​The means by which we advance spiritually is to practise ‘reflexive self-consciousness’, in other words simultaneously to see things from the other point of view as well as our own. This attitude of living translates as the Golden Rule, or simply put, ‘do as you’d be done by’, ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’, or ‘what goes around comes around’. It is the opposite of selfishness; it is consideration and respect.

​Life itself is not a single event; it is eternal duality, the dynamic interplay between two opposing principles. These can be seen in yin and yang, in electricity, or in interpersonal relationship – anything where two attitudes are polarised. Whether we see this as unloving conflict or energetic dynamism is a measure of our maturity and wisdom.

​To be selfish is to demonstrate one’s fearfulness; to be considerate is to express, share and prove one’s faith and love. Yet to allow another to be selfish is no less problematic, and must be avoided by the operation of strong, clear boundaries that enforce our own important choices and personal viewpoints sufficiently well that we earn and can claim respect. If we fail to realise this balance then we suffer the consequences – of confusion, of intrusion, and of very shaky life-foundations. Then, whatever we try to build will only ever reach a smaller and poorer level of expression than otherwise we could accomplish. 

​As Chiron passes through this Aries 7 degree, we may look for clues of imbalance – too much of this and not enough of that; too much self, not enough other, or quite possibly too much give and not enough take. Noticing exactly what is unbalanced can give us a springboard to seeing why. Why are we selfish? Or why do we allow ourselves to be treated disrespectfully? What’s underneath that distorted life attitude?

​We’ve already mastered this skill in so many areas of life – putting enough salt, but not too much, in our cooking; fast enough to get there on time in our car but not so fast it will be dangerous. If we are seriously committed to a path of spiritual evolution, then we must learn to apply this approach to all things. 

​The trick to learn in doing this has to do with developing the ability to focus attention in a special way. It is not to do with dividing the attention as such – the focus of our glance must always be single and direct if we are to achieve our purposes – it is a question of expanding our understanding and awareness of what attention is and what it can be trained to do.

Everything living has two aspects or directions – life is duality, so anything living is dual in nature. Attention is a living thing. Perhaps attention is directed towards its experiences at first and only later towards the assimilation of their meaning (as knowledge); or perhaps it wants to bring its understandings into clear focus first, and only later pursue the vision of putting them into form (as experiences). Yet the true master will be able to slide immediately, spontaneously and effortlessly between the two attitudes of attention such that no attachment – to either this or that – is present, and their behaviour is immediate, sensitive and authentic. This promotes both joy and achievement. 

​The first batch of 5 degrees having been transited and to some extent assimilated into consciousness, Chiron enters the second expression of Aries. The name given to this Expression is ‘Direction’. The thrust of desire began with self-centred action – and the five stages of this process are outlined already. Now the focus becomes making some accommodation within ourselves in order to relate to society, and thus benefit from the support and fellowship that that offers. Cultural norms impact upon us in an emotional way – we are offered both opportunity and penalty and are subject to the ups and downs of our feelings according to whether our expectations and desires are being met or disappointed. 

​Jones called this particular degree A SQUARE BRIGHTLY LIGHTED ON ONE SIDE, whose keyword is ‘SET’. This image employs traditional symbolism: a square indicates materiality, and the light is spirituality. It focuses upon the need to bring steadiness into our lives and settle the emotional ups and downs to an acceptable level. This occurs when, and only when, we adopt a spiritual code of some sort, in other words by SETTING STABLE LIFE PRINCIPLES.

​Because we have a desire to establish ourselves as a unique person, the need exists to resist the force that tends to pull us back into the undifferentiated state of pre-existence; this force of resistance is seen as our urge to be diverse in our self-expression, to be a creative individual. 

​Being different begins first at the level of family and tribe – WE are not like THEM – so we adopt the behaviours, beliefs and practices of our fellows to underline how different WE are from THEM. 

​Yet our yearning to be expressive as an individual bubbles up as the drive to achieve our own special goals and have our own special attitudes to life, which give rise to our own unique set of experiences. 

​We are, however, confronted with the need to understand that without the gift of knowledge experience is meaningless. We are all challenged to set ourselves upon an enlightened path as we struggle with physicality.

​Understanding our life is only possible when we give meaning to our experiences; a path must have meaning, or events are disconnected and lack depth of purpose. Without knowledge, experience is meaningless, yet without experience, knowledge is two-dimensional. Can we see that knowledge is the symbol of experience, and experience the symbol of knowledge? Each is the meaning of the other, and neither has meaning alone.

Chiron’s complete zodiac journey, which began as it entered Aries recently, is mapping out the individual steps through the 360 degrees. Each step can be studied by examining closely its Sabian Symbol.

Between April 11th and May 30th Chiron will transit through the 4th degree of Aries. This degree is called ‘Two lovers strolling through a secluded walk’ and the keyword Jones uses is ‘Enjoyment’ whereas Rudhyar suggests ‘Polarisation’.
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Jones’s keywords tend to be more to do with our personal experience and speak to the qualities that can be developed; Rudhyar’s have more to do with lessons for a seeker on the path to realisation.

Chiron’s teaching is basically that a perceptual shift is necessary and sufficient condition for healing. To put this differently, Chiron teaches us how better to see things. We can, for example, see that our enjoyment reaches spiritual heights when we hold on to our awareness of both aspects of any polarised position.
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This attitude is the essence of the fundamental principle of spiritual awareness, the Golden Rule, reflexive self-consciousness, ‘Do as you’d be done by’.

It differs completely from the selfish principle of pleasure. Pleasure is the hollow echo of joy. If we simply take our pleasure, for example in casual sex, in ruthless ambition, in manipulation of others, in excessive food-lust, then the momentary buzz soon fades and one day soon turns into its opposite emotion of disappointment.

Joy, however, is sustainable and wholesome. It may lack the exciting temporary buzz but it builds an grows and becomes a solid foundation of life.

The essential difference between pleasure and joy is that pleasure is for me and joy is for us. When we find that our own pleasure is optimised though another, then we are closer to joy. Think of how we are with babies or a new romance – we get so much more joy through sharing our experience. This is general truth that doesn’t always require offspring or a lover. When we care for another, joy deepens.

The more mystical, philosophical aspect of Aries 4 is that we will be able to know how to experience this level of joy only when we recognise, acknowledge and celebrate our own polarities – the masculine and feminine, the light and the shadow, certainty and doubt, love and fear – and embrace both sides with awareness.
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Having accepted and healed our inner polarities it becomes inevitable that our relationships with others are also healed. The reverse is also true that we cannot hope for a deep and peaceful, joyful connection with another until we have found such qualities within ourselves.

Chiron’s new initiative in Aries 1, met by a contrasting response in Aries 2 and an understanding, in Aries 3, of the importance of responding to community needs, now, in Aries 4, shows up our own personal inner ambiguities. We come to see that we have been wanting two things that cannot be reconciled, to be both involved and free, to have our cake and eat it or, during the Brexit fiasco, to enjoy Europe’s wealth and yet be free of responsibility to share its problems.

In the name of a higher, joyful, shared purpose, lovers resolve such ambiguities with caring compromise.