The Fifth Internal Monad

I remember the moment when I consciously, emotionally, understood that I would die:
I was 25 years old and was having supper with my extended ‘family of choice’.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I recognized a fallacy I had been living since childhood: the idea that I would reach some predetermined age at which point my body would begin to ‘youthen’. I would become younger day-by-day until I reached infancy and would then begin to age again. This process would go on infinitely.
This belief had been buried so deeply that I didn’t even know it was inside me until, suddenly, I realized at a conscious level, that it was untrue.
I think the reason why it came to me in such a blinding flash was the fact that I had reached the moment in my life when the ‘youthening’ was supposed to begin. And it didn’t. In that moment, I recognized that, assuming I lived out a normal lifespan, I would grow old and, one day, I would die.

I hark back to that evening as the moment when I became an adult.
xxx
Today I was perusing some of the Michael Teachings and came across this piece. It fits so perfectly for me, I thought I’d pass it on.
Although it discusses one of the latest stages of life, it’s still a good read, even if you’re too young to begin the transition yet. It will help you know what’s coming and how to meet it with serenity and grace.

Altogether, there are 7 monads:
1] Birth
2] The two-year-old transition when the child begins to fully grasp that it is separate from its mother
3] The moving-out-of-the-nest period when the young adult moves into the world
4] The mid-life ‘crisis’ during which the person begins to look inward to fully manifest the self
5] The senior-citizen monad when the life-review takes place and detachment from the earth plane begins
6] The recognition of death approaching when changes in the body and the soul take place
7] The dying process

At a later time, I’ll hunt for the rest of the monads and profile them here. For now, though, I’m going to go ahead and start in the middle because this one speaks deeply to me—and it’s MY blog, after all! =)

What follows is MY perception coupled with a channeling, by Karen, from Michael.
I have been aware, for some time, without having this channeling to guide me, that I had been living in the 5th monad level of awareness though I didn’t have a name for it. And, I think I may have recently begun moving into the 6th monad.
xxx
Coming, as we are, out of the Young Soul Awareness Level [when staying eternally young, healthy and active is the personality’s priority] and taking our first tentative steps into the Mature Awareness it should come as no surprise that many, many people on the planet have been rebelling against the arrival of the 5th monad. Hell, many even fight against Number 4—the mid-life-crisis—thereby making it much more of a crisis than it needs to be.

Our current society makes it difficult to gracefully accept growing old. From a young age we are bombarded by commercials that urge us to ‘get rid of the gray’, to lose weight, and take pills in order to ‘feel better’. The aches and pains of old age are to be avoided at all costs.

It used to be [and still is in some cultures—but not the US and several European countries] that our elders were listened to. Their experience on the planet was recognized and their advice was sought. With the disjoining of the family in the US during the latter half of the 20th century, older people were pushed into nursing homes. Their counsel was no longer valued. And the 5th monad became something to be feared rather than willingly received.
According to Michael, those who rebel against the 5th monad are more likely to experience such things as Alzheimer’s Disease, a lessening of bone density and other symptoms of “old age” than people who simply accept the process.

Michael also says that we, as a species, need to return to the acceptance of the aging process in order to complete our transition from the Young Soul period through the Mature consciousness and move into the Old awareness.
This is a long-term process which won’t be completed in our lifetimes. It will though, I think, behoove us individually if we can begin to acknowledge the fact that we will age and, eventually, we will die.
xxx
I know it has helped me on the individual level. During my 30’s and 40’s, the awareness of my death helped me to come to terms with the eventuality.
The hardest part to accept, for some time, was the fact that the world would keep on spinning without me—vast numbers of people would live out their lives never knowing that I had even existed.
During my early 30’s, I was given 2 home-made grave markers from the 19th century. I hung them on my wall with a beaten copper sun icon. That grouping represented the concept that the sun would continue to rise each day after I died—and little-by-little, I became comfortable with the idea. In essence, I grieved my death before I was faced with it.
Not being there, yet, I can’t say for certain that the transition will be easier as a result but I think it may be.
xxx
Anyway, galloping back to the Michael Teachings, here———
Throughout history, ceremonies have been used in many cultures to mark a number of the monads. In the Jewish community, for instance, the bris, the betrothal, marriage, sitting shiva and funerals were used.
Catholics used the christening and the first communion as well as marriage, wakes and funerals.
And so on.

But, notice—the 4th, 5th and 6th monads are noticable only by their absence. I’m speculating here but I wonder if that is one reason people find them difficult to process. It’s somewhat of a feedback loop. We don’t mark those passages with ceremony because we find them uncomfortable to contemplate. And we continue to find them uncomfortable because we, as a society, ignore them and do not mark them with ceremony.

Michael says we lose a great deal as a result of refusing to pay attention to the 5th monad.
First, the individual loses because s/he is pushed into a ‘caregiving’ facility. Their experience is ignored and, possibly because of this, some older people do begin to sound rather silly. After all, if no one is listening, they have little reason to pay attention to themselves.
And second, the culture loses because the younger generations don’t receive the wisdom their elders could impart to them.
xxx
There is more, even, than that though. I, for one, recall a time before the complete disjoining of the family was finalized. Most weekends, my family piled into the car and we took off for our grandparents’ house. Most often we visited my mom’s parents and I spent endless afternoons sitting in grandma’s lap while she read to me. Or we shucked peas together. Or she let me feed the chickens. Or I climbed the tree behind the house while she looked on in admiration. She had time for me in a way my parents, busy with their lives, didn’t. Today, when grandparents live an airplane’s journey away from their grandchildren, how many kids grow up without that kind of nurturing?
xxx
Michael says that we, collectively, are beginning to choose to move back toward paying attention to the 5th monad. We are starting to recognize what we lost during the second half of the last century and seek ways to regain it. They say we are likely to begin noticing the first changes during the next generation or so.
Though Michael didn’t say so, I wonder if the current financial crisis may make a difference. More people may lack the resources to place aging parents in nursing homes and may, instead, opt to receive them into their own homes. As a result, more children may grow up in 3-generation households and spend time with their grandparents in a way their parents never did. This could make for a gentler society in the future than the one we have now. This can only be to the good.

What Michael DID say was that this change will not come without upheaval. It reminded us of the unrest of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and said we will experience just that sort of disorder during this transition.

Already, though, I’ve begun noticing the change. I had chalked it up to the fact that our demographic is aging faster than usual as the Baby-Boomers begin to move toward retirement. If you watch TV at all, you have probably noticed more older people in the commercials. And these aren’t just commercials that advertise medications, life insurance, fiber supplements and the like. They are spokespeople for clothing and cereal and cars and furniture and electronics and and and. . . .

Michael says more is to come.
It said that the changes will occur at the molecular and DNA levels.
Michael said that, as our species developed, the rate of aging of the body changed. People aged quickly to begin with—20 years of age was old [the equivalent, today, of about 75] and death occurred at about that time. Today, we have proceded to about a 1:1 ratio—so living 50 years on the planet means, for most of us, about 50 years worth of body aging. This may seem obvious but Michael says it is not. It says that genetic changes are occurring [in fact, newborn babies now have them encoded in their systems] that will cause our bodies to age at half the rate they have recently been aging. This doesn’t mean that we will live to the ripe old age of 125 to 150, however. Rather, we will be able to retain our activity levels for a longer period of time.
Being now at the age of creaking bones, I can only welcome this news. My next lifetime [assuming my chronology is in sync with the planet’s and I’ll return about 200 years in the earth’s future] just might result in somewhat less body pain during its last years. Hooray!

Michael gave us a couple of exercises which I will quote here. You might pass them on and practice them yourself if you’ve a mind to.

Here’s the first:

Imagine a fashion magazine, replete with photographs of people wearing the latest fashions. These people all are also wearing the marks of a life well-lived. Imagine now dramatic new developments in medicine, allowing one to escape from what was seemingly inevitable in the aging process. Diseases such as arteriosclerosis, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and all coronary disease, are now non-existent. There is no geriatrics specialty in medicine any more. Imagine also sweeping reforms in funding for people of all ages. Programs are now in place to enhance the lives of all. Older adults are no longer alone and unwanted; in fact they are welcomed as a necessary part of the social strata and are honored and revered as wise elders.

And here’s the second:
Michael recommends that it be practiced daily for at least a month.

Breathe deeply and relax.

Picture a planet replete with all the flora and fauna which she once contained. Embrace them as your brothers and sisters.

Next become one with a certain species for which you feel an attachment, for example, an antelope. Become the antelope, grazing with the herd. Feel the portent of coming change, and embrace it as well. You know that your species may die out due to atmospheric changes or other factors but this is inevitable and you embrace the change.
You know that deep within, you will return to the Tao and all is well.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Picture a forest and the trees therein. Become an ant walking up a tree branch into the sunlight. Know that if you walk too long in the sun you will perish, but you crave its warmth nonetheless. Make your choice and abide by it.

Breathe in, breathe out.

You now are the Earth, turning seemingly endlessly in space, spinning, spinning, ever slower, ever closer to the cooling Sun. Breathe in, breathe out. You are a mass of hydrogen gas forming and unforming, expanding and contracting.

Breathe in, breathe out.

That is all.