Consciousness and Energy, Dancing Together

CONSCIOUSNESS AND ENERGY, DANCING TOGETHER
1.1 In Indian folklore Shiva is the personification of Consciousness. One depiction has Shiva dancing across the universe and the purpose of this dance is to stamp out ignorance. And that is perhaps the negative way of looking at it. What he is doing as he dances across the universe is spreading consciousness.
1.2 Consciousness and being conscious has many aspects but perhaps the most basic and fundamental of these is the ability to sense limits so that we can freely move within them.
1.3 Imagine driving on a road while it is foggy. Because of the fog we can’t see the edges of the road and it is also difficult to see other traffic. As a result we have to drive slower to keep ourselves safe. In this case being conscious would be driving only as fast as we would be able to stop safely should we see something up ahead.
1.4 Now imagine driving that way even if the weather is clear. Imagine driving like it is foggy but there is no fog. Or imagine driving quickly when there is fog. That is a little like ignorance. That’s not to say that just because it is clear we have to drive fast, it’s that being conscious we see the road and what is on it and we know how fast we can drive, while staying safe, and we choose to drive as fast or as slow as we like up to within those limits.
1.5 Staying with the theme of driving, our vehicles have readouts to give us information. There’s a speedometer, sometimes a rev counter. There’s also warning lights and a gas meter. An example of being conscious would be knowing what the readouts are for and actually using them. That’s the speedometer and right now I am going 90 mph... oops, no, 90 kmh.”
1.6 In both of the above cases we are becoming conscious of relationships, in one case our relationship with the road and in the other our relationship with the vehicle we are driving and since the road and the car are both ideas we can also say that being conscious is noticing the ideas we are in a relationship with.
1.7 Lets say that we were in a conversation with someone, the purpose, so that we could get to know each other better. Knowing each other we might be better able to connect and together create the idea of a friendship or an intimate relationship. Being conscious during the course of the conversation we would know what it is we are trying to say and use words that match our meaning. We would also be conscious of our partner as we speak so that we can see if they understand our meaning. If not we can modify or correct what we said. Likewise while listening, we would be conscious of what our partner was saying and thus understand the meaning behind the words, and if not we could ask for clarification.
1.8 Dancing with someone, consciousness would apply to feeling ourselves, knowing where we are in space, knowing or feeling all of the relevant relationships within ourselves, and also feeling where our center was in relation to the earth. But at the same time, we would also be conscious of our connection to our partner and through that connection feel where he or she is. And if we are leading, we would be conscious of what our partner can do so we can pick movements that are appropriate. Or knowing in advance what we want to do, position ourselves appropriately. And then when it is time to do the movement, signal it appropriately so that our partner can actually act on the information.
1.9 If we are the follower then being conscious we would feel where our partner was and what he wanted us to do, then we do the move, being conscious of ourselves and what is around us and the movement itself. Following we have the benefit of not having to choose, instead we can just concentrate on doing whatever our lead chooses. And as a result within those constraints we are free to express ourselves.
1.10 Shiva is also often depicted as a lingam and in this guise he is partnered with Shakti. Where Shiva is the divine masculine shakti is the divine feminine representing energy. Shiva is form, and as such the symbol of the upright penis is appropriate but it is Shakti that animates that form, one could say that it is Shakti (or the thought thereof) that makes Shiva erect. Consciousness is form and energy animates that form, together they become aspects of the same thing, life.
1.11 We could look at a motorcycle, and without a rider, it is just a motorcycle. However, with a rider, and the engine running, it becomes part of the idea of riding. In the same way Shiva and Shakti are separate ideas but together they are part of a bigger idea, that of life.
1.12 Going back to the dance, the dance where we are dancing with a partner, when we are leading and choose a movement, then our partner executes this movement it is like we are Shiva and Shakti together. Leading we represent consciousness while following we represent energy but we are both conscious. We both hold ourselves upright, and we both move, but it is just in the context of the dance itself that one of us chooses and the other follows. But in some cases both of us are choosing and both of us are following. It depends on which way you look at it.
1.13 Ultimately, when two people have danced together long enough they become part of a new idea, they become the dance and here they truly do become two parts of one idea, still themselves but also part of something bigger than themselves. And rather than one leading and the other following, at the level of the dance, it is the dance, the idea of the dance itself which leads them both and changes them both, and they express it.
Shiva and Shakti together, aspects of the same thing.