Tuesday Other as Self
Seven Exercises for Firm Ground Under Our Feet
2. Tuesday: Other as Self
This second step is again twofold:
- On the one hand to see myself as part of the whole of humanity, one of 8 billion people, a cell in the body of the Human Creation. We, that stand upright on the earth. Similarly, I am a tiny part of a cosmic swirl, held and loved within innumerable activities of unimaginable beings-of-vastness.
- On the other hand, to seek to understand how the world might look to the person in front of us. This may be a passing moment, or it may be a full day of being-with. It may be a situation where one of you is responsible for the other or their work, it may be a real friendship or a troublesome conflict. Any effort you can make to wonder or imagine how life might look through their eyes will make life richer for you and more enjoyable for them, expand your world and strengthen your connection with the I AM, that creates you as it creates them.
This can be challenging as well as rewarding. In order to genuinely wonder about their perception of themselves, for example, we might have to face up to certain projections we make from our own self-judgement and certain lazy aspects of our own world-view. Are we excusing any of our own actions because of a judgement we make about their actions? Are we fudging issues in our own self-scrutiny in order to make them look better or worse in our eyes? On the other hand, we could extend our vision of the other by imagining their higher self, or guardian angel standing behind them and whispering the words we heard our higher self, speak to us, yesterday.
We can notice, in this exercise, how our sense of entitlement (we do all have some of this) obscures our compassion. We might also notice how our willingness to be with our wounds, and to confess to our weaknesses, allows compassion and communication. Our vulnerability opens the heart of the Other.
Mars rules Tuesday. Mars naturally inflames our sense of self, the importance of our tasks, our feelings, our opinions. Taking the perspectives that underlie this exercise is a balancing force to this. The strength of Mars can assist us in seeing the bigger picture, in reaching out to understand, but these considerations in themselves keep us more centred than Mars, in Himself, would encourage.
The need for social contact, as part of our (Monday) self-care is greatly helped through this exercise. When anyone, and all, we meet or even pass in the street, is felt as another human being, with their own life-story, and not just a passing an object, the etheric body gets exercise comparable to walking for the physical body.
If yesterday’s Self-Care was the closest extreme of the pendulum’s swing this is the furthest. To take a real interest in the other is an act of care for their spirit, that I in them that has the same name in me. The Lord’s Prayer expands this with the phrase: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Steiner’s original text for these Grounding exercises
Links
Article : www.SoundingBowls.com/1/freedom
Longform on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/561041941
Shortform on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XvKl6MQsbY
A guide to 7-day Rhythms of the Foundation Stone
