first up, I'm not a big fan of the terms introversion/extroversion, but for the purposes of this thread, I'll try to use them as best I understand how they are understood popularly.
first of all, there seems to be a feeling that 'extraversion' is the more healthy state or alignment of an individual. And somehow that 'introversion' is a deficiency, and if one is an 'introvert' it needs to be defended in some way, or the benefits of introversion listed.
if we go with that understanding, that introversion (popularly understood) implies things such as shyness, withdrawal, excessive need for privacy, unwillingness to share the self, feeling threatened by others, etc etc then it would seem to fit some definition of an 'orange ray blockage', or a lack of sense of personal power in the face of others.
I also understand that this 'version' of introversion is perhaps the cliched understanding of what introverts are as perceived by extroverts. So it may be inherently unbalanced lol.
but I think most will acknowledge that the qualities listed above are inhibiting to the self if one wishes to be a broader actor on the canvas of life.
I can acknowledge these orange ray blockages in myself quite readily; and coming to acknowledge them seems to be a great first step in liberating them.
For myself, I was intensely and devotedly working on my spiritual life for years and years, and yet it wasn't until I moved away from introversion and began working/sharing in groups that I began to make much more rapid progress (that is the way it felt/feels to me, anyway). I'm sure the years of introverted study were of benefit - the group involvement really triggered a much more rapid and satisfying movement for me.
At first I had to set for myself a goal that each week in group meeting I would share one really honest and heartfelt truth about my inner life that I had never shared before. After a while I was no longer afraid. I will say this was a very safe group, because it was a twelve step group, so people did not criticize or judge my comments.
Makes sense, but you could attribute blockages in the orange ray to extraverts as well, wouldn't surprise me though if yellow ray blockages become much easier for the introvert when orange ray blockages have been relatively balanced and the same for extraverts but reversed i.e once there yellow ray blockages become balanced the orange ray becomes much easier. Maybe introverts/extraverts are simply people who start out concentrating on different blockages.
But then again that can be seen in a reverse way, extraverts starting work on there orange ray first with there yellow ray relatively comfortable and vice verse. They are broad terms and can't be confined to stringent definitions.
Yeah, the concept of introversion is silly when you think about the task of merging with several million souls. As caycegal said a lot of wisdom can be gained in that state, but much polarization comes through interaction which has been my experience. I was pretty introverted up until my mid-twenties, but I find myself becoming much more extroverted..actually feeling disconnected when I'm not social enough.
Introversion seems related towards the "distortion towards comfort" and the resistance of the edge when service is needed. There's also this.."It is a further item of interest that those whose life does not equal their work may find some difficulty in absorbing the energy of intelligent infinity.."
So inner-work creates a great potential, which must be released in some way otherwise a person becomes frustrated. You intuitively begin to feel the call of service the more you polarize, and so the sharing of self through service is desired.
Perhaps introversion and extroversion is a continuum rather than either/or. We may interact, act, and react with both traits based on the context of the situation. Through one's growth in life it is possible to experience both traits yet one trait may be consistently dominant throughout life.
I remember in university, most of my friends were introverts. They would become very agitated with silly things some people would say in class so we would discuss this by writing notes to each other, and I would raise my hand to present our case lol. It worked for us. It's not that they were afraid to speak out but they felt more comfortable going internal in such situations. When asked their opinion in small groups they were very comfortable and many were great speakers when they presented in class. So social anxiety and other issues is not synonymous to introversion.
I suppose introversion can make one biased towards wisdom over love and make one avoid alot of useful catalyst (since Ra says others give you the most efficient catalyst). If 4D is full of martyrs who love so much that they don't apply wisdom then I suppose 3D would also prefer love over wisdom, so perhaps introverts are disadvantaged in some ways, but it seems to me that its harder for my extroverted friends to polarize because they don't really process catalyst as much as would be ideal, or they process it through others.
The path to becoming an adept seems to require alot of contemplation to me. I just think it would be unfair for shy people to have a harder time polarizing STO, unless shyness is the result of some kind of blockage. If one prefers processing catalyst in isolation and receiving catalyst from their mind, body or spirit rather than from other people then worst case scenario they're just polarizing less quickly, but like I said extroverts seem to have more difficulty polarizing from what I've seen. Also Ra said something about intelligence being useful for rapid polarization, and intelligence is something which needs to be trained and cultivated in private, or out loud with very patient/accepting friends (which are hard to find).
Q'uo said something about the examples of Buddha and Jesus being equally useful for polarizing STO, one contemplated alot in isolation and the other went out there and loved others actively.
My understanding of introversion is that if a group of introverts gets together they go to a bar and have a conversation.
Extroverts will probably have a houseparty.
(05-11-2013, 10:31 AM)plenum Wrote: [ -> ]first up, I'm not a big fan of the terms introversion/extroversion, but for the purposes of this thread, I'll try to use them as best I understand how they are understood popularly.
first of all, there seems to be a feeling that 'extraversion' is the more healthy state or alignment of an individual. And somehow that 'introversion' is a deficiency, and if one is an 'introvert' it needs to be defended in some way, or the benefits of introversion listed.
if we go with that understanding, that introversion (popularly understood) implies things such as shyness, withdrawal, excessive need for privacy, unwillingness to share the self, feeling threatened by others, etc etc then it would seem to fit some definition of an 'orange ray blockage', or a lack of sense of personal power in the face of others.
I also understand that this 'version' of introversion is perhaps the cliched understanding of what introverts are as perceived by extroverts. So it may be inherently unbalanced lol.
but I think most will acknowledge that the qualities listed above are inhibiting to the self if one wishes to be a broader actor on the canvas of life.
I can acknowledge these orange ray blockages in myself quite readily; and coming to acknowledge them seems to be a great first step in liberating them.
I think they are only blockages to the extent that such "introversion" negates a natural inclination to be more "extroverted."
So for example, if you want to be sociable, yet have difficulty doing so, that would be indicative of a blockage. However, if one had little inclination to do so when following their natural impulses, it would not be indicative of blockage.
Blockages can be perceived in a variety of ways, but the easiest from my frame of reference is emotion. That is the greatest indicator of balance or imbalance I have seen to date. How you feel is everything. Emotions are essential spiritual tools.
When you feel
bad, there is, without exception,
blockage.
Anagogy is spitting some serious truth. Word.