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“Prison is a Prism”

John Peter Steenland, a Texan friend, came up with this remarkable statement “Prison is a Prism” last week. It was such an unusual association; my mind did a double take. What on earth would lead John to that insight? Let’s start off with prisons. What do we associate with prisons? Being locked up, trapped, with no way out. We can be locked up in an institution, in relationships, entrapped at work, or in belief systems (the prison of our minds).

As a child, we visited relatives in Europe in summer, the time of fairs.  Do you remember the first time you saw your reflection in a fun house mirror? I jumped out of my skin – as the reflection was completely distorted from what I was used to in the bathroom mirror.  The subconscious mind is honed to pick up discrepancies…as a teenager, I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror… fretting about what I saw.  My reflection did not match what was depicted by models in women’s magazines or lead actresses on TV.  Accordingly, I concluded that I was ugly.

I only gained freedom from this fixed image of myself through good friends, giving me positive, genuine affirmations, on different occasions.  It was only through their eyes and feedback that I was able  to see myself in a more positive light, and move from considering myself ugly – to potentially attractive. As that happened, my self esteem grew.  I became more cheerful and outgoing. (Thank you Jackie for thinking I was a superstar when I shared my waterbottle with you on a tough school orienteering adventure; Darcy and Lawrence for encouraging me to wear  skirts and show my legs, which I thought were ugly after someone commented that I had the calves of a footballer).

So in the Hall of Mirrors, we see ourselves as fat, short and ugly.  We do a double take because it doesn’t match what we think about ourselves.  Then we run to the next mirror and find our reflection is really tall and skinny. We laugh with relief, as we realize there’s a pattern here – the mirrors are not showing us the real us – just a distorted version of us.  The Buddhists refer to this as Maya, the illusion.

How often does that happen in real life?  Much of our self esteem is built on what people have reflected back to us, which again isan  opinion, based on experiences or observed/inferred norms.   Sometimes we lap up the feedback we get from our peers. Sometimes we feel like fraudsters, as we are only pretending to fit in, while our inside is much darker or different than that which we let be reflected out.  If you think back to high school we were all hyper-aware of what was in,and  what was not in. How to dress vs. not to dress or do your hair.  We teamed up with people who seemed to be like us, and then felt incredibly estranged and upset when they engaged in different behaviours, or made different choices that we could not relate to.  This interdependence for affirmation and validation is what becomes the prison of our adopted tribe – Prison is a Prism. We have to remember, that reflections can be distorted.

Yet – lets revisit the thrill of Easter egg hunts. Initially, it is the delight of finding shiny, colorful Easter eggs in a commonplace back garden or park. Our child-self holds up the surprise find to our brothers, sisters, friends, or parents.  Then we discover that the eggs are ours to keep.  Double joy. Then we learn that we can eat these pretty eggs too, once the wrapping is off.  Triple joy.  We open them up and notice that once the wrapping is discarded, the eggs all look the same inside, quite plain, and not really as nice as the wrapping. However, wrapping doesn’t taste as good as chocolate, at all, especially if you have fillings in your teeth.

Prison is a Prism

Prison is a Prism – Look – we are like chocolate Easter eggs.  We have different external appearances and projections (our wrappings).  Some of us are loud and bold, some systematic and symmetric, with stripey, or dotted patterns, and some of us are dented.   As per my Saturday Qigongers, some of us have chili inside, some of us are more flamboyant – some of us are discreet  – and some of us are naked occasionally when we bare it all, but mostly a cover is a cover, and that is what we show the outside world.  When we finally do take off the wrapping, in the privacy of close relationships and trust, all of us are sweet.  We melt in the warmth of each other’s radiant company or freeze in the judgment or condemnation of another. The prison is a prism. Underneath it all, once we dispense with the coverings, we share an exquisite essence of the soul, divine light, and intelligence.

Prison is a PrismLight, when reflected through a prism, creates rainbow colors.  Just as Rembrandt became famous for his ability to paint the light on his subjects, photographers prize ‘Light Transmission’.

“For light to be transmitted, it has to pass through an object, rather than being bounced off the object.”

So my dear chocolate eggs, the concept of the prism is relevant in these times of extreme conflict and polarization.  Do not get sidetracked by distortions.  See beyond the coverings of your co-workers, neighbors and family members.  For your own self,  choose to be like a prism, and simply allow divine light and intelligence to pass through your physical being and out into the world.

socratic triangle

Prove the following statement. Let ABC be any right triangle, the right angle at point C. The altitude drawn from C to the hypotenuse splits the triangle into two right triangles that are similar to each other and to the original triangle

How do we do this?  We know there is always a middle ground that we can hold onto.  Mathematically it is through the middle of a triangle/ prism that we find our way into equilibrium.  We have a physical body and a light body – in fact, we have many different extensions of us – and one of them is a rainbow body. If we can hold our centers and anchor to earth (D),  not be torn here or there by the distorted reflections from society – or the mirror  (A and B), and stay connected to our own source of light coming in through our higher chakras (C) then, the Inner Light can build, fill our triangle/ prism (the physical body) suffuse our hearts and be transmitted through our beingness and, beyond.

Doing this allows us to transcend the prison.   

The middle path of the Prison is a Prism is often referred to as the Golden Mean, and it is no coincidence that the golden light is treasured and used in meditations, for this very reason.

Other developments – launching a weekly talk show on FB Live – Dreaming The New Dream

I’ve been very lucky through the great lockdown to discover Zoom and have the time and space and means to connect with and make new friends and contacts internationally.  We pooled resources with healer friends and colleagues to launch Healers Corner . Please check it out – every one of the members, past, and present  (Greg Williams of Qi Arts, Sarah Hieronymous of Plant Spirits Australia, Maria DeVivo of Healing Butterfly,  Vicki Haspels, Caro Ingram of Ingram Park Equestrian, Trish Cameron of Ausspirit Essences , Deb Flanagan of Symbols of the Soul, Adam Gomken of Healing Tao Australia ) excels in their modality of healing.

In May Jeffrey Shaw founder of Radiofm88.com.au and I started a talk show to showcase brave souls no longer participating in the monopoly game of society, i.e. captive to the expectations of the norms of what society dictates that we should be achieving.  The show is called ‘Dreaming the New Dream” where we highlight those following the calling of soul and heart to unfold true potential in themselves and others.  So far we have had the following guests:

You can catch up on recordings of our shows on Youtube: here or on Facebook: here

Upcoming guests that we are excited about are:

  • Carolynn Milne, angel intuitive and rainbow healer (Thursday 18 June 7:05pm)
  • Atira Tan, trauma specialist, yoga teacher, and activist (Thursday 25 June, 7:05pm)
  • Gerard Bini, intuitive EMF consultant and founder of Orgoneeffects talks 5G (Thursday 2 July, 7:05pm)

Catch our upcoming shows on FB live here, or drop me an email for links. If you want to nominate someone you know or yourself to share your story, we would love to hear from you too. In the meantime – may the Tao flow through the prism of your being unfettered and bless this world with rainbow light.