Our good friend Albert Einstein once wrote that we cannot solve a problem at the same level of understanding we were at when we created it.  Looking out the window, we have quite accurately created a world that mirrors linear thinking and beliefs in limited space, limited resources, and limited time.  A world which perfectly reflects our struggles and triumphs within the boundary of our beliefs in duality and separation.  And in order to create a different world, we must expand beyond our identification with duality and limitation.  To create a world of unity and unlimitedness, we must embody unity and unlimitedness ourselves so that physical reality can then reflect this new "us" back to us.  We must become the change we want to experience in physical reality.

In the NOW moment of this linear time frame, the idea of a "shift in consciousness" is quite common, although the ways in which the "shift" is experienced is not only different for each person, but also changes for each person at each step.  Since this shift takes us completely out of our usual territory, we often experience this process like the constantly changing view of climbing a set of stairs.  Each step up to the next stair requires that we completely readjust our perspective and allow whatever events to unfold that we have created for ourselves as we "shift."  Most of what worked for us at the previous step doesn't apply to the new one.  And each step offers us an entirely new perspective of not only where we've been but where we appear to be going.

One of the keys to understanding the shift and to embracing unity while still in physical reality is the idea of the PARADOX.  A paradox is an idea that seems contradictory but is true nonetheless.  We've presented ourselves with this kind of puzzle to entice us to grow beyond our tendency to focus or think linearly, dualistically, and limitedly.  Paradox is the bringing within of a seeming contradiction or opposite and allowing these apparent opposites BOTH to have validity and expression, without struggle.  Paradox officially means "beyond opinion" - which refers to an understanding that encompasses any singular perspective while maintaining that perspective's validity.  So just HOW is this supposed to apply to life in physical reality?

In our conventional, societal experience of physical reality, we are used to linear time, linear space, duality, individuality and separation, attraction and repulsion, cause and effect, even the distinction between the sexes.  We have puttered around in physicalness, able to see our distinctness and the distinctness of everything our senses drink in.  We became enchanted by solid lines and definitions.  And then the "shift" comes along.  It tells us we are all ONE, that we are unlimited, that we are creators and whole unto ourselves.  It tells us that although everything in physical reality LOOKS limited and defined, that this is an illusion, a domain that WE created in order to experience creation.

Sure it is!  Well it certainly FEELS true, doesn't it?  So which is it - are our senses wrong or our intuition?  Are we separate or all one?  Are we limited or not?  Are we definite or indefinite?  Paradox to the rescue!
 

Identity

Part of the trouble is that we can't seem to just drop everything that we have previously known to simply step into this "new age".  We've already attempted that course by trying to "transcend" the ego (physically focused part of ourselves) in order to achieve nirvana or unity.   In order to be conscious creators , we cannot deny our physicalness, but must integrate our understanding and experiences in physical reality with our expanded and multidimensional understanding of what we now call the "non-physical."  In other words, we cannot create heaven on earth if we're trying to deny any part of our earthly experience or if we're using self-judgment to separate any "uncomfortable" aspects of the physical experience from WHO WE ARE.  Expanding our minds into the realm of paradox is the process we can use to become whole, creative beings and maintain our unique physical perspectives at the same time.

Let's take one of the more obvious paradoxes of the new age - we are individuals and appear separate in physical reality, yet we are ONE and NOT separate.  Linearly thinking, these situations are mutually exclusive, and so linear thinking will not help us solve this conundrum.  In this corner we have the camp that reflects the ego's fear of annihilation to this ONENESS, the fear of losing individuality and distinction to some centralized consciousness, much like the conflict with Star Trek's bio-technological BORG who assimilate cultures into their faceless collective of drones.

In the other corner, there's the idea of "transcendence," of "rising above" all of our earthly concerns, of having some "greater" power come in and take away all of our problems.  Call it ascending, call it nirvana, call it bliss.  The subtle assumption that OFTEN accompanies this point of view is of leaving all of the separateness behind and moving into peace and harmony with everyone else.  Not that this is a bad idea overall, but the concept usually fails to include HOW we get there from here.  Here being a place of amazing psychological diversity and complex interpersonal interactions, a place of individuality, desire, passion, and distinctness.

While each of these ends of the spectrum is quite a valid experience unto itself, paradox gives us an alternate solution to having to choose EITHER one or the other in any situation.  We can be individuals and experience separation in physical reality while also understanding that the separation is an illusion and that we are always a part of All That Is.  Again, this isn't something we can think about linearly as much as we can open to UNDERSTAND it.  As conscious creators, we stick our heads out of the illusion of physical reality to learn that there is a powerful part of us that is creating the very events that we are experiencing there!  The irony here is that the more we relinquish our attachments to our separateness, the greater joy we can experience within the illusion of separateness!  Being an individual becomes a joyous game of creation when we understand the broader context within which duality and distinctness is couched.

Time

Linear time is another wonderful illusion in our physical reality.  The "shift" tells us that there is no past and no future and the only "time" that exists is the NOW moment.  While we may, in physical reality, experience the illusion of continuity from moment to moment, we are not creatures OF linear existence.  So are we linear or not?  Paradox lets us be both!  Accepting this paradox allows us to release the restrictions of cause and effect, and open to choices that wouldn't be available in a NOW moment that depends on what happened in the previous moment.  In other words, we don't have to choose a probability based on what appears to be available in physical reality NOW, but choose based on what aligns with us vibrationally, no matter WHAT physical reality looks like.  Then, we get to experience our choice manifesting in physical reality.  We can start learning how to skip the parts we're not interested in experiencing and go directly to linearly experiencing the parts that DO interest us.

Gender

One of the most obvious dualities in physical reality are the male and female aspects of humanity.  The feminine expression is receptive, intuitive, and allowing.  The masculine expression is active, rational, and aggressive.  As much as we tend to stereotype men and women into Mars and Venus configurations, most of us don't fit comfortably or completely into either of these generalizations.  Paradox allows us to be whole unto ourselves while still expressing the gender of our choice.  We are, each of us, both masculine and feminine, in our own unique ways.  One of the wonders of the shift and of the idea of conscious creation is that integrates the intuitive knowing of the feminine with the expressive creating of the masculine, allowing us to manifest our personal desires in physical reality in a manner completely
harmonious to the whole.

Self

Paradox also lets us redefine what SELF really means.  SELF comes to mean self and the whole.  We identify, at the same time, with an individual perspective and with the universe at large.  Paradox helps us to understand that we no longer need to believe that there is a difference between what we really want and what is in harmony with All That Is.  One of the most common focuses of the "new age" is the idea of "helping others" and even of being "selfless".  Well, while we're in physical reality, being selfless is not only unattainable, but is not really what we're looking for.  Paradoxically, we understand that when we are centered in WHO WE ARE and acting from our joy and our creative impulses, we ARE acting in the best interests of not only "others" but of ourselves as well.  THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE.  Our egos may have built up a number of rules about what it means to be compassionate and loving, but many of those old rules spring from beliefs in victims and separation.

The latest episodes of Star Trek Voyager feature a Borg drone, Seven, who was released from the Borg Collective and is learning about individuality, usually by arguing about its imperfections with Captain Janeway.  In a recent episode, Seven was recaptured by a Borg queen and found herself arguing FOR individuality against the Borg queen.  How did she resolve this inner conflict she was experiencing between being an individual OR being ONE?  Captain Janeway and Seven use their intuitive connection in order to disarm the Borg Queen's defenses and escape.  By way of explaining how well the Captain and Seven work together while seemingly not being connected (as the Borg see it), she offers a paradoxical response which greatly confuses the Borg Queen, "Our thoughts are one."  It seems the idea of paradox is getting around a bit these days!

Although those are just a few of the major examples of duality in our cultures today, you can look at any kind of duality, polarity, opposition, struggle, or yin-yang type of focus in physical reality this way.  And there's no doubt about it, paradox is not necessarily an EASY concept for our brains to grasp, but that's where the shift is taking us.  And, as I have experienced countless times in my own space-time continuum, I can either GO WILLINGLY with what I've created and become conscious of it and expand into it, or I can GO.  <grin>  Such is the paradoxical and continually adventurous life of a conscious creator. 

©1999, Kristen Fox. Printed in the April-May 1999 Issue of the Conscious Creation Journal.  (Feel free to duplicate this article for personal use - please include this copyright notice.) http://www.consciouscreation.com/