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Martin Lass: S.O.L.A.R.®
Beyond Materiality. Beyond Spirituality.
Toward the Complete Human Being…
The Mind-Body Mirror
—How the Body Reflects Consciousness
by Martin Lass
Have you ever gone into a public place—maybe a food court in a shopping mall or a busy night club—sat down, and then deliberately adopted a strange posture? Like raising one hand over your head or standing on one leg on your chair or leaning your head so far over to one side that your ear almost touches your shoulder, as though you had a deformity?
Even the suggestion probably causes you to react with, “What is this guy talking about?? What planet is he coming from??” And then, if you actually imagine yourself doing any of these things, what other reactions does it bring up? Discomfort? Feeling silly? Embarrassment? Self-consciousness? Irritation?
The point of the exercise—even of imagining it, although it’s most useful to actually do something like this—is to illustrate some truths about our mind-body existence, some of which we may know a little about, at least mentally, but have probably never pondered or explored deeply:
1a) Our postures, gestures, tensions, and movements—let’s call all of these our bodily expressions—perfectly reflect our states of consciousness at any given moment, including all our thoughts and emotions.
1b) In mirror-reverse, our consciousness, including all our thoughts and emotions, follows our bodily expressions.
2a) We have a very limited repertoire of bodily expressions—much more limited than we might otherwise believe.
2b) In mirror-reverse, we have a very limited repertoire of thoughts and emotions, which are tied to our limited repertoire of bodily expressions.
3a) We default automatically to all our bodily expressions, i.e. they are all unconsciously manifested, despite our illusions to the contrary. Modern neurology is confirming this disturbing state of affairs.
3b) In mirror-reverse, we default automatically to all our thoughts and emotions, which are tied to our limited repertoire of bodily expressions. This is not how we usually perceive ourselves being, but, again, modern neurology is confirming this disturbing state of affairs.
4) As long as we are slaves to our automatic and unconscious bodily expressions, we will remain limited in our overall consciousness—limited to the very small box of our usual, automatic ways of thinking, feeling, sensing, and being.
5) We can use this knowledge of the body-mind connection and conscious awareness the body itself to help us break out of the very small box of our usual, automatic ways of thinking, feeling, sensing, and being, allowing us to expand and evolve our consciousness toward our infinite potential.
We’ll explore each of these points in a moment. First, though, let’s make sure we are on the same page when we’re talking about bodily expressions.
Bodily Expressions
The bodily expressions we’ve mentioned are postures, gestures, tensions, and movements. We could also add stances, attitudes, and facial expressions; these have a more obvious psychological flavor to them, as we’ll see below.
Movements are probably the easiest to understand. All our bodily movements have come a) from imitation as we’ve grown up, like learning to walk, b) from more active learning, like learning to tie our shoes, c) from the body’s innate predispositions, like the way we walk according to bone length, muscular tone, internal organ balance or imbalance, genetic factors, and so forth, and d) as a result of the body mirroring our mental and emotional content and expressions.
Gestures are movements that mirror our mental and emotional content, usually associated with an intent of some part of us to externally communicate some inner expression, even when these gestures and even the mental or emotional content that they mirror are unconscious.
Regarding postures, we may not be aware of this, but in between every movement and gesture, we unconsciously come to resting points. Each of these resting points is a posture. For example, when we sit down, we unconsciously fall into the most comfortable posture for the given situation. If we are alone, it will be one posture. If we are with our boss, it will be another another. And if we are with our intimate partner, it will be a different posture altogether.
On top of all this—movements, gestures, and postures—we each have tensions, greater or lesser, in different parts of our body. Some serve our movements, gestures, and postures, because any of these requires the contraction of certain muscles to facilitate them. However, we also have a good deal more tensions that serve no practical purpose, but rather are a mirror of our mental and emotional “tensions,” meaning our issues, wounds, charges, judgments, beliefs, illusions, resistances, avoidances, guilts, fears, and so forth.
We spend a very large proportion of our daily allotment of energy engaged in unnecessary tensions (unnecessary from the perspective of our wish for higher consciousness).
Stances and attitudes are bodily postures that mirror rigid, polarized (one-sided) mental and emotional “postures” or mirror specific mental and emotional processes and expressions.
Facial expressions mirror our inner mental and emotional content, including inner attitudes, stances, postures, issues, wounds, charges, judgments, and so forth. Even when we think we are hiding our innermost thoughts and emotions, usually they are plain for others to see on our faces.
Now let’s elaborate our original assertions…
1a) Our postures, gestures, expressions, tensions, and movements—let’s call all of these our bodily expressions—perfectly reflect our states of consciousness at any given moment, including all our thoughts and emotions.
This assertion is perhaps the easiest to see, but we may not be aware of how much it applies to every bodily expression, not just some.
Just for example, consider the famous statue, “The Thinker,” by Rodin. The posture of the figure says it all, even without words. Consider how deep thought is so often mirrored in knitted brows, pursed lips, eyes that appear to be scanning some invisible landscape, a hand on the mouth or on the forehead, or fidgeting of some sort.
As another example, consider how, when we are down, our head tends to droop, our body tends to curl inward upon itself, our face closes down, our movements tend to get slower and more lethargic, and our body tends to become overly limp. Whereas, when we are excited, our posture straightens, our face lights up, our movements become expansive, even exaggerated, we move with intent and resolve, and, in general, our bodies tend to open up and out.
Consider also the way people stand. A rebellious and self-conscious teenager will tend to slouch, stand with their weight on one foot, cross their arms and maybe feet and legs, too, and will tend to avoid direct eye contact. Whereas somebody who is interested in us in an intimate or sexual way will naturally and unconsciously open their body to us, point a foot toward us, uncross their arms and legs, and lean their weight toward us.
Much has been written about body language. In fact, companies that are constantly dealing with the general public—the sales and service industries, for example—are well aware of the importance of understanding body language, even to the point of running seminars about this for their employees.
1b) In mirror-reverse, our consciousness, including all our thoughts and emotions, follows our bodily expressions.
If it’s true that every bodily expression mirrors our states of consciousness, then what happens if we consciously adopt a certain posture, make a certain movement or gesture, tense up or relax a particular muscle, or deliberately change our facial expression?
Yoga works on this principle, i.e. that by changing our body, we can change/affect our mind. Yoga knows very well that extension of the body—stretching out, back bends, opening up the body—activates and energizes the thoughts and emotions. Conversely, flexion of the body—curling inward, forward bends, etc—subdues, relaxes, and slows the thoughts and emotions. Moreover, by balancing extension and flexion of the body, one can bring a balanced state of mind and emotion that’s conducive to higher states of consciousness.
Studies have also been done that show that every thought and emotion has a specific eye position. That’s why we see people scanning with their eyes when they are trying to remember something or trying to figure something out. We can use this deliberately, consciously, to remember things or find new perspectives on things, i.e. by deliberately, consciously trying different eye positions—looking up, looking up and to the right, looking left, looking down and to the left, etc.
If we find ourselves depressed, we can deliberately change our posture to effect a change of mood. (This is not easy to remember when we are depressed, much less have the motivation to do it! However, it is possible.) We could straighten our backs, lift our heads, relax our foreheads, take some deep long in-breaths, make some swift, resolute movements, stretch our arms up and back, and many other things as well.
Not only this, but if we have a wish for higher consciousness—for expanded perspectives that go beyond our usual conditioned consensus reality mental and emotional boxes—we could consciously and deliberately adopt unusual postures, make unusual gestures, move in a unusual ways (by doing things differently… for example doing things with our non-dominant hand instead of our dominant hand), and so forth. This will have the effect of taking us into different mental and emotional “places” within us. It will literally write new neural pathways. It will change our perceptions of things. It will “wake” us up, out of our usual semi-hypnotized state that’s usually in autopilot most of the time.
2a) We have a very limited repertoire of bodily expressions—much more limited than we might otherwise believe.
Not only are our repertoires of bodily expressions very limited, but these automatic and unconscious repertoires actually keep us “asleep” to our possibility and potential for higher consciousness. Every time we adopt a posture (in between movements and gestures), the organism settles into the most comfortable, least confronting, most protected posture for the given situation. The organism, which we call our Material Nature, is not interested in higher consciousness; it is only interested in survival, safety, security, comfort, and pleasure. Nature has designed us this way.
But we also have higher possibilities, but these require us to struggle against the automatic and unconscious processes and tendencies of our Material Nature, which, related to our current subject of discussion, means struggling against our automatic and unconscious bodily expressions.
This is not easy, though. At first, we simply do not notice ourselves. We are not aware of our bodily expressions. And catching ourselves in the midst of moving from one posture to another is almost beyond our capacity. However, we do have this possibility, particularly if we have the help of a teacher and a school that understand these things and that have struggled with, and have overcome, these tendencies in themselves.
2b) In mirror-reverse, we have a very limited repertoire of thoughts and emotions, which are tied to our limited repertoire of bodily expressions.
We tend to think that we have a vast number of thoughts and a vast number of emotions or, at least, many shades of emotion. The truth is that a limited number of thoughts and emotions revolve around the same focal points in us, recurring regularly at varied intervals, “called” by the same events and influences around us. For all intents and purposes, we are automatons—at least until we begin a more conscious and intentional Quest for higher consciousness, enlightenment, healing, and wholeness.
By deliberately observing and possibly changing our bodily expressions, this can be one extremely valuable way to actually expand our repertoire of thoughts and emotions, to see these more clearly, to connect each to each, to understand where they come from, what they are connected to, what their history is, and so forth, and, most importantly, to bring in new thoughts and emotions.
Why would we want to do this? Because we need to know ourselves before we have any possibility of being different. As it stands, we think we know ourselves, but, in truth, we know very little of ourselves and the rest is mostly illusions and lies, covered up by the “sleep” that’s induced by our automatic and unconscious bodily expressions.
3a) We default automatically to all our bodily expressions, i.e. they are all unconsciously manifested, despite our illusions to the contrary. Modern neurology is confirming this disturbing state of affairs.
We tend to think that we “decide” to stand or sit a certain way, to make a particular gesture, to make a certain movement, or to convey a certain impression by our facial expressions. In truth, all this just happens, and, afterward, we make up stories to “explain” it and to justify and rationalize ourselves. Modern neurology has determined that the impulse to move comes before our so-called conscious decision to move. This blows the idea of free will out of the water.
However, again, we do have the possibility of developing real free will and of truly deciding to do this thing or that. But first, we must know ourselves—know our Material Nature and all its ways of operating, its quirks, and its tendencies. Bodily expressions are a perfect vehicle with which to do this, because literally everything about us in mirrored in these expressions. We are just not aware of this to begin with.
As we are to begin with, we automatically and unconsciously slip from one posture to another, from one movement to another, from one facial expression to another, from one stance or attitude to another, and so forth. These bodily expressions not only automatic and unconscious, but they are an aspect of our “sleep” state—a state we call waking consciousness, but which is farther from this than we might care to consider.
3b) In mirror-reverse, we default automatically to all our thoughts and emotions, which are tied to our limited repertoire of bodily expressions. This is not how we usually perceive ourselves being, but, again, modern neurology is confirming this disturbing state of affairs.
We tend to believe that we have free will and that we can control and change anything about ourselves, our lives, and the world around us just by willing it. This applies equally to our thoughts and emotions. The truth is that, as we are to begin with, we have no control whatsoever over our thoughts and emotions. They simply happen, automatically and unconsciously, in response to external influences (nurture) and internal influences (nature). It’s all levers and buttons. Then, again, after the fact, we make up stories about it to keep us believing that we “decided” this, “did” that, thought something else, or felt such and such.
Not only this, but our repertoire of thoughts and emotions is as limited as our bodily expressions. But because we don’t remember ourselves and our expressions from one minute to the next —i.e. we are not Present most of the time—because we are not one person but rather are a myriad collection of personas in the one body (which is another discussion altogether… see the archives), we don’t see or believe that we are as limited and predictable as we actually are.
4) As long as we are slaves to our automatic and unconscious bodily expressions, we will remain limited in our overall consciousness—limited to the very small box of our usual, automatic ways of thinking, feeling, sensing, and being.
Until we see our automatic and unconscious repertoire of bodily expressions and how these are intimately connected to our automatic repertoire of thoughts and emotions, we will continue to believe that we awake, have free will, and have the power to do or change anything we like in ourselves, our lives, and the world around us.
Put more simply, until we see our prison, we will insist that we are free. Until we wake up, we will insist that we are awake. Until we glimpse a larger reality, we will insist that our small reality is all there is. Until our eyes are opened, we will insist that we can see.
5) We can use this knowledge of the body-mind connection and conscious awareness of the body itself to help us break out of the very small box of our usual, automatic ways of thinking, feeling, sensing, and being, allowing us to expand and evolve our consciousness toward our infinite potential.
Once we start to become aware of the reality and limiting nature of our body-mind connection, the battle lines are drawn. We must use every possible tool at our disposal to see, study, and struggle against our automatic and unconscious tendencies and mechanisms—to struggle again our Material Nature. We struggle not to vanquish it, but to bring it under the control of a higher unity within us, which we call Spiritual Nature.
Our Spiritual Nature has all the qualities that we erroneously imagine that we already have, i.e. true waking consciousness, free will, and the power to truly change or create ourselves, ours lives, and the world around us. Until our Spiritual Nature becomes awakened, active, and takes the reins of our waking consciousness, we live in a dream without realizing it’s a dream.
So, the first steps are observe, observe, and observe. Really observe ourselves, but without trying to change anything to begin with. If we try to change things too soon, what we wish and need to see about ourselves will scurry away into hiding even while we think we have vanquished it.
Once we have observed ourselves for long enough to fully see and understand our Material Nature and its bodily expressions, then we will increasingly know what to do next in terms of struggling actively against these automatic and unconscious expressions, thereby building real will, real waking consciousness, and the real ability to do consciously.
Truth, Light, Love, and Oneness,
Martin Lass, S.O.L.A.R.® Found
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Martin Lass,
The first S.O.L.A.R.® Emissary, Astrologer, Author
& Musician
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The first S.O.L.A.R.® Emissary is Martin Lass. His background includes over twenty years spent studying in two separate mystery schools, each with a direct lineage extending back into antiquity—one school coming through Egyptian traditions and the other from a hidden Central Asian tradition combined with the Sufi Way.
He is also a professional astrologer, astrological/spiritual counselor, accredited practitioner of various healing modalities, musician, composer, and published author.)
S.O.L.A.R.®
Beyond Materiality. Beyond Spirituality.
Toward the Complete Human Being…
www.solarjourney.org
info@solarjourney.org
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