There Exists Within Every Man a Sword and a Shield...
They are bright and polished, shiny and new. Some men simply prop the shield on the sword to cover themselves from the rain, growing old too soon and dying too young. Others tramp about in the woods dulling their blade on every imaginary enemy made of oak, maple and walnut.
Some men recognize this sword and shield for what they truly are - a birthright to greatness for themselves and those they were meant to lead.
At the very soul of the Arthurian legend is a seed essence. The essence is active, potent and alive as ever, although overlooked by most in modern society. That essence is interpreted by the level of consciousness and development of the person observing it. Like a kaleidoscope each person can have contextually novel experience of the exact same content. It remains true… “for those who have the eyes, let them see”. The power and purpose of that mythic and mystical Arthurian seed essence is still here for you in this very moment, should you choose it.
But don’t get lost in cultural and cognitive framing of this myth, but rather come into a direct experience of it, for yourself, within your own being and bone.
Arthur is Legend, and Legend Takes on a Life,
a Path, and a Purpose of It's Own
Arthur is legend, and legend takes on a life, a path and a purpose of its own. Arthur’s legend is imbued with core coding of excellence, honor and nobility. He stands for fellowship and carving a society from a land in chaos and strife.
This is why it is the perfect allegory for this moment. We are living in a moment of maximum chaos and division. We have let the systems, and voices screaming at us on every screen take up far too valuable real estate in our minds. The distraction of dancing idiots on tiktok and endless fluff of trivial nothingness has eroded our will and focus.
The diaspora of voices and perspectives have clouded the conversation. Never before has the playing field been so even in terms of access to ears and eyes. Any person with sufficient will can bang their virtual pot or pan and become famous for it because of these social platforms.
But as you likely know (and this extends to the whole world, not just social media) the voices that scream the loudest, most extreme, controversial or distracting messages are given the most bandwidth. This is a war for your power and the battlefront is in your pocket right now.
Meanwhile, trust in politicians is at an all time low, social violence keeps climbing, the center of the cultural consciousness collapses into victimhood, personal privacy and sovereignty are being etched away with hammer and chisel.
We are sicker, weaker and more divided than any of the past 10 generations, at least and the primary engines of the empire- markets, government and society seem to be exponentially entropic at this point.
At the very core of this is an existential crisis for most of those who are paying attention. “What the fuck are we doing all this for?” “Is this even fixable?”
I hope it’s not.
I hope we can’t restore to some previous version. The “great times” of the past were a farce that we were sold. Seeking to (pardon the obvious reference here) Make America Great Again would just re-sow the seeds that lead to this moment.
Instead of a re-kindling, re-imagining or recreating we must create something new. Every industry, market and major way of being has gone through one process in the last 15 years. Decentralization.
Every institution except those that are sickest - healthcare and insurance, governance and finance have been decentralized. This is likely because those at the top of these sacrificial altars have the most to lose.
So, What is to be Done, and What is the Role to Play for the Arthurs of This Age?
Before you mount your trusty steed and gallop off to slay the dragon it’s important to recognize that this hero’s journey differs fundamentally from the story of Arthur in one meaningful way - it’s inverted.
Arthur went OUT to find the strength, power and transformation inside. This is because “out there” was the great unknown, the proving grounds of might and valor. In our society, much of the “out there” has been tamed and does not require might and valor. We must seek our quest inside.
The modern Arthur recognizes that in order for him to claim his kingdom, love, power and destiny he needs to BE the person who can DO those things. The order is critically important. Doing the actions of destiny will be ineffective if we don’t be the person to unlock the true mystical path.
This is the inner alchemy, an involutionary evolution and transformation of self. This transformation will literally change the possibilities, circumstances and outcomes of what can be produced. It would be easy to pigeonhole this into “mindset”. I assure you it is far beyond just that. It is a radically inclusive commitment to the emancipation of a self that actually can be on the hero’s journey. If anything this is not mindset, it’s soulset.
The Arthurs that will change the world have a few fundamental criteria.
The Arthurs that will change the world have a few fundamental criteria. First is your level of consciousness development. This is not some ungrounded new idea, this is actually easy to qualify and measure through a number of psychological heuristics and metamodels - the most useful of which is Integral Theory.
Without sending you down that rabbit hole, it’s easiest to say it with a picture. The arthurs I’m speaking to here are at the outside edge of the bell curve, developmentally advanced.
In this image you can see the Amber, Orange and Green blocks representing the consciousness of different developmental levels in society. The sake of ease and rough out a basic idea for you, let call…
But you, Arthur, have transcended that. You see the value of all those levels, all those perspectives, you love the people who live in those realities, but none of them are your reality.
From your vantage, you’re asking:
“how do we create the metasystemic internal and external changes that are going to save the body and soul of individual and collective and qualitatively and quantitatively catalyze a new society?”
You’re motivated by Buckminster Fuller, Conscious capitalism, Ray Dalio and Ken Wilber more than whoever happens to be screaming loudest on CNN and Fox news.
Arthurian criteria number two is commitment to imminent arc mysticism. The spiritual journey is obviously critical. It holds endless gifts and treasures from simple accelerated focus to intuition and divine guidance. We don’t need to extoll the absolute necessity of a spiritual practice, because an Arthurian will already understand that. What does need clarification is what “arc” of the spiritual journey you’re on.
The Early Phases of the Waking Up Process Often Come with a Few Hallmark Characteristics
The early phases of the waking up process often come with a few hallmark characteristics
This early stage is Ascendant Arc mysticism. In the journey, it is critically important, we have to build enough energy to break the momentum of our standard perceiving in order to parse the difference between the illusion of the mind and physical reality and the larger mystical or non-dual perspective.
In the Ascendant Arc, the mystic is leaving home, climbing the mountain and meeting the guru in the cave. They stay in that cave until they have a realization. Often, an aspect of that realization is “my awakening is less valuable if only I alone am experiencing it”. That realization leads them on the imminent arc. Back down the mountain and into the marketplace where they teach, lead, and live from this new perspective.
The new Arthurs recognize that their work is here, on the earth. But it is incumbent upon you to bring heaven with you. We must have the brightness, buoyancy and bigness that come from the spiritual awakening in our body in order to animate our mission with that something extra special.
This can happen in meditation, coaching breakthrough, spiritual ceremony or enduring hardship. But regardless of the vector it arrives in, it must arrive.
Lastly, the new Arthurs have financial means. This one is tricky, you can be good, brilliant, kind, wildly spiritual awake without financial wealth, but money has gravity. That gravity affects perception, proves track record and enables things to happen in the 3D real world (one of the worlds) we all live in.
What the Arthur’s need is to go on the Hero’s Journey, meet their Merlin, find the key inside of them and return to the world glowing with a new inner light and embark on the next mission they were meant for.
Read on Arthur, read on.
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