The walls of this container are reinforced by our mentors and the systems we construct to serve as fences between Truth and 'reality'. Without these boundaries, the world that we call 'every day life' could not exist. Things like money and possessions, and law and order would simply cease to have meaning.
Many of us are happy to live within the confines of our containers. Without them, we experience free-fall through a Universe that is far grander and vastly wider than anything we want to conceive. When we allow our Minds to wander, there is some point where we cut off the experience, since we have crossed the boundary of safe haven.
One thought experiment that often teases the borders of our containers is to visualize traveling not as going somewhere, but rather as standing still and letting the world pass beneath us until we reach our destination. It is simply a matter of moving your experience of travel from one perspective to another. Both ways of viewing it are mathematically sound and reasonable.
What it shows us is that perception is only a matter of perspective. How we view an event 'flavors' how we experience it. What we choose to perceive as acceleration can also be seen as the rush of Universe passing by us as we slow to a stop.
Another process that is familiar to the student of Mind and hallucinogen is the conversion of the opaque into the transparent. At some point, the walls of our containers begin to turn clear, something like those lenses that turn from dark to clear depending on light levels. It's a lot like sitting in front of a large glass window when it is night outside and the lights inside are bright. When you stare at the window from inside, you perceive nothing beyond it, and rather only see yourself reflected back. But as light levels outside start to rise, your reflection slowly fades and the world beyond the window takes shape.
Another tool is something called the 'magic circle' or 'spirit circle'. This is commonly found among North American aborigines. The student finds a deeply isolated space and clears an area with a diameter roughly equal to his/her height. Ideally, the student brings nothing but spiritually 'clean' water into the circle, enough for three or four days.
In either case, the student at some point begins to experience a rather unique sensation. The walls of the container begin to fade and the world beyond starts to take shape. At first, it's like peering through a gauze curtain. One can perceive things on the other side, but the view is obscured and hazy. Slowly, though, the gauze begins to lift and the Universe takes shape. One eventually sees that objects within our boxes are really only shells themselves, covering deeper mysteries.
It is at this point that words simply fail. There is a vast body of language recordings that attempt to describe this experience, but all fall woefully short of the mark. There are no words for things that are not within the realm of our common containers. The final scene in the Matrix comes close to a visual metaphor for the effect, but not the substance of the experience.
With practice and proper guidance, one can learn to induce this state of Mind without tools or training wheels. Eventually, one learns to see beyond the walls without effort at all. Once one is aware of the Universe beyond our veils, it is very difficult to go back. Perhaps this is the greatest fear we have preventing most of us from going there in the first place.
What all this is prelude to is that there seems to be a large body of texts pointing to an epoch in time when we will all experience these things, with or without our consent, and with or without assistance. At some point, we must all reach a point variously called the Apocalypse or Golden Age or Spiritual Awakening. This era exists in many traditions and cultures. Without exception, though, they all speak of the failure of the veil to hide what is beyond most of our collective realms.
These traditions also speak of the great battle that will be mounted by those who do not want to go. They are deeply invested in the status quo and to give that up will be to surrender their illusion of control over both Self and Other. They can not imagine another Way, and thus refuse to acknowledge it, either for themselves, or for anyone else.
All the texts, though, refer to a point when refusal is no longer an option. All humans must cross the barrier, whether willfully or not. The Universe is far more powerful than our ability to resist. The walls will fail regardless of our best efforts to maintain the illusion. Many of us will suffer greatly as we claw and scrape along the borders of consciousness, trying desperately to remain in the cozy confines of Humanity's womb.
But birth is inevitable for all living creatures. The chick inevitably grows beyond the capacity of the egg to contain it. None of us can postpone the process. Without birth, there can be no life, and without the current expansion of Mind, there can be no evolution.
As a species, we are outgrowing our ability to confine ourselves to the world of dimensions. There are those who have spent untold resources in their effort to hinder, if not completely arrest, this eventuality. They can not conceive of a Universe where all individuals are empowered beyond their ability to control the outcome. They have invested centuries of effort to hide, discourage and disgrace those who have seen the Truth, and they are losing the battle to maintain their hegemony over Mankind.
The contractions have begun and eventually Humanity will crown. After that, it is merely a matter of passing the shoulders, and the rest is just anti-climactic. The process of birth is a battle between the forces pressing onward, and those resisting. In every case, the resistance will and does fail, because without that ultimate failure there would be no existence. In fact, all life is based on the failure of Death to contain it.
As you scan today's headlines, see if your can't discern the birth pangs. See if you can perceive the veil and the glimpses of the Beyond. See if you yourself are prepared for the transition. That it is happening is without doubt. It is visible everywhere to the student. The water has broken and the contractions are coming harder and faster. The barrier between inner and outer is dilating. Soon, a cold, bright New World will replace the warmth and darkness of our nascent cell.
The Ultimate Question then, is which side are you on? Do you root for the side opposing change? Or are you working to ease the transition? All points of view are merely subsets of one or the other of the two camps. At some point, sooner than later, we will all be forced to choose sides, and will necessarily take the consequences either way. One side has a future, the other does not. It is up to our discernment to decide which is what.
One thing is certain, though. If the side of Darkness was not deathly afraid of Truth, if would not feel compelled to make 'training wheels' illegal.
