<p>Casting Pearls Before Swine</p><p>By Tony Brussat</p><p></p><p>To your body, the Self is just another idea taking up space in the mind. To be sure, the Self is one of the most qualiadelic of ideas, but it is just one of many. The Self has, perhaps, the closest relationship with the body of all other ideas, which may explain why the body can resent it: it can seduce the body into unhealthy indulgent behavior or command it into overly strict regimens. But the body has done quite well for itself, for millennium after millennium, without the direction of this qualiadelic pretender.</p><p></p><p>Alas, we live in a society that prides itself on being "true to our self" and on being consistent in our thoughts and actions - what a recipe for failure! Between the self and all the other qualiadelia taking up residence in the mind, the brain is home to lots of messages.</p><p></p><p>The only sure way to be at "one" is by quieting all those entities living in the mind, all those ideas and other evolved qualia, and to start listening to the body. If we could all do that, and at the same time, here and now, we could stop global warming and war, and all the other planetary afflictions that our unique human nature hath sown.</p><p></p><p>But that is not likely to happen, so we must deal with the world we have created. To change things we must be at many purposes, not one; we must accept that ambivalence, the state of being of two minds about something, is the natural state for successful ritualing. And as conscious ritualers, we can finally get something done.</p><p></p><p>Ritualing creates a space to play with ideas, to symbolize without inhibition. It is a framework for expression. It is a moment for pretension, for taking the lead and putting a piece of qualiadelia out there, to inspire, to shame, to teach, and to re-work what we have worked.</p><p></p><p>A truly adept and courageous ritualer was Sir Walter Raliegh, who went walking through court in a gown covered with loosely sewn pearls, which tended to fall off. The symbolism, of course, is "casting pearls before swine," and it certainly shamed the obsequious courtiers.</p><p></p><p>A symbol, or a symbolic gesture, is a statement. Other people may or may not like it, and that is why most people are hesitant to do it. Just like teetotalers who try to stop everyone else from drinking, people who are unable to express themselves censor anyone who can. As Emerson said, though, "inconsistency is the hobgoblin of small minds;" the rest of us shall revel in our ambivalence!</p><p></p><p>Ritualing teaches us to judge the qualiadelic content of the idea, not the person who puts it out there. It encourages us to express ourselves.</p><p></p><p>There is a name for this type of expression - these playful attempts to express what we may not yet be sure of - and it is called "dissimulation." Unfortunately, dissimulation has a bad reputation. But it has its champions, such as the great philosopher scientist Sir Francis Bacon. As Bacon explained it, the spectrum of human communication ranges between secrecy and lying. Some people hold themselves in reserve tending to appear secretive, while others avoid revealing their true self by out and out fabrication (lying). Neither extreme, however, is conducive to good community. Dissimulation, according to Bacon, falls, naturally, in-between.</p><p></p><p>The great French essayist Michel de Montaigne (who was in the majority on this debate) equated dissimulation with lying, and hated it; but he was more honest when, a few paragraphs later he wrote of the difficulty in choosing what to believe in so many situations: "I, for the most part, throw the feather into the wind, as the saying is, and commit myself to the mercy of fortune. "</p><p></p><p>In much the same way, in situations that often have nothing to do with belief at all, we all throw the feather into the wind and hope for the best. Often, we don't really know how we are supposed to act, but we just do it, we just do something - so we act out with controlled spontaneity, hoping for the best. And this is as it has always been, whether the crisis is small or large.</p><p></p><p>Ritualing allows us the space to throw out feathers to the wind. Dissimulation shares with conscious ritualing both physicality and thoughtfulness. Just as any writer only knows what to think about a subject after playing with it on paper, so we discover our beliefs through playful ritualing. In fact, we are often so tightly bound up by our thoughts and beliefs that the physical side - our acting out - can break these mental chains and hang-ups and so set us free. Dissimulation can actually change the way we view things.</p><p></p><p>Be Qualiadelic. Be Conscious. Change the routine.</p><p></p><p>Tony Brussat has a Master's degree in Rhetoric and Communication. He is a registered nurse in the field of behavioral health. Please visit http://qualiadelic.com and learn more about being qualiadelic. Join the mailing list for more articles about the Qualiadelic Experience.</p><p></p><p>Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Brussat http://EzineArticles.com/?Casting-Pearls-Before-Swine&id=2103872</p><p></p><p></p>