7 Wisdoms - Hello

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Keywords for Hello

Attention
As the body requires food, so the psyche seeks the nourishment that is provided by attention—and the results of under-nourishment are profound. Attention is the real juice. There is a lot to gain from becoming deeply connected with another; the richness of life flows more powerfully as the mutuality of involvement sparks into an awakening of that which was dormant. We take on some of the qualities of the people that we give our attention to and whom we mix with, and unconsciously we become like them in certain ways. Even when our attention is concentrated on a subject rather than a person, well-being is enhanced.

Openness
The Hello archetype applies to anything new: new concepts, new experiences and new attitudes—so this suggests a general openness to life, a welcoming of the unknown with lively interest and willingness to make contact and absorb new ideas. Curiosity is a desire to learn, and it is through curiosity that the human race has expanded its awareness to all aspects of life in the material universe and all aspects of life in the subtle realms. It is the mother of invention easily as much as necessity.

As we expand the horizons of our social life, we receive gifts, learn to express talents and realize aptitudes. Each newly discovered aspect of the external world has equivalence inwardly so we sense an inner development of our potential, an arising of possibility, the stimulation of imagination—and we feel the urge to expand further as our hopes and dreams take on a more substantial dimension: they acquire more substance.

Exchange
What do we get when we say Hello? We get pulled and pushed, required to, obliged by, bullied, interrupted, seduced, dominated, bothered, insulted and generally disrespected by insensitive, uncaring, selfish people. So what is so valuable that we pay such a price? Is it the fun, the wit, the playfulness, the ever-flowing river of sparkling ephemeral pleasure-joy-sensation-aliveness? Can it really be only these distractions for the mind?

No. There is another compelling reason: the answers we seek to major life questions are found only by engaging with others; solutions to all questions are found only when we expand our readiness to embrace a new person or a new idea. This will always entail exchange.

Communion
When the Hello archetype is expressed at the most subtle of levels, we are in essence saying Hello to God: communion. It’s a mutual process, God/Goddess is saying Hello to us too, and when this happens, the contours of our more habitual world shift so that we find ourselves subject to different laws. Communing with nature allows us direct access to the self-evident reality of material existence: we see metaphors in the lives and cycles in nature that give us an intuitive grasp of the underlying patterns by which we are governed. There’s no compromise, no negotiation, no respite from the hard truth of corporeal life and yet, despite the violence and harshness, its beauty awes us.

Workbook notes

The wisdom of Hello

No is necessary to establish selfhood, yet it can have the effect of isolating us. The purpose of Hello is to end this isolation. It is a reaching-out, a move towards connectedness and relationship so that the sterility of one can become the potency of one and another. Without connection, we simply have chaos—a formless mash where nothing touches harmoniously upon anything else and no two beings are linked by mutual attention. It’s by the exchange of attention that entities form a bond that ends chaos and creates something, and this communication is the Hello state: a willingness to give and receive attention. If No is more ‘closed against’ then Hello is more ‘open towards’.

This can be observed in how we are with people and also with ideas. It’s probably more childlike to have an appetite for new ideas because the young have great capacity to assimilate new things, and naturally enjoy learning (although they may not be quite so open to new people as that openness can so easily threaten their precarious sense of security). Ageing tends to fix people into habits and it is a rare example to find an old person who loves parties as much as they used to.   

q21 - 3 questions 

Are you truly interested in the views and attitudes of others?
People can feel whether our interest in them is genuine, and if it is then they respond positively and open up. Such an exchange can lead to a mutual expansion of opportunity and understanding, and of course allows us to express more of our own ideas and experiences. Without such opportunities then there is a tendency to let life go by without keeping abreast of the changing nature of reality. And be aware…it’s not enough to respond to our feelings of interest – we may need to do work to cultivate those feelings.

Do you make opportunities to seek new people?
Travel does broaden the mind, it expands our awareness of everything in life by showing us new ways to do things, new things to do and different perceptions. Spiritual and personal growth is measured by whether our perceptions are constantly shifting: it’s good to change our minds. Meeting new people makes us engage with the part of us that yearns to travel because we need a similar attitude of attention – one that acknowledges unknowingness and responds with healthy curiosity.

Do you make friends and contacts if you go to new place?
A casual encounter may change our point of view for a while, yet the integration of a permanent change of awareness requires something of more substance. To absorb into our life new people and the new ideas they bring is to make solid a shift of perception which then forms an aspect of our new mind-set. From this is born new plans and new circumstances, a breath of fresh air that invigorates and sustains openness. It supports a healthy mental attitude and all that goes with it.

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