THERE IS AN ANCIENT STORY THAT COMES FROM THE FAR EAST: A Spiritual Master stood to address a group who had come seeking enlightenment, and had only this to say: “Ha! Ha! Ha! What’s all this? Go to the back of the hall and drink some tea.” He then departed.

As a seeker in search of himself, I have always been fascinated and guided by this story and its implications. I know myself to be an emotional person and when I get challenged by issues in life; often I cannot see the lessons of life that are available to me because I get caught up so much in the emotion rather than the reality.

In this article, we are relating to the Emotional Center in the Design System, and we will refer also to the story above. Toward the end of the article, we shall be examining the Designs of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon from the perspective of their Emotional nature.

The Emotional Being
Humans are unusual creatures in that they have passions. Plants, birds and animals might appear to have access to an emotional nature from time to time, but if they do, it is never a lasting condition for them. Animals are fascinated, excited and awed by our emotions, but they cannot stay with us comfortably through our emotional cycles. It is a human thing. Our emotions, our feelings and our passions are our bridge to our Spirit.

In being born as a human, we are born as a Spirit into the world of form. As we live in the third dimension, we are easily distracted to cope with our new environment and physical vehicle and we slowly lose touch with our Spirit. When we are challenged in life and find our passion, we again have access to our Spirit, but we do not always have a comfortable time with this. Passion can take us into and out of relationships, spiritual quests, fights, dramas, binges, ecstasies, depressions and all manner of experiences. You might ask if you cannot raise any passion for life, then what is the point? Why bother. On the other hand, since passions can disrupt a “sensible flow” in our life, why bother being passionate? Why don’t we all calm down, have another Prozac and/or Valium and chill out? Is not life so much easier without passion? Perhaps it is easier, but how dull it all becomes!

What is needed within all of life is balance: a balance in recognizing our passion but also recognizing how to accept it and ride with it. An emotional person is not limited to one end of an experience. For every up, there is a down. Ecstasy is followed sooner or later by depression. Success is followed by failure. Expectation is followed by disappointment. These are the facts of life. Seeking to remain constantly “high” in a world that demands “lows” gets us into trouble. Seeking to remain “low” or “out-of-it” in a world that requires our Presence, does not give us a solution either.

The Story
Many of us presuppose that there are those in life who know better than we do. We are constantly persuaded that either the Pope, Iman, Priest or the Rabbi are better off spiritually than we are because they have (hopefully) said their prayers and studied their respective texts, and therefore we should do everything they do or say. We are informed that Presidents, Vice-presidents, politicians and their ilk are the ones to be entrusted with deciding what is “best” for us, because they are, after all, in the “business” of politics and obviously have the interests of their electorate uppermost in their hearts. It is almost universally accepted that if you get sick, first you have to arrange to visit a doctor and then a pharmacy to recover your health. We sometimes forget completely that we are as human as anyone else, and therefore potentially, as well-informed and capable as anyone else.

In the story at the beginning of this article, a Master is called upon to give a talk about the nature of life and “enlightenment.” In the Eastern view of life, Enlightenment is often seen as the ultimate experience one can attain as a Human Being. A group of Seekers is sitting expectantly to hear from a great authority, most likely someone who has attained “enlightenment” himself, in just the same way that people often expect a President or Priest to say something intelligent. You can imagine the Seekers all squeezed around the base of the stage in the attempt to be the keenest inquirer and therefore the most deserving to be close to the Master. In the story, it would seem they are braced for an extensive treatise on every aspect of everything needed to fulfill and “complete” the Spiritual Path.

And then the Master starts laughing! My guess is that he probably roars with laughter, wiping tears out of his eyes in appreciation of the joke that perhaps only he can relate to.

“What’s all this?” He asks. He is saying that the signs of enlightenment are available to all and hidden from none. He asks the obvious: ‘This is the shifting dimension in which we live; all things appear to be constantly changing. Be available for, and watch, everything that appears to happen to you. What do you, as an individual, make of it? Because that is what is important.’

“Go to the back of the hall and drink some tea!” He says, suggesting that if you get too close to something you cannot see it properly: ‘Be more objective about life.’ And that a cup of tea might give you a pause and the infusion to enlighten you to your own reality.

And without further ado, he got down and departed. There was no more fuss or information needed.

The Emotional, Solar Plexus Center
Emotions are always in flux, either rising to a peak or falling to a trough. Anyone who has a defined Emotional, Solar Plexus Center in their chart is in a state of flux, whether they appear to be still or not. If they are holding expectations for someone or something in their life, they are going to experience disappointments. Expectations, in the emotional sense, are doomed. Nothing ever turns out the way one expects. And yet there can be so much emotional charge around everything that does not perform as expected!

Having a defined Emotional Center in one’s Design implies that one is always going to have shifting perspectives. If one is “up” in one’s emotional wave and perspective at a certain moment and experiences a particular feeling, there will come a time when one goes “down” and perceives a completely different feeling about the same thing.

Making clear emotional decisions about anyone and anything is tempered entirely by one’s perspective over a time during which one watches one’s emotional “ups” and “downs” dispassionately. Sometimes one feels good about everything and everyone, and other times the opposite. Until one arrives at a place of internal emotional clarity about an issue, which can also be called “Choiceless awareness,” one is going to feel anxiety that perhaps opportunities are slipping past if one does not act. It is an exercise of enormous patience and watchfulness. When one finds one’s clarity, then one can unleash one’s passion with the knowledge that its expression will be true to one’s purpose.

For those who have undefined Emotional Centers, there exists a situation throughout their life of their emotions being triggered by those with emotionally defined centers.

Such a “triggering” can make them very sensitive to the emotional natures and outbursts of others. They can easily succumb to anxieties and feelings of guilt generated by others, and if they do not comprehend this process, they can become overwhelmed by others' emotions. The can even tend to remove themselves from emotionally charged environments, with feelings that the difficulties experienced due to those emotions are their own, rather than a reflection of their company. In the end, people with undefined Emotional Centers must be very aware of the emotional waves generated by others. In this way they can enjoy all the pleasures of life but avoid all the catastrophes brought on by the emotional natures of others.

The Designs of Ben Afflek and Matt Damon
Ben Affleck was born in Berkeley, California, on August 15, 1972. He is born into an Incarnation of Rebellion.

In this lifetime, Ben will be a modern day Robin Hood who literally “takes from the rich to give to the poor.” Whether it is obvious to others or not, he champions those who cannot speak out for themselves or thrive by their own efforts. He finds difficulty in dealing with situations of flagrant injustice, endeavoring to find solutions that benefit everyone. When he seeks to make a big change, he must be very careful that he is feeling grounded in proposing an outcome that has practicality. Like the Robin Hood of old who lived in the lush Sherwood Forest, Ben will always feel most comfortable when surrounded by greenery, plants and trees.

In his Design chart, he has an undefined Emotional Center, implying that he is very susceptible to taking on the emotional “waves” generated by other people. This can make him uneasy in intimate situations where he recognizes an urge to be intimate, but does not really want any fuss. An undefined Emotional Center allows for the possibility to experience every emotion that humans feel, without necessarily being able to ‘control’ the experiences. For Ben, with his undefined Emotional Center, he can be both lifted up and depressed in other people’s emotional fields, even to the point of taking on other people’s anxieties unnecessarily. If he gets stuck in an expectation of which emotions are pleasurable and which are not, he limits his entire perspective of pleasure, delight, food, sex and all things relating to the Emotional Center.

In the rest of his Design, Ben is very hard to impress, with his open Ego Center, and has the potential to be very laid back and open minded, due to his undefined Root, Ajna and Crown Centers.

In the defined areas of his chart, Ben is a ‘Manifesting Generator,’ who can bring amazing talent, power and clarity to his endeavors. He has great intuition that allows him to trust his own sense of what sounds good to him. He also has unplumbed depths of talent and abilities that are waiting to be recognized by others.

His challenge in this life is to remain ‘present’ in a world that will often seek to drag him either into the past or the future. Very few people truly recognize Ben for who he is, and it can be sometimes easy for him to be distracted from the journey that he knows to be his own.

Matt Damon was born in Boston on October 8, 1970. He is born into an incarnation to bring change to the world.

If nothing appears to be happening, he will literally catalyze situations to undergo change. He has an inbuilt drive to accomplish, which can fuel him to lead, teach and drive others into action. Although this may not be appreciated by everyone around him, Matt has always been walking a fine line between success and personal disaster in this lifetime. At the age of 29, with his Saturn return, Matt probably appreciated that he was going to ‘make it’ in this life, provided he constantly remained in touch with his emotional nature.

In his Design chart, Matt has a defined Emotional Center, implying that he is constantly generating emotional waves that affect himself and everyone around him. When he is in a good mood, he will find that everyone is in a good mood. When he is feeling grumpy, then he will find that kind of energy being reflected back to him from others.

He has a degree of intimacy that is disarming in that he feels compelled to interact with others but also feels shy in terms of prolonged contact, very often finding himself having to settle all emotional disputes. As he grows older, he will feel more and more at home with his emotional nature, and this time in his life right now, gives an opportunity for him to recognize who his true friends and allies are going to be.

He has the Design of a ‘Generator’ who interacts with life through a series of responses that originate energetically from his Sacral Center. The Sacral Center is the center colored red in his chart. When he listens to his sacral response, he can recognize for himself where it is that his life wants to take him (rather than trying to work out which direction seems best - there is an enormous difference). When he listens to his sacral response, it is helping him to clarify his feelings about the issues that confront him in his life. When he relates closely to his feelings, he aligns himself in his intrinsic connection with his Spirit.

Matt also has a defined Ajna to Throat connection in the channel of Individuality. Those who know him will appreciate the profound effect that Matt has on their lives through the things he says. He will, however, know little satisfaction himself in this area of his life, because even though he knows himself to be brilliant in his mind, he can never quite relate the things that he finds so compelling for himself. With an undefined Spleen, he often questions his own motives and abilities, and his undefined Heart Center can cause him to seek a control over his life that will often elude him.

The defined Emotional Center in Matt’s chart indicates a lifetime of recognizing, honoring and following his feelings. If he disregards his emotional nature for any reason, Matt will miss out on the truly enriching experiences of his life, and feel an anxiety that his life is passing him by.

In conclusion
The story of how a Master relates to those wanting him to inform them how to claim their enlightenment encourages us all to find our own truth. Life is our own journey in which we meet many unique experiences. How we relate to each experience, moment by moment, defines the quality of our life. If we get stuck or anxious in expectations of how things are “supposed to be,” we limit our access to our spirit and the magical qualities that can be perceived in being a spirit in human form.

“What’s all this?” See, feel, celebrate, touch, imbibe, experience, own it all........ And if you ever feel that your life is getting overloaded, cluttered and stuck, remember the wise words of the Master: “Go to the back of the hall and drink some tea!” Regain some perspective.

Enlightenment is our birthright; the Emotions are the doorway to Spirit and also the moving pathway to our Presence here in life.

Next month: Chetan starts a brand new series called Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous in which he will be providing us with new insights into two prominent figures every month. And who better to kick off with than G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Don't miss "the real story" on this intriquing duo.

© Chetan Parkyn, 2002