EXPANSION, CONTRACTION, REST!

Had an interesting discussion recently about what Wilhelm Reich called the "three cosmic pulsatory movements": expansion, contraction, rest.

All three movements are present in everyone, and basically in everything that is alive, and ideally, the movements blend harmoniously with each other. Expansion, contraction, rest. Exhale, inhale, pause. The wave rolls in, pauses, then goes out. Look around and you will find the movement everywhere, although each human being is predominantly motivated by one of these pulsatory movements, creating different personality types.

And each pulsation also has a positive and negative expression.

Expansion in its harmonious form is expressed as creativity, growth, a building force, forward movement, outgoingness, generosity, searching for union with that which appears outside of the self, with the "Other" (the other you!). In its negative expression, expansion manifests as aggression, hostility, destructiveness, cruelty, impatience, often leading to quarreling, ultimately in some cases, war.

Contraction in its positive form is assimilation, balance, introspection, inward movement, caution, patience, thoughtfulness, a self-searching, reflective, integrating force. In the negative, contraction manifests as a regressive, backward movement, resistance to progress, selfishness, egocentricity, avarice, separateness.

Rest in its positive aspect is healthy passivity, preservation, gestation, a state of beingness, timelessness, a gathering of momentum before a new growth cycle. Rest is necessary for fruition to take place. In the negative, rest will appear as stagnation, lifelessness, inertia, helplessness.

Again, each of these three pulsatory movements are an equally necessary force in a balanced life. If you cling to one or judge another, you will find yourself out of alignment. If you insisted that only expansion was "good," for example, and judged contraction to be "bad," trying, therefore, to just keep expanding, it would become destructive and you would become ungrounded. People with "type A personalities," and very strong wills who force themselves to stay in expansion mode are in fact, blocking nature, which is why Type A types often end up getting heart attacks as reminders that they're out of alignment.

It's a beautiful day today, folks. Breathe!