Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
Many years ago in my early twenties I went to bed one night, but before I drifted off to sleep I had an unusual but refreshing experience. Whilst my eyes were closed I saw a shower of swirling symbols. Not only did I see this, but there was a freshness about it, like a soft breeze from a fan blowing on my face.
As I watched and experienced this I started to become alarmed, because I realised that the swirling symbols were swastikas. At that time all I knew about swastikas was that they were the Nazi symbol. As uplifting as this experience was, I was confused that these were swastikas swirling down on me like snowflakes. They felt like uplifting energy, but they symbolised evil, hate, cruelty, and genocide. It really didn't make sense. Then after a few minutes the experience came to an end.
It took some time and study for me to realise that the Swastika isn't a symbol of hate. The Swastika was used long before the Nazis appropriated it. The Nazis used the symbol in reference to their claims of ancient inheritance as the supposedly superior human raice. There is plenty to be said against this kind of delusion, and Eckhart Tolle has explained about the deluded collective ego well. Here, the focus is on the spiritual symbol of the swastika, that really should have nothing to do with fascism, racism, or any kind of superiority delusion.
The Swastika has been used by many cultures across the planet and is still in use today in the East, where it has a longstanding history as a symbol of luck and prosperity. Use of the Swastika was banned in Western countries after the Nazi movement was overthrown. It remained as a symbol of humanity's lowest ebb, understandably being hated by Jewish people and others persecuted by the people who wore that symbol.
But historical use of the swastika has been found in cultures as far widespread as Mayan, Norse, Celtic, Chinese, and Native North American, amongst others. Often the symbol is believed to represent the sun and spiritual energy. That certainly sounds something like my experience. The Nazi use of the Swastika sadly seems to be another case of evil taking something good and turning it bad. But they didn't really make it bad. They tainted it in the western mind of humanity. Some Hindu, Jain and Buddhist organisations have had to campaign to raise public understanding that the swastika is not a Nazi symbol, but one that is used in many cultures and religions as a symbol of peace and good luck.
Hopefully one day it will be free from the deep association with the evils of humanity, and regain its recognition as a spiritual symbol of swirling, life giving energy. It is a symbol of light in the universe. The four arms of the cross represent the separation of the universe whilst remaining one. The spinning arms represent the motion of the universe whilst the centre remains still.
The Spiritual Swastika is a simple symbol of the universe and the creative energy, the forces that bring animated life into the world.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
In the material world we can find patterns that point to the spiritual. One of those patterns is the Hollow. We find it naturally occurring in plant stems such as bamboo, in bones, in lungs, the cavity of the mouth, cave formations, and at the heart of wind formations such as hurricanes and tornadoes. Humankind also uses the hollow in wind instruments, where the flow of air through a hollow tube with hollow outlets creates sounds of different frequencies. Pipework, containers, bottles and cups, even trains, ships and planes have a hollowness about them. The well-known sacred sound, Om or Aum, refers to the Hollow.
What is the spiritual significance of the Hollow? It hints at the empty space at the heart of the universe, the heart of our being. Buddhists call it emptiness or void. Eckhart Tolle calls it Spaciousness. It is the Sacred Spaciousness at the heart of our being. Our nature is not the apparent outer hardness of the human form. We are the Sacred Spaciousness that perceives the apparent outer form.
Within the Sacred Spaciousness there is no inside our outside. The heart of our being is a complete Singularity. The apparently outside world appears through the use of opposites. So the hollow is expressed as an empty circle, an empty interior with a circular boundary. Without the use of the opposites the Spaciousness cannot be expressed or perceived. You see, the hollow that we can say is the heart of our being has no limits, no boundaries. It is an Infinite One. When considered from the outside material viewpoint we can say it is at the heart of our being. But in the heart there is no inside or outside.
It is the Singularity that seems to be the heart of the world, yet it is not limited by the world. It is not devoid of life. It is pure, complete life, by which the opposites of life and death are known. Ultimately it is within the Singularity that this interplay of opposites, of inside and outside, alive and not alive, stillness and motion, plays out.
All sentient beings have this same centre. There is only one Infinite Singularity. It is the heart of the world of many, the heart of the world of opposites. We are not the play of opposites. We are the Sacred Spaciousness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
The world is full of answers, patterns that point to the underlying nature of what we see.
Let's consider trees, that are so important to the expression of life on this planet. Firstly, the structure of a tree shows the pattern of Many from One: there is the solid central stillness of the trunk, and then branches spread out in all directions. This shows us how the universe appears. The tree repeats the pattern of the universe. We can see this pattern in the tree's leaves and flowers. It's evident also in rivers and streams, lightning forks, and the evolution of forms to include legs and toes, arms and fingers. It is the same pattern of Many from One.
We call it bifurcation, where one splits into two. The tree repeats this pattern to create a multiplicity of branches. Or so it seems. Whatever happens, however many branches we perceive, there is always the one tree.
Beneath the appearance of the tree there is an unseen aspect that supports the tree we see. The unseen roots go deep.
The tree also shows us the cyclical nature of the world in its seeds. One tree scatters many seeds. Each seed holds the potential to create a separate tree and continue the flow of life. Each successful seed will grow to produce many seeds, and the pattern repeats.