About Art Nicol

By exploring a variety of careers and social roles as a child, spouse, parent, grandparent, citizen, community volunteer, attorney, employee, manager, social climber, social outcast, conformist, nonconformist, etc., I've arrived at a place in life where living wisely in the field Rumi describes as "out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing" most appeals to me. For me, it is the field of our dreams where we set aside the ego's harsh criticism and implied separation of one another into categories of “winners” and “losers” by a variety of dehumanizing criteria – and its other efforts to find reasons to separate us into isolated beings – and instead embrace unconditional love as the natural environment in which humans thrive. Love is the context of humanity’s sustainability and fosters our capacity to evolve to yet higher levels of consciousness and wisdom. I seek now to join with others to build this field of our dreams for all of us to enjoy as we play ball together and rebuild humanity as a single, harmoniously functioning entity within the natural world of which we are an essential element. I believe that wisdom does teach us to discern the meaning of human differences but not to use those differences to judge others as superior or inferior in some way that means I cannot relate to others or they cannot relate to me. Although I am a follower of Jesus and do my best to implement his principles of love, including all that forgiveness and reconciliation call forth from within me, I also believe that there are many paths of faith by which people grow in awareness of their relationship with a Supreme Being who is devoted to the welfare of all of us. We all are welcome in the divine heart. Enlightenment is not an exotic experience reserved for the few. Our divine destiny is to become increasingly aware of the divine truths that set us all free to enjoy life together and no longer divide ourselves into warring camps simply because we may not always agree. I believe in unity amid diversity and live as best I can as a timeless spirit in the midst of the paradoxes and tensions of human life that may try to pull us apart - both internally from our own integrity and externally from one another. I believe that all forms of violence that humanity inflicts upon ourselves arise from dishonesty about what matters most deeply within our hearts. In learning to deny the full, caring expression of our emotions and trying to live with diminished hearts, we drive ourselves to adopt false identities (called by some "egos") and to develop addictions and other mentally and emotionally unhealthy orientations to life as our means of surviving while coping with the emotions we've buried in our hearts and minds when we were not free to express them earlier in our lives. I believe that we need most to connect again within our hearts as naturally sensitive yet also courageous beings, identify the pains beyond which we need to move by experiencing the process of legitimate grieving and learn again that we are delightfully playful and loving beings here on earth to share life as innocent children of the Creator of Life, free of guilt and blame as well as pride and shame. We need to learn again the difference between peace and emotional numbness, hope and blinding ambition and joy and self-centered pride. The latter alternative within each pairing are ego-based experiences of the mind that is separated from the heart, where genuine peace, hope and joy abide. All unshared emotions, even unshared joy, are painful because we are created to share life heart to heart, not keep ourselves isolated from one another as if we are independent islands without natural connections. I subscribe to a declaration of interdependence beyond independence. I honor our capacity to grow developmentally independent as mature people (even at an early age) and yet also encourage us to move forward into interdependence, beyond artificial and futile efforts at the pretense of self-reliance. In healthy interdependence, we celebrate our naturally unique individuality while also appreciating and encouraging each other to share divine love that welcomes and nurtures each and all of us to become all we are capable of being. I've shared more about my ideas about personal wholeness, authenticity and love at www.freedomwise.com. I welcome your feedback.