We live in the information age. The remarkable technological advances we have made have allowed us access to unlimited information virtually anytime and anywhere. Advancements are being made to even give us the opportunity to “fuse” with this technology, in the form of biotech wearables, implants, and interfacing with A.I. Whether it be the ubiquitous smartphone, or the cybernetic horizon, the trend toward this immersion in the sea of information seems to be the course of the world.
While the wealth of information and its ease of access does without a doubt have its benefits, we cannot turn a blind eye to the obvious dysfunctions concurrent with our “progress.” These past decades have seen an unprecedented rise in technological capabilities. These same decades have seen an unprecedented rise in physical and mental health issues. Synthetic hormones, pesticides and fertilizers, unnatural foods, and rampant pollution have led to an alarming rise in genetic disorders and other diseases. Unchecked antibiotic abuse has led to the evolution of dangerous super bacteria, not to mention wreaked havoc on our own immune systems by stunting their natural growth alongside the pathogens they defend us against. Anxiety and depression have become almost the norm. And at latest calculation, the average human attention span has shriveled to a mere eight seconds! We are literally rewiring ourselves for stupidity and genetic malfunction.
So then, what are we to make of this situation? What is happening? And what can be done about it? To answer these questions, we must first take a look at exactly what this pattern shows us energetically.
Information. Communication. Technology. Progressive ideas. What do all these things have in common? Air. Each of these concepts is ruled by the Air Element. Electricity itself is Air. All things based on it are of the Air Element. The Air Element governs our thoughts and our nervous systems. What does the Air do? The Air blows freely as the wind, here and there, near and far, in every direction and in spiraling tornadoes. The Air can be tranquility and the Air can be a chaotic storm. The nature and quality of the Air is what determines whether it will be productive or destructive. Air gives us life, and Air can destroy entire cities.
In our society today, the Air Element has been over-emphasized to the point of becoming toxically imbalanced. The general direction of progress today is one of becoming more and more integrated with our thinking and the tools we have developed from it. The discussion of gaining the ability to upload copies of our minds onto the internet is a perfect example of this. So, too, is the idea of abandoning the Earth and colonizing other planets. We are obsessed with our intellect, to the detriment of every other aspect of ourselves.
The Air Element is a rising energy. It seeks to move upward and to expand and swirl about in every direction. Very quick and very intelligent, but also very unstable and prone to disorganization. Excessive Air in the mind can display as anxiety, insomnia, depression, mood swings, and can reflex into other systems of the body, most notably the GI where we see all manner of stress-related digestive issues arise. When the Air is overactive, the sympathetic nervous system is overactive. This wreaks havoc on the organs and glands as they are in a constant state of panic. From here, hormones are disrupted and many basic functions related to our “rest and digest” state are ignored. Being stuck in our thoughts actually begins to disconnect us from our bodies. As a result, our physical functions are thrown into chaos and our tissues begin to deteriorate.
Astrologically speaking, this scenario is seen in the relationship of Mercury to the Sun. Mercury is the Air Element and the intellect. It is the closest to the Sun and is always running either just ahead of or just behind its path. Mercury in myth is the messenger of the gods. He is the one who relays information across all the worlds. The Sun, of course, is the Soul. He represents the true Self, the king, you as you truly are. Mercury is your intellect. He allows you, the infinite Soul, to interact with this limited three-dimensional reality. He is your messenger. He is not you. The pitfall that so many find themselves trapped in is that they begin to identify more with the messenger than the king. This is seen in the way Mercury is closest to the Sun, and sometimes, when he is not in his best condition, conflates himself with the Sun. This analogy shows us what is actually happening on many levels. Firstly, for the individual, we see that we can often start to identify with our thoughts and surrounding stimuli more than we do with our own Soul. This denial of the Soul leads to feelings of depression and lack of self worth. This identifying with the fleeting thoughts leads to anxiety and nervous dysfunction. On another level, we see this in the way the modern world has deified “science.” We have made considerable efforts to desacralize and demystify everything in the name of being “scientific” and have placed “ourselves” (actually our intellect) in the very throne of God (the realm of the Soul.) When the Soul is not king, life is vanity. Hence, unprecedented psychological and emotional disorder.
Energetically, what we are doing is abandoning our bodies for the wind. Recall what was just mentioned about leaving the Earth for space? This is a perfect psychological metaphor for what we are doing to our bodies. So enthralled to our precious intellect, we are willing to cast aside everything else that makes us who we are in the name of “progress.” All this despite the fact that we are quite obviously killing ourselves. The human being is designed to be a complete whole. Not just the intellect. Make no mistake, Mercury is an invaluable and irreplaceable part of us. But he is not us. He is a part of us. The Whole is not without its parts. Scientists vastly overestimate their own intelligence when they suppose that the mind is a mere collection of information which can be recorded and copied at will (another example of inflated Mercury putting himself on the Sun's throne.) All that is the intellect is merely the medium through which the eternal and infinite Soul interfaces with this world. So long as we continue to misunderstand this fact we will not reach our true potential, which lies far and away beyond the trivial technological advancements they have in mind as “potential.”
Now then, we have looked briefly at what the problem is, but the question remains: what is to be done? For this, we look always to the Tao. All things have their place. All things are needful. But all things must be in balance. Technology allows me to convey this message to you now. The intellect allows me to formulate these words. Mercury is my ability to communicate. This is all well and good. The thoughts and ideas of men are wondrous beyond measure. Without them we could not be. The Air Element is wonderful and good. But the Air must have its limits. It must have its boundaries within which to operate. This is Saturn, the other ruler of the Air. The swirling winds are a great and mighty force, but they can only accomplish great things when they are properly focused and directed. We must learn to discipline our thoughts, and to train our attention. We must learn what is of value and what is useless. When we allow our thoughts to waste our time and energy with utter nonsense (e.g. hours on social media, endless cheap entertainment and mental junk food, and pretty much anything related to the news these days…) we are contributing to our own self destruction and actively working against our potential. On the larger scale, man must learn that just because a thing can be done, does not necessitate that it should be done. Scientists have developed amazing and wondrous things, and the pursuit of knowledge is a most noble thing. But many of the things we have discovered and developed are not beneficial to our growth and health. Because we have found out how to genetically alter our food, does not mean we should. Because we have found out how to create nuclear weapons and engineered viruses, does not mean we should. The same goes for drugs, biotech, space travel, and so on. We must develop the discipline to wisely use our knowledge. This is the balance of Gemini and Sagittarius, the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Another way we can look at this is the Elemental perspective. The Air is a rising energy. If it rises too high we float away, so to speak. It is balanced by the Earth Element. Where the Air can become scattered, anxious, and chaotic, the Earth is stable, rooted, and focused. When we focus too much on the Air related things, we make ourselves ungrounded. We must return to the Earth, not abandon it for outer space. Return to the outdoors, to nature, to our bodies, to feeling the primal force of creation itself. Here we will regain our Wholeness. Scientific studies have even begun to show this, how the act of grounding back into the Earth has produced notable health benefits for mind and body. Take time to turn off the technology, turn down the intellect, and return to the Great Mother for a lesson in feeling the world rather than trying to analyze it. This is a major component of our Qigong practices, learning to re-attune ourselves to the cosmic flow. Here, we can be Whole and can use each of our components to their fullest, including our intellect.
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