*a nod and a wink to my lord, Upir..;)
The expansion of consciousness is certainly an individual experience that must be recognized by one's innate perceptions internally, as that mustard seed of our souls culminates, and externally in reference to how we relate to others on a multidimensional levels of spirituality, dreaming, and interaction. How can I expound upon Upir's excellent summary of vampirism as a whole? I shall try...:)
In discovering expanded awareness of oneself and ascending into other realms of knowing that we are potentiated for far greater experiences as a whole, it is limiting to concieve vampirism as being asexual and demonic in nature as "feeding" from another is considered damaging in some sense, whether we speak of sanguinarian ideals or those of a pranic or sexual aspect. It stands to reasonable minds that in taking a part of grace from another is inherent to have a negative result on the individual being "victimized" by the vampire.
However, if true potentials are discovered and developed within individuals whose perceptions are expanded on all levels of sensuality and are found meet in another also fully potentiated, then "feeding" is not an experience of taking from another and not giving back...it is an equal exchange of energy that feeds the other and thus creates an avenue of "growth" between two equally-yoked partners.
In Awakening and Transformation, what yet are we speaking of if not expanded awareness or consciousness that defies our limiting definitions of what we deem as "normal?" I've written of sensory perceptions already in other threads, but understanding these differences inherently composed and realized within individuals is perhaps a step closer to the whole of our humanity in realizing our truer potentials in affecting the world around us.
Is conscious awareness limited to those who are considered "normal" physically or mentally?...I being epileptic, have a certain perception and expanded awareness of my own consicousness and thus evolved in my own spirituality and precognitive abilities regardless of the fact that my brain, physically, is not a "normal" one...and what is normal?
Here again is another wonderful article I found expressing that note from The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion...but then again, cross-references can be googled at any time on the subject matter if one has a righteous mind to do so.
"What is Normal?"
"Autism, as currently understood, is not a single condition: it's a group of disorders with behavioral, language, and cognitive symptoms that bear some relation to each other. Asperger's disorder, as a mild form of the condition, is thus one of several autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). What people with these conditions have in common are many of the following (to varying degrees).
*challenges with language and imagination, such as being extremely literal.
*difficulty recognizing nonverbal communication (tone of voice, facial expressions, and so on)
*motor skill problems, such as clumsy or uncoordinated movements.
*repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior
*impaired ability to empathize and carry on social interactions.
*abnormal sensitivity to sensory stimuli, such as light, sound, smell, texture, and taste.
No doubt you noticed the last bullet point especially (Additionally, it should also be noted that, for reasons that are as yet unclear, men are four times as likely as women to have an ASD.)
Certain people you know are likely to qualify. Engineering, physics, mathematics, music, art, computing--speculation is that these and other professions are home to at least some, possibly many, people with Asperger's disorder or another ASD. Historically, figures such as Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Vincent van Gogh might well have been somewhere on the autism spectrum. In our own time, the late chess champion, Bobby Fischer probably had a severe form of the condition; anohter Apserger's candidate might be Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Having an ASD seemingly presents no barrier to success.
Estimates are that ASDs affect from one to three people in five hundred, with the incidence being far greater for children the younger they are. As many as one out of every 150 children born today may fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. That's double the rate of ten years ago, and the diagnosis is increasing 10 to 17 percent each year. Such an increase prompts many observers to declare it an "epidemic." What's unclear is whether the prevalence of ASDs is truly increasing or whether the difference can be explained by a wider awareness of these conditions, more and better studies, and a greater number of parties with a vested interest in diagnosis and treatment. Roy Richard Grinker, a George Washington University professor and parent of an autistic child, views the rise in diagnositic rates as "a sign that we are finally seeing and appreciating a kind of human difference that we once turned away from and that many cultures still hide away in homes or institutions or denigrate as bizarre." Morton Ann Gernsbacher of the University of Wisconsin says amen: "Abnormal is defined only in relation to normal, and the definition of normal, like beauty, often lies in the eyes of the beholder."
"This is a critical realization. Human differences, including those that incline some people to high sensitivity, fantasy-proneness, or dissociation, are a source of knowledge about who we are biologically and how we've evolved as a species. Denigrating or dismissing people who are in any way autistic is as shortsighted as neglecting or deriding individuals who claim clairvoyant, precognitive, or otherwise anomalous perceptions. The thick-to-thin boundary continuum could be as useful a concept as the autism spectrum is describing personality types and the neurobiology on which they stand. What is needed is to put aside our preconceptions and to look and listen with an open mind."
What then can we learn from this article and the contributions of those with experience of expanded awareness? Is it inherent that our evolution as a species relies solely upon the individual realizing their own potential?...pehaps..and yet perhaps that realization is also dependent upon the interaction and connectedness between likened inidividuals with spacial differences in their sensory perceptions of those things outside the "norm."
In awakening to other conscious realities, are we not changed inherently by the transformative quality of being integrated in our lives by those individuals whose cognitive perceptions are a presentation of altered conciousness as a whole, a part and parcel of their existence? Being epileptic, I do not percieve the world as others, just as a child or adult with Asperger's or other forms of disease affecting or altering consciousness does not mold notions to preconceptions or limits their view of the inner and outer world around them by what society deems as "normal."
In pursuit of awakening to higher or altered states of consiousness, it is possible for individuals who seek to develop their fullest potentials can do so, but only in releasing preconceived notions of what actually "is" perception of deemed reality...and only then can one assimilate a transformative quality that permeates the body, the mind, and the spirit. It is within that journey that we search for equality and wholeness, not just individually, but in a mutual sharing with others who obtain likewise, the cultivation of that mustard seed buried deep within.
