“An intention is not only a desire. It is the use of your will.”
Gary Zukav
Alexandra:
Alright so as I was reading what Gary was saying about our majority and universal perceptions when he was talking about not everyone knowing about the concept of Europe versus everyone knowing about the concept of air around the top of page 98. I thought about what are the majority perceptions I hold and what are the universal perceptions I hold. As I create my pyramid starting from the layers of personal reality and making my way up to my impersonal realities I am again struck with how much of what we experience stems from what we hold onto and then project into the wider world, thus attracting more people to those ideas and collectively growing the idea energetically as it manifests into physical form.
What if our intentions had an instant reaction that we could visibly see before our eyes? Like I really had to think about the intentions that I set off from my soul into the world around me when it comes to all areas of my life and also how I chose to interact with people around me! Like when it comes to “Our Agreements” I asked myself what my intentions were before we even began this project, before any proposal was written; putting out another project just for the sake of it was not enticing to me. But how could this project make an impact on the people who come across it? Not how can me and Brandon do all these great things but rather how can the energy we put into “Our Agreements” project out into our wider society to spark, shift and make space for different ways of thinking and therefore being?
“Just as you can participate in the creation of a building that will remain long after you are gone, you participate in the evolution of group energy dynamics that will remain after you are gone.”
Gary Zukav
Brandon:
You started by reflecting on Gary’s pyramid, with the many layers of personal and impersonal realities. He worded it as an “inverted pyramid”, as the personal stuff is the single point at the bottom, and the more you expand into social layers, the wider it gets. You did astutely mention that this shows how we take things in and reflect them back out into the open world. This is how viruses work and pandemics start. The same premise of how clips on the Internet “go viral”. Normally when you hear someone say something went viral, it refers to something bad spreading fast to the masses, or at the very least, something benign. But this is the same way negativity passes around and multiplies in the world. But this reminds me of a concept titled, La Tabla Rasa, which means “The Blank Slate”. It basically says that we are all born without any thoughts, and I completely disagree with that, where I think even babies have some survival instincts that the mind is a part of the process at the very least, but the point is that so much of our learning, beliefs, and ideals come from conditioning by the outside world. An exercise like the pyramid would certainly put these conditionings out on the table, literally, and force one to see the many layers of that person’s personal and impersonal realities.
“The physical reality of the Earth school is shaped by the decisions of those who are in it.”
Gary Zukav
Alexandra:
Now if “the physical reality of the Earth school is shaped by the decisions of those who are in it” then when do we acknowledge that we are those that are making the decisions? Not just the people in the White House casting votes on different bills and making decisions on whether or not larger society needs stimulus checks but rather the people who walk around believing that they have no purpose on this Earth plane or the people who think that just because they grew up in a particular city that they have to have a certain outlook on the world or people who are incarcerated believing that they are inherently criminals and/or victims of their circumstances! Can we have a collective day where we examine our beliefs and intentions? Just like we have a Women’s Day or Black History Month, can we have a month where we individually think about how we perceive our personal lives which then create the slice that we bring to the collective pie?
I thought about where we both are individually in our lives when Gary talks about how we participate in group experiences while simultaneously being an individual on the top part of pg. 100. I am an artist engaging with other artists and the wider community through my work and dialogues while simultaneously creating personal projects. I am a Haitian American who values the traditions and aspects of my culture while simultaneously re-imagining what it means for me to hold onto and evolve certain aspects of my culture through my individual travels and intentions. I am a woman living alone and working in Chicago while simultaneously holding intentions to see the World and connect with people from all walks of life. What collective communities do you see yourself as a part of while simultaneously existing as an individual in other areas of your life?
Brandon:
As for what communities I belong to, that is a damn good question, as I really haven’t put enough introspection into it. I do connect to being of African descent, or African Ascent to put it better. I am a member of my family, both my mother’s and father’s clans. I do have strong ties to the city of Chicago, particularly the Southside. I connect to the community of the Nation of Gods and Earths, while not being fully immersed in it, I do have a connection to the core tenets of it, if not its complete execution. The community of the incarcerated is one that I am tied to, and understand the plight of the incarcerated masses. These are just a few of the ones off the top of my head, but I am sure there maybe a few more if I dig deeper. But the key is to remain an individual while still being a member of a whole.
Alexandra:
Now when he spoke on the Splintered personality and how it doesn’t know all the aspects of itself I definitely had to look in the mirror and then look inside myself to see what areas I am not aware of where I am holding onto fear that may be threatening other aspects of my life and where I intend to go. Like where am I saying I have an intention for this one thing but deep in another aspect of my soul I am holding, or rather, giving space to a conflicting idea? This is also something I’ve learned time and time again when it comes to manifesting in my life; so if I say the organs in my body work in unison to create perfect health within me but I focus my attention on a dis-ease that runs through my family, that is going to create confusion and stress. If I say that money has a clear and smooth path to me but am checking my bank account every other day, that is causing confusion! Being aware of my intentions is something that I feel I have to constantly be aware of at times because like Burce Lipton said when he spoke on ‘Conscious Parenting’ in his book Biology of Belief, if we were nurtured in an environment where we were constantly held in love and seen as individuals who are capable of blossoming into the brightest star in the galaxy, then I wouldn’t hesitate so much when it comes to the simple laws of the universe. The simplicity of knowing that the Universe always has my back, that Spirit is always guiding me, that my intentions can create a beautiful reality if that is what I choose, you feel what I’m sayin’?!
Brandon:
I must admit that I didn’t even myself see the control or mastery I had concerning reality, but after reading it I was reminded that I am in charge of how reality and actuality plays out. Gary has laid out the fact that intentions are the substance that reality is~~~intentions are the foundation of all of reality. He said it in the first chapter too, so obviously that was a point of emphasis. I was remarking how this mirrors Kemetic philosophy, as they believed the essence of God was strictly consciousness and will. We too share this makeup, although not necessarily in degree. We see this with the atoms and cells in our bodies, as they have both consciousness and will that guides them to fulfill their purpose. This connects with the point you made about decision-making, as Gary spoke about our attitude being a decision we make. I have never thought about it in those terms before. 85% of the masses, and I am willing to include myself in that, are reluctant to see their attitude about the day-to-day affairs of life as being a decision about what should be done. We allow ourselves to be dictated to, and told how we should feel about basic things, and therefore we are robbed of our ability to make all the necessary decisions in our lives. It’s not that we can’t, but rather we are so herd-driven that we won’t or don’t take the time to. The people definitely need a day where we examine our beliefs and intentions, and if we personally have to take a couple of days, or a week, between the two of us, to sit back and inspect how we see things, I am game for that. I am not scared of looking inward for clarity, whether it be how we act on our intentions or beliefs, or how we create them, I want to know what is going on.
“What you feel, what you think, how you behave, what you value, and how you live your life reflect the way that you are shaping the Light that is flowing through you. They are the thought forms, the feeling forms and the action forms that you have given to Light.”
Gary Zukav
our agreements 