The Dance of Shiva

By Keith Sherwood

“Crazy is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.”
Albert Einstein

From an extract of ‘Shiva Nataraja – Lord of the Dance’ by Mark Cartwright in the World History Encyclopedia, we learn that in Hindu iconography Shiva is represented most often dancing. ‘The deity is shown with a flaming halo that symbolizes the Hindu belief that time is both cyclical and without end… Shiva is performing the Tandava, the cosmic dance which both creates and destroys the universe… Shiva holds a small drum – the damaru (usually taking the shape of an hour-glass) – which provides not only rhythm, but also reminds us that it was this drum which made the first sounds of the creation. Conversely, he holds Agni the divine fire, which will destroy the universe.”

“Shiva's lower right hand makes the abhaya mudra gesture of blessing, which calms all fear, and the lower left arm sweeps across his torso with the hand pointing to his left foot in the gesture of gaja hasta, symbol of salvation and liberation. Shiva's right foot is shown stamping on the dwarf figure Apasmara Purusha, who holds a cobra and who represents illusion and ignorance, leading humanity away from truth.”

In the contemporary world, Shiva’s dance also symbolizes the repetitive actions of mind and body that trap people in the field of maya and the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. In this issue of Inner Awareness newsletter, I will look at five common patterns that keep people trapped in what is commonly known as the Dance of Shiva.

But before I do that, it’s important to note that all people who engage in Shiva’s dance have several things in common. Their life vibration, which is a synthesis of the vibrations of their body, soul, and spirit, has become trapped in either a dominant persona that interferes with their ability to be ‘real’ and to radiate consciousness, energy, and etheric material freely, or it has devolved into a distorted resonance that prevents them from experiencing their authentic identity.

In addition, the core values of dancers are overwhelmingly self-limiting rather than life-affirming. Examples of core values that are self-limiting include blaming the victim, romanticizing the culture of ego, oppressing women, giving away personal responsibility, victimizing the innocent and the vulnerable, and prizing conformity above diversity – all of which are common core values in patriarchal societies.

Even more noteworthy, people who participate in Shiva’s dance identify with the ‘I’ and individual mind rather than the Self and the authentic mind. This means that they’re faking it and consistently making bad decisions that interfere with their ability to realize their dharma (life path).

If you meet at least one of these conditions, it’s likely that you’re participating in the dance of Shiva. In this issue of Inner Awareness Newsletter, I will look into the behaviors that support the dance and keep you trapped within it.

Deflecting

From an online article, ‘How To Spot Deflection When It Happens & How To Deal With It’ by Sarah Regan, we learn that “Deflection is a defense mechanism that involves redirecting focus, blame, or criticism from oneself onto another person, in an attempt to preserve one's self-image.”

Dr. Gail Saltz, an American psychiatrist and author, goes further. She adds that “the deflector may have low self-esteem or anxiety, or the particular subject is very triggering for them. Maybe they're the kind of person who needs everything to be rosy all the time, and they don't want to see that there's a crack in the relationship.”

When someone changes the subject to avoid intimacy or real contact, they’re deflecting. When they redirect an exchange to avoid criticism, they’re deflecting. By avoiding accountability, the dancer shifts their center of awareness from their authentic mind to a distorted persona, which prevents them from being themselves, knowing themselves, or experiencing intimacy.

However, not everyone deflects for the same reason. Many people deflect to prevent the intrusion of distorted consciousness, energy, and/or etheric matter into their subtle field. Other people deflect because they have a sensitive spot in their subtle field that they’re defending. It might be a trauma scar from a past life trauma, a blind spot, or a self-limiting relationship with a past life lover. In the most extreme cases, dancers will deflect because they fear reprisals from non-physical beings.

Unfortunately, deflection is a trap. By offering the dancer temporary relief, it traps them in self-limiting personas, created and sustained by non-physical beings, an engorged ego, or a distorted sense of personal identity.

Projecting

Deflection and projection often go hand in hand. In orthodox psychology, projection is exemplified by dumping something about yourself that you don't like, whether it’s an emotion, unbecoming behavior, or character flaw, on someone else. Many therapists believe that people project to preserve their self-image. But it’s more common for people to project to protect their relationship to a dominant persona, non-physical being, ancient alien, or past life lover.

All human beings, including dancers, are interdimensional beings. This means they can project subtle energy at other people. Subtle energy can be projected in three ways by reaching out to another person with one’s functions of mind. Functions of mind, known in yoga as koshas, indyrias, and pranas, are extensions of vehicles in the subtle field that can interact with other creatures. Although the projection of these functions is a normal process, once they’ve been polluted by distorted fields of energy, they can disrupt the subtle field of a person targeted.

People who don’t identify with their authentic Self can project fields of consciousness, energy, and etheric matter from their karmic baggage, ego, and ‘I’. In the most extreme cases, an individual can project distorted fields from non-physical beings whose qualities they’ve integrated into their subtle field.

If you’ve become the target of a distorted projection and then become attached to it, the projection will become part of the karmic baggage you carry with you from one lifetime to another. As more projections are integrated into your subtle field, the ‘I’ and individual mind will grow stronger. Given enough time, they will usurp the position of the Self and your authentic mind.

Making Inappropriate Decisions

You make decisions every day from the moment you get up in the morning till you fall asleep at night. Most of these decisions have little or no impact on the course of your life. However, some decisions have life-changing consequences, such as who you will marry, what career you will pursue, whether you will have children, and how you will set your moral compass. Even seemingly small decisions can be life changing.

Their impact indicates that your life is a synthesis of decisions – both good and bad. The decisions you’ve already made influence your ability to make appropriate decisions in the future. This means your earlier decisions have an inertia that continues to influence you. The inertia is fueled by factors rarely observed, but which can determine whether you participate in Shiva’s dance or not. They include the condition of your subtle field, your character, the quality and quantity of karmic baggage you carry in your subtle field, and your relationship to non-physical beings.

Appropriate decisions are good decisions because they’re life-affirming and support your dharma. The universe supports you when you make good decisions by removing obstacles and smoothing your way forward. Bad decisions are inappropriate because they’re self-limiting and trap you in Shiva’s dance.

If you choose to dance rather than to make decisions that are appropriate, your decisions will have a negative impact on your life and the lives of the people your decisions influence. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, “Better to do your duty badly than someone else’s duty well.”

Shifting Responsibility

The development of autonomy, which is the last phase of the individuation process, takes place at puberty. In modern technological societies, a young person’s process can be disrupted by a mother or father whose psychological development remains incomplete and who are not fully autonomous themselves. An overly protective parent, who has not achieved full autonomy and who dances with Shiva, can smother their children with projections of distorted consciousness, energy, and etheric matter. These projections can disrupt their children’s access to the Self, making it difficult for them to take responsibility for their lives and to successfully fulfill their dharma.

Adult children who aren’t fully autonomous and who participate in Shiva’s dance will often give away personal responsibility to another person, institution, belief system, or non-physical being. They may even become true believers because they mistrust their intuition, discernment, and/or perceptions.

Once they’re trapped in Shiva’s dance, true believers and their ilk will try to create a stable environment for themselves by controlling what other people do and how they express themselves.

Attachment to Self-limiting Core Values

To jump off the merry-go-round and fulfill your dharma, you must give up patriarchal core values. Although they are self-limiting, most children are programmed to accept them.

The core values of patriarchal cultures are embraced by most contemporary societies and religious institutions. They include male domination, the establishment of hierarchies, the celebration of the ego, the victimization of the innocent and vulnerable, and the culpability of the oppressed. The more male dominant the culture, the more challenging it will be for someone to embrace life-affirming values such as compassion, empathy, and generosity, all of which support dharma and are essential if a person wants to avoid tripping the light fantastic with Shiva.

Self-limiting core values are supported by distorted energy and non-physical beings that are antagonistic to human beings.

Although most people think that social conditioning is necessary – the projection of distorted fields of consciousness, energy, and etheric matter that support self-limiting core values are not. In fact, the projection of distorted fields by people in authority has been the principal reason why so many people continue to adhere to Self-limiting core values that trap them in the dance of Shiva.

As an individual, you can support the process of human evolution by jumping off the merry-go-round and by embracing life-affirming core values such a patience, generosity, perseverance, empathy, and non-harming.

The End