and profound vision of a universe that is a web of connection and interdependence with a core unity beneath the external appearance of multiplicity. Imagine, the world as a net woven by the great Hindu god Indra- a net that is infinite and extends in all directions with no beginning and no end. At each node of the net, there is a beautiful multifaceted jewel that reflects every other jewel.
Can you imagine that in each reflection are reflected all the other infinitely many other jewels?
Can you sense that these reflections of reflections continue without end?
No jewel exists by itself independent of the rest; everything is related to everything else and nothing is isolated.
We are each jewels in Indra’s Net. Everything and everyone is a beautiful jewel in the net, and so we each are part of the whole while at the same time we contain the whole within us. We depend on the whole for our existence but the whole would not be possible without each of us. The whole and parts are inseparable.
Just to grasp this image of Indra’s Net truly invites us into a holographic, holistic and multidimensional way to relate to the world as we know it. But it does not stop there.
Moving into the quantum
The jewels of Indra’s Net are not static. Each jewel is in flux and existing moment-to-moment and continuously replaced by other jewels just like the cells of our body are perpetually changing. There is no static reality but rather reality is always in the process of becoming. It is like saying you cannot step into the same river twice because the current is always moving and nothing is really ever the same.
How can this help us with healing through anger?
When we feel angry at ourselves or another, we usually are operating from a very linear, logical, and limited perspective. And we are in a state of judgment- which by definition means that we have established a causal relationship between ourselves and the object of our anger. Something outside of us seems to cause us to feel angry or we seem to be making someone else angry. We perceive ourselves separate from the individual or situation that seems to anger us; we see ourselves as separate from that person which seems to be angered by us.
Yet as we sink deeper with the metaphor of Indra’s Net, a profound realization dawns within our minds.
We are each jewels in Indra’s Net, connected to everything and everyone, and the whole and parts are inseparable.
As we ponder Indra’s Net, we also realize that there is an order to this net that defies our understanding and is much deeper, beyond what we can fathom with the logical mind.
I invite you to pause and reflect and see what comes up for you. Even a moment of a pause can open the doorway to a willingness to see a situation which may be years or even centuries old with fresh eyes. The Beloved can enter from even a crack so I encourage you to be still with the image of Indra’s Net.
If you would like to read more, click here.
Here is a short YouTube video by Joseph Campbell about how this teaching can bring us so much peace.
You may also want to refer to Part 2 of the anger series I wrote sometime back as this may help you see the many facets of anger. Here, you will find some guided self-reflection exercises as well.
Zoom online group meeting and registration
Perhaps you would like to connect live and meet with other mighty companions from all over the world who are also feeling inspired to deeply look at their relationship to anger. You can sign up to join for our zoom circle being held on Thursday April 30th at 11am EDT. We will join in healing, sharing our experiences, and gather for meditation/prayer as well. I know it will be a heart-opening and healing session for us all!
To reserve your spot, please send payment for $20 here. Once I receive your payment, I will add you to the list of participants and you will receive the zoom details the night before the online gathering.
If you prefer to pay via check, you can make it payable to Seema Khaneja and mail to PO Box 18373, Rochester, NY 14618. Let me know you plan to do this so I can add your list to the participant list.
If you feel inspired to attend the online gathering but need some financial help, there are some scholarships available so please email me soon so we can secure your spot. Also, if you feel inspired to pay-it-forward, and sponsor someone to attend who might not be able to attend otherwise, please let me know as well.
Thank you for those that have already registered. I am so looking to ‘seeing’ you all on Thursday!
With deep love and gratitude to share this healing journey with each of you,
Seema
Rev. Seema Khaneja, MD
Images from Pixabay; Research for Indra’s net from Rajiv Malhotra and Wikipedia
