Big Self Expression

I hope you were able to turn the corner into the new year feeling refreshed, rested, and resolute for your continued good work of expansion in whatever way that looks and feels aligned to you.

Days before New Year’s Eve we completed our exploration of The Devi Bhagavatam in my International book club, VVBC. Spending nine weeks getting intimate with various aspects of Supreme Devi had an undeniable heart-expanding effect on me and those who came along on the expedition.

And then I had an epiphany. As if Saraswati Devi, the goddess of Knowledge, language, the arts, speech, theater and all things academic and artistic expression, arrived at my door by way of downy sacred swan and asked to be let in. One does not keep goddesses waiting on the other side of the threshold. I let Her in.

Up until that moment, my dharma has been and continues to be guiding those who wish to expand into and stabilize higher states of consciousness through a deep understanding of the Puranas, again and again. I get to witness massive moments of Self-discovery in a playful community setting and there’s really nothing quite like it.

Over the years, spontaneously, members of VVBC have been inspired to write poems, one made a series of water colors, another created a collage which speaks to their experience of expansion while reading these powerful consciousness plays.

The epiphany is that Self-discovery naturally leads to Self-expression.

There can be all kinds of objections to Self-expression, but they’re not born out of that big expanded Self. These objections come from the wounded version of our precious childhood when we were told in those formative years that we can’t draw, can’t sing, can’t dance, can’t fully express ourselves without some kind of judgement or limitation. It wasn’t that we can’t but that according to someone else’s opinion (or an opinion we formed about ourselves based on someone else’s opinion), that we shouldn’t.

Now I’m not in the habit of telling you what you should or shouldn’t do, but I must tell you this: to create and express is natural. To suppress it or ignore it is unnatural.

When the process of Self-discovery is well on its way, it’s natural to want to begin to dabble in Self-expression even privately so. Why? Because, one who has discovered that their nature is one and the same as Nature’s nature, the one who Knows themselves to be this darling quirky individual expression of the whole Unified field, naturally, Universe wants to not only experience Itself through them, It wants to Create and Express Itself through them.

This is the part where you discover that Saraswati Devi has been patiently waiting at your door.

Let this year be the year you fearlessly allow Nature to creatively express through you.

That Self-expression wants to be nurtured and I feel unambiguously nominated to do so.

My near-thirty years in the theater arts playing every role imaginable from actor to stage manager, director, playwright, lighting designer, costume designer, front of house, I’ve done it all in aid of fully understanding and embodying this ancient collaborative art form. In Vedic terms, I am Theater.

Theater exists to entertain and transform. It shows us who we are as a race and awakens compassion and inspires reflection and introspection. It pulls on the threads of Universal Truths that are deeply embedded in our individual and collective consciousness.

Reading The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, and the Puranas does the same thing. It is elevational theater and it awakens the Principles and Laws of Nature within us.

Here is what I propose:

1. If you’re a casual reader of these Letters to One, I encourage you to dabble and play and make an artistic mess and express your divine humanity in the form of the humanities as often as possible. Do it for pleasure, for love, for fun, for connection with yourself, your inner circle, or for anyone to see and enjoy. Whether you’re aware of it or not, Universe wants to express through you. See if you can get out of the way and let It through.

   
   

2. For those who know me or know of me through the meditation community as an expert on Vedic literature, a Pauraniki as my Maharishi has declared (a title I choose every day to attempt to live up to), join me for our annual exploration of The Ramayana this February 1st through March 22nd.

   
   

If it’s your first time, you will be guided towards Big Self-discovery and gently encouraged to stay open to any creativity that might come through.

If it’s your second time (or more), in addition to the usual Points to Ponder and Challenges, you’ll be given weekly prompts to get in the proverbial sandbox and play. I’ll be right in there with you. Let’s see what Hanuman, Sita, Rama, and Ravana want to express through us. Your artwork doesn’t have to be Ramayana related, but the Universal Truths accessed therein will guide us to that Big Self-expression.

So there you have it. Lots of really good reasons to express yourself. And even more really good reasons to express your Big Self.

If this piece has inspired you, I’d love to hear about it or better yet, see it! I’d like to imagine that maybe Saraswati Devi will hang our artwork on Her refrigerator or proudly display it on Her side table. For me, I do what I do for Her: this unparalleled icon of Knowledge, language, and artistic expression is calling us to remember Who and What we are through the distinctly expanded act of creativity.

Here we go.

(Eager to get in touch with your Big Self? Consider learning Vedic Meditation. Learn more here. https://www.jameyhoodmeditation.com/)