| PROGRAMMING PARTNER: 43RD GENE KEY | PHYSIOLOGY: THROAT (THYROID) |
| CODON RING: THE RING OF LIFE AND DEATH | AMINO ACID: LEUCINE |
| (3, 20, 23, 24, 27, 42) |
The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said “You cannot think something unless you can talk about it.” What he was suggesting is that thinking and language appear to be inseparable. The 23rd Shadow directly concerns the connection between thinking, knowing and the expression of that knowing through language. As a functioning, or indeed malfunctioning, of our genetics, the 64 Shadows govern humanity in different cycles. This is to say that at certain points in history a specific Shadow will appear to suddenly dominate the human species, whilst at other times the same Shadow will appear to lie relatively dormant. As each aspect of the Shadow consciousness rises into prominence, history is written accordingly. The overall direction of the evolution of humanity is governed by these regular inner cycles and impulses that emerge from within our DNA.
The 23rd Shadow is one of the most potent contemporary Shadows driving humanity in our present post-modern age. It is the Shadow of Complexity. Complexity is the result of the human mind trying to control its environment. The more humans try to use their minds to create a feeling of security in the world, the more complicated and unsafe the world becomes. At an individual level this Shadow creates misunderstanding and division in two different ways — through individuals saying the wrong things, and through saying them at the wrong time. This human trait has been around for as long as language has been around, and it is responsible for some of the most horrendous events in human history. Some of the bloodiest wars on our planet have begun because of a few simple misconstrued words. When the Buddha introduced his great teaching known as the Eightfold Path, he spoke of Right Understanding, which leads to Right Speech. He hit upon this great and simple truth — that language flows directly out of your state of consciousness. The more profoundly you understand and embrace the Shadow, the freer of it you become.
The challenge within the 23rd Shadow is found in its programming partner — the 43rd Shadow of Deafness. The 23rd Shadow represents an overwhelming human urge to express yourself. Coupled with the inability to hear either yourself or others, this creates a lethal cocktail. One of the great problems for individuals is to communicate clearly with others. Hearing yourself means being aware of what is going on inside you. If you have no such self-awareness, then you are also unable to really hear what is going on outside you, which means that you will not know how to relate to others. Language is immensely powerful as a medium for stirring up the volatile human emotional spirit. Whenever this 23rd Shadow speaks, it complicates the situation, which in turn catalyses an exponential process of misunderstanding that can soon escalate from a mental process to an emotional one. The fear beneath this 23rd Shadow is of meeting intolerance and being excluded by others. Ironically, this very fear drives the behaviour that manifests the fear.
The difficulty for the 23rd Shadow is that it tends to make human beings know that they are right, which firmly closes the door on their being open to the views of others. This is where the deafness comes into play. In conversation with someone strongly influenced by this Shadow they can seem like a stuck record. They simply cannot give you a straight answer to a question. You can even ask them specifically to answer in a single word, and they cannot do it! There is an unconscious assumption on their part that you are somehow inside their head with them and understand everything they are thinking with crystal clarity. Because of this pattern you often have the feeling that such people are simply talking at you, rather than communicating with you. This generally causes the listener to feel physically uncomfortable and back away or try to interrupt the stream. Either way, the situation can become agitated and complex when a misunderstanding could have been easily avoided.
Within this 23rd Gene Key lies a secret of timing. Because the 23rd Shadow concerns the way in which your brain translates thoughts into linguistic patterns it is through this Gene Key that all manner of speech difficulties can occur — from verbal diarrhoea to dumbness. Such problems are rooted in the subtle timing mechanism hidden within speech and language. Human speech is made up of many layers of intonations with spaces in between. Even though your brain may hear the language inside your head, translating that to the vocal chords is another matter. How successful this process is depends upon your overall level of frequency. If you are caught in the victim patterns of the Shadows, then the process of translation slightly misfires, as though a code has been copied incorrectly. This leads to a language pattern that is not harmonised to the situation or listener.
This process of timing and mistiming happens at a level well below your conscious awareness. It is not the words themselves that cause the static between the speaker and the listener, but the subtle cadences of intonation itself. There are people who can give speeches in the most engaging language, but which actually make no sense to the audience whatsoever. The gift of communication does not lie in the speaker’s linguistic skills, but somewhere much subtler — in the speaker’s heart. If even the subtlest trace of fear drives your speech, then that speech can never be fully imbibed by the listener. However, when someone speaks or writes from their heart, you will understand the gist of what they are saying, regardless of how they say it. Conversely, when you read or hear something that leaves you feeling cold, you are probably hearing someone’s deep-seated fear. People driven by the 23rd Shadow speak in order to gain approval or recognition — and this always, without exception, sets them up to be misunderstood.
At a collective level, the misfiring of human language patterns has led to intolerance and schisms. It has, in fact, led to organised religion. All the major religions have evolved from simple language patterns spoken by individuals in the now, which were then mis-translated by others who were not physically present when the words were spoken. As an example, the words of Christ are beautiful in their pure simplicity, but the hundreds of schisms caused by their many different interpretations have transformed the original simplicity into something incredibly complicated and ultimately ugly. The moment someone speaks out of a frequency of fear or anger, even the most beautiful sounding words can become dangerous and divisive.
It is easy to see from this Shadow why the ancient Chinese referred to the 23rd hexagram of the I Ching using the phrase Splitting Apart. It is absolutely true that the frequency of this Shadow does cause human beings to distrust each other, driving us further and further apart and creating more and more complexity and fragmentation. As was suggested earlier, the 23rd Shadow of Complexity is responsible for our planet becoming more and more unsafe. Ultimately however, this splitting apart has a hidden goal — to make human beings aware that they are the cause of their own suffering and in time to bring about the gift of Right Understanding.
In a repressive nature or society, the expression of the 23rd Shadow will rarely be tolerated. Wherever you see societies that keep others silent, you are seeing fear at work through this Shadow. Depending on how acute the level of fear is the individual or group will probably never express what they really think. Language will be held back, either through internal repression or external oppression. It is interesting that the modern meaning of the word dumb has come to refer to a lack of intelligence, because that is often how such people are perceived. If you are choked by fear, you cannot speak clearly, if at all, and so these people slowly learn not to say what they really think, instead lapsing into silence or superficiality. This is particularly true of children who have very oppressive parents.
The other side of this Shadow is the expressive nature, which often cannot stop talking. However, because there is a general mis-timing within their neurology, they create enormous interference and fragmentation wherever they go. These are people who always say the wrong thing, or they say the right thing but at the wrong time. The language pattern of such people tends to over-complicate and miss the essential meaning of things. They spend an enormous amount of energy trying to be heard only to find that they are constantly pushed away. These people tend to talk in circles, over-explaining everything in an unconscious attempt to conceal the anger that lies within them at not being understood on a much deeper level.
One of the hardest things for most modern human beings is to live simply. Sometimes simplicity is even considered synonymous with stupidity. Actually, the lower the frequency of your genetics, the more complicated you will tend to make things. The reason for this is the human mind. The mind does not trust simplicity because it thrives on complexity. The more complicated something is, the more the mind can think about it. So, when we come to this 23rd Gift, we are learning one of the great secrets of a happy life — keep it simple.
The 23rd Gift abhors clutter and jargon. It communicates precisely, clearly and with great economy. The power of simplicity is to create efficiency wherever it goes. People exhibiting the Gift of Simplicity waste nothing in life. Their living areas usually reflect their thinking, with plenty of open space and room to breathe. They are able to cut through all the dross and get straight to the essential point. Simplicity is a state of being — an attitude towards life — and as such it cannot really be taught. It takes great sensitivity to be this simple. It is more of a knack, an aura — even a love. If you love simplicity, you will manifest it around you.
The Gift level of frequency is a clearing-house for the process of preparing you to realise siddhic awareness. As such, the 23rd Gift is an ongoing process in which more and more clutter is gradually removed from your inner and outer life. As your mind clears, spaciousness opens inside you, allowing you to see things with great clarity. Another manifestation of this frequency is a slowing down of your internal system and a gradual lessening of your need to resolve everything in your life. Emotions are allowed to follow their natural course, thoughts begin to have more gaps between them and physical impulses are either observed objectively and dispassionately or are indulged without guilt. Everything inside your nature begins to become clear. The many problems of your life are seen as phantasms created by your mind acting upon your desires. You naturally begin to turn within and contemplate your own essence.
A good metaphor for Simplicity is flying an airplane through and then above the clouds. In the clouds the mind finds only complexity and it goes around in circles trying to find the way out. In these lower frequency clouds you pick up static all the time. At higher levels of frequency your mind sees further and more clearly. At the level beyond the clouds, the world mind is left below and you begin to move into more silence. This 23rd Gift and its programming partner the 43rd Gift of Insight are deeply connected to the acoustic field of sound. These two Gifts are about clear hearing and clear translation of that hearing. On an inner level clear hearing really refers to knowing. We noted in the 43rd Shadow that there is a theme of deafness underlying these two Gene Keys. As your frequency rises however, this very deafness becomes an ally because it acts as a truth filter. Through the 23rd Gift you hear only the essence, and all extraneous low frequency noise is edited out.
As part of the marvellous Codon Ring known as the Ring of Life and Death, the 23rd Gene Key captures the very same insights that were left for humanity by Gautama Buddha. The beautiful simplicity of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path — the wisdom left by the Buddha — reflect the secrets of this Codon Ring. Through the 3rd Gene Key, we see that all life is change and is thus subject to cessation. Through the 20th Gene Key the Buddha discovered that all truth lies in the awareness of the present moment. The 24th Gene Key describes the continual process of rebirth and the wheel of samsara. The 27th Gene Key speaks of the essential moral code of goodness lying in the heart of humanity and the 42nd Gene Key teaches the power of detachment. Once you have discovered each of these secrets in your life you will arrive at a point of beautiful simplicity in which the higher level of the 23rd Gene Key — the Quintessence — is seen as the centre of centres lying deep within your belly and your being. Enlightenment comes only through this deep immersion in the core acceptance of life and death.
To be around someone exhibiting the 23rd Gift is a wonderful and powerful experience. Things that you thought were problems somehow dissolve in their presence, and through their insight and clear language, difficult things become easy. Above all, you begin to relax physically in their presence, and as this occurs the mind lets go of its need to constantly resolve complexities. Simplicity is deeply practical in the material world and these people are often very good at handling money. It is not that they know how to make money, but they know where not to waste it. They are not tight in any way but they find the simplest solutions to things. They are masters of efficiency in that they can come up with highly original yet utterly practical ideas that lead to quantum leaps in productivity.
The 23rd Gift does not look at things in a logical way, nor would you describe it as artistic or abstract. It simply knows things spontaneously, without knowing where the knowing came from. It is the essence of genius. The quality that most often accompanies this 23rd Gift is playfulness. Although this can be a very intense Gift, it is not a serious one. These people think in very lateral ways, not in the normal way in which we understand thinking. They observe silently until the solution jumps into their awareness, at which point they can communicate it effectively and beautifully. The combination of all these traits makes them wonderful teachers.
A final aspect to mention about this 23rd Gift is its incredible sense of humour. The way in which this Gift operates can give rise to hilarious spontaneous expressions that in some way capture the essence of a person or a particular moment. These people are so on the ball. Because they do not plan what they are going to say, they often take everyone by surprise. At lower frequencies, this trait can cause hurt and rejection. At a high frequency however, it usually causes laughter or awe. It is all a matter of frequency.
Above all, people operating out of the 23rd Gift are wonderfully clear communicators and advisers. Their true genius lies in the economy of their language and the originality of their expression. Theirs is the noblest truth of all — the Gift of Simplicity.
At it highest level the 23rd Gift gives way to the Siddhi of Quintessence. Quintessence is a word that derives mainly from ancient and medieval philosophy. It refers to the so-called magical fifth element or aether that was believed to be inherent in all things. At the level of the 64 Siddhis, words are vibrations rather than words with single specific meanings. This word Quintessence carries secrets within it that give us many clues about the highest aspect of this 23rd Gene Key.
The 23rd Siddhi has an alchemical flavour to it. At a metaphoric level this refers to the ability to extract gold from base metal — the goal of all alchemy. Therefore people of this Siddhi are able to touch the gold hidden within other human beings. They can transmit the power of the awakened state through a word or a look or a gesture. This is the Midas Touch. Every person has a unique key that opens them to higher states of consciousness, and the people of this Siddhi hold all the keys. They do not necessarily know that they hold the keys — they simply respond spontaneously to each person, and in so doing, they touch the core of that person.
These are highly unpredictable people. As the ancient Chinese name for this archetype suggests, this Siddhi is about splitting people apart. At the frequency of the Siddhis, thought is revealed for what it is — atomic energy. Every thought that is not absolutely necessary instantaneously undergoes a process of nuclear fission — it splits apart and releases its pure organic energy into the physical aura of the being. At the highest frequency, this splitting apart refers to the separation of your inner essence from the illusion of your separateness.
Anyone in a siddhic state undergoes a process of alchemical transformation. In the earlier stages of the siddhic state, your physiology undergoes a deep genetic transmutation. This change is caused primarily by the fallout from the splitting apart of your thoughts. The entire body often undergoes a period of profound physical sensation, sometimes experienced as pleasure and sometimes as pain, whilst the continuity of your thinking is destroyed. Once the dust has settled, what remains is the quintessence — consciousness itself speaking or acting through the shell of the personality. This is the true explanation of the secrets hinted at by alchemy — that the physical body itself contains the seed of the siddhic consciousness. It is concealed in your DNA and controlled by a hidden timing mechanism that is utterly spontaneous and out of your individual reach. There is no way for you to trigger this event because it lies beyond the reach of your mind, and anything you try to do to encourage the event actually gets in the way of your natural process. In the same way that the 23rd Shadow unconsciously blurts out its inappropriate expression, so the higher consciousness suddenly and unexpectedly detonates within your body.
Because your awakening is acausal — in other words beyond human intervention — there can never exist a technology of enlightenment. Enlightenment is beyond the grasp of technique, lying thankfully within the realm of eternal mystery. The 23rd Siddhi represents the transcendence of the right hand path and the left hand path. This is why the Buddha has referred to it as The Middle Way. The left hand path is that of science, which can only go as far as paradox, the absolute limit of scientific or logical thinking. The right hand path is that of the artist or poet, and although this path comes closer to the centre than the scientist, it too always falls short. The poet moves beyond the mind and strives to approach the mystery through his or her heart. But heart and soul are bound by the limits of their own longing, and even though they may taste the centre for short periods, they fall short of the ultimate.
The third way is that of the mystic, who neither takes the path of seeking nor the path of longing. The mystic enters bodily into the mystery itself, not seeking resolution or acting out of a thirst for truth. The mystic holds such a deep respect for the mystery that he or she has no agenda or need to understand it but simply revels in the mystery of the ultimate, drinking it in through the pores of his or her being. Only the mystic can extract the quintessence from the ultimate. He or she simply enters the narrow gate in a state of wonder. The sheer beauty of the ultimate realisation is that it is always discovered by mistake. After realisation has occurred to someone, they can see that there are simple conditions for awakening and, like the Buddha, they can point out the exact nature of those conditions. However, the awakened one also knows that these conditions must come about in their own way, rather than becoming synthetic goals or targets for future seekers. Herein lies the dilemma of the awakened one. How many people will be led astray by the teachings, and would it be better to say nothing? But if just one person intuitively grasps the dharma (teachings), then it will be worth all those who have gone astray.
The real power of the 23rd Siddhi is therefore in its direct transmission in the flesh. The words that emerge from this Siddhi are phenomenally potent at the moment of their utterance. Once the 23rd Siddhi has fully dawned inside a person, they become an alchemical agent. Like quicksilver, they bind themselves to people and find their way into the cracks within their mental structure. Around such a person, you will undergo a series of spontaneous simplifications as the continued presence of their aura slowly begins to extract the quintessence from the dross placed within you by your culture and conditioning. As a recipient of this vibration, you will inevitably go through a complete deconstruction, which may be very difficult for you. Like all such alchemical processes, it can be extremely dangerous to your mental health unless you complete the entire process.
This 23rd Siddhi is custodian of a sacred truth: trust your own inner path before any external teaching or teacher. In the case of the Buddha, many millions of Buddhists have followed his teachings, and very few have been able to read between the words and extract the living quintessence. However, the truths left by the great masters are far easier to embody than your mind believes. To follow the mystical path is to surrender utterly to that which is within you, no matter where it leads you. The Middle Way is not, as it sounds, a delicate path threading between the opposites. It is a path of complete abandon that is formed as each foot falls before you. It is a path sculpted from the void, untrodden by anyone before you and therefore without law, rhyme nor reason. To walk this path, you will have to dig deep within yourself and revel in that true quintessence that only you can recognise. This is the Buddha Fever.