Internalization

"The task of all our knowing is to enable us to incarnate all that we tend only to believe is outside and independent of us."

--Bubba Free John

I was thinking about this quote in terms of what we were talking about the other day--the observation that conflict which appears external, playing out with the people around us, is often mirrored by the same conflict within ourselves. I don't think all conflicts with others can be accurately described as only and truly internal, but I do think that this idea helps clarify a lot of interpersonal strife (by returning to and recognizing the intrapersonal).

This relationship takes on many guises, one of which is the process of projection. The mechanism whereby we cast out a conflict, tension, or ambiguity within the psyche onto the external world, especially other people, is learned pretty early in childhood. It has its purpose--to protect the sanity and coherence of the fledgling ego as it gradually develops in a relatively stressful world. But it is a sign of maturity, I think, when the ego is strong enough to recognize and face its intrapersonal or intrapsychic dynamics that are reflected in its conflicts with other people.

Although Bubba Free John is speaking in a spiritual context--namely, the conviction held by the mystics that one can even "incarnate" (or, rather, realize or recognize) God within oneself--I find the principle also applicable to more "grounded" realms of human experience. Take the perception of beauty--if I find a particular painting beautiful, I believe that the painting, which I feel is outside of me, possesses the beauty. But I think a more accurate appraisal of the situation is that the painting reflects the beauty that I possess within. Or--I have used the metaphor of enjoying a natural landscape elsewhere (and I think I may have encountered the image somewhere in my reading). If I and a squirrel are looking at the Grand Canyon, only I will be able to feel the beauty and grandeur of the vista. The squirrel cannot. So it must be that the beauty is not finally an attribute of the vista, but is an attribute of me. Or perhaps the beauty is inherent in the vista but it takes a perceiver, a subject, that is capable of registering that beauty for it to be expressed or exchanged. Either way, my capacity as a human is crucial to the manifestation, or perception, of this beauty. And if I realize that, I have taken the first step towards incarnating the beauty within. Because it is certainly there, I just need to find it.

I think this is one of the general principles behind the many schools of meditation across the world, especially those involving visualization. But that is for another day.