When something ends it signals the beginning of something new, a change about to happen, a new phase about to begin. An ending is a new springboard, an offering of a next step, the next fork in the road. Look forward to endings as much as you look forward to beginnings because they are as full of hope and promise, pointing the way to something new. Revel in the mysteries of life as much as you do the clarities, for in the mysteries lie the lessons, the discoveries, the roads to enlightenment. Allow yourself to bask in the freedom of change, for isn’t that what life is really all about, change? See each day for what it is, the next new step on your journey through life, pointing you toward your next answer, your next big awakening; another opportunity to do things differently. May love and kindness both follow you and guide you always, on each new step of your journey.
Without blame or shame, come to terms with all that you are. Accept your part in all that has befallen you, in all that you chose and choose, in all that was and all that will be. Take responsibility for your life. Things happen for a reason. Try to find the reason. What are you supposed to learn? What in this life is meaningful, meant to help you grow and evolve? What are you supposed to resolve once and for all? No matter what happens or has happened to you, find your part in it and discover its meaning so that rather than stay stuck in a cycle of blame and shame you may move out of that cycle onto a path of meaning and heart. Why are you there? Where are you going? Only you will know for sure. Only you can live your life to the fullest. Only you can find your fulfillment. Travel onward with an open heart and an open mind, for truly you deserve to grant yourself the opportunity to find your path of heart, freed of the cycle of blame and shame, but, oh, so much more too!
Like ocean waves lapping the shores, like the tides ebbing and flowing, accept that change is inevitable, and yet accept also your own part in enacting change in your life. The human being, unlike nature, has a stubborn streak, an ability to hold back, to remain adherent to old ways, despite all encouragements to change, even though bad things occur, even death. Learn to go with the flow. Allow for new ideas; let in different perspectives; permit new thoughts to change your perception of life and how you do things. Without fear, try something new, experience something unusual, think a different thought. It might just be the very thing you’ve been missing, the very thing to set you free. Perhaps you’ll even finally find your path of heart because you dared yourself to change, despite all the inner warning bells set off by fear and old ideas. But in the end, in giving up control, you might just find something you never dreamed of, and like the ocean you will flow into new territories, just waiting to be explored. Is it finally time to go with the flow?
When I was a young child, I was confronted many times with what I came to call the buzz, an intense vibratory experience I’d abruptly awaken to in the night. Generally, my body was paralyzed and, as the frequency and rapidity of the vibrations intensified, it took all I had to hold onto life as I felt my consciousness begin to disintegrate and be swallowed up by this all-pervasive energy.
Eventually, I learned to visualize myself in a race car with no brakes, as I gripped and turned the steering wheel around a circular race course to match the speed of the high-frequency vibrations I was experiencing. These images and actions provided me with a shield to preserve a cohesive sense of self, as I waited for the vibrations to pass and my body to reconstitute into solid physical form. Never again could I rest only in the security of everyday life. I knew there was more.
The outer world, in this time we live in, is in obvious energetic free fall. All are confronted with the disintegrating impact of, as the band R.E.M. once put it, “the end of the world as we know it.” The world itself is not ending, but the solidity of the predictable world we once knew is being shattered at an exponential rate. This is indeed a deeper energetic encounter that requires a shield to maintain cohesion and to safely navigate this cosmic maelstrom. Our world is on a journey beyond the known, as we venture deeper into human possibility.
Don Juan Matus recommended that warriors fashion a shield from their path of heart, to hold together in such uncertain times of evolutionary change. By path of heart, he refers to one’s deepest values, that which lends spirited meaning to one’s life. Regardless of the calamity of events that befall one from the outer world, one can always find respite and sanctuary where ego-Soul meets with High SOUL on one’s path of heart.
Aurobindo’s spiritual partner, The Mother, goes so far as to suggest that if one’s ego-Soul is truly aligned with one’s High SOUL, on one’s path of heart, one will remain completely unscathed, regardless of the calamities one must traverse through. This was certainly the message of the final scene in The Matrix, where bullets themselves could not penetrate the enlightened Neo.
Immediately following the most recent US presidential election, I consulted the I Ching for guidance. The message was clear. Keep the candle burning in the inner cavern of one’s path of heart. Nothing can forestall the coming breakdown of the world as we know it, but keep the focus on that inner light, kindle it, and wait patiently for the time when it will serve to re-enlighten the world.
This time of waiting is not one of idleness, nor ruminating upon the losses and breakdown of all that one holds sacred. To the contrary, one must keep the focus on one’s path of heart, with every thought and action one takes each day. To drown in bad news is energetic wastefulness. In fact, bad news is purposely orchestrated to sap the energy from one’s deeply convicted path of heart.
Victor Frankl gave us the legacy of keeping focused on one’s path of heart when all else has been robbed from us, with the guidance that nothing can take away the attitude that one will take toward one’s life. That attitude is the touch of the spirit of one’s High SOUL upon one’s ego-Soul, invigorating every moment with meaning, regardless of circumstance. Nothing can take away one’s free exercise of imagination, a viable channel to the spirit of the High SOUL.
Michael Talbot, in his short life, gave us the gift of The Holographic Universe that reassures us that all of the universe is within us, and, therefore, our own ability to remain steady on our path of heart deeply contributes to the world finding its own way to its path of heart. When outer influence is denied, stay the course within; it matters deeply to the ultimate course without.
Finally, there is Jung’s Rainmaker story; of the Taoist priest who resolved a drought by sitting alone in deep meditation in an isolated hut, restoring himself to the Tao. It takes but one heart to restore the Tao. As within, so without.
Embrace the shield of your own path of heart, as we all journey on this rollercoaster time of great transition. All will be well when this era is done. But live this era with the gusto of one’s true path of heart, filled to the brim with love.
Stand firm upon your path of heart. Stick to the principles of loving kindness and compassion as your guides wherever you roam and they will be your treasures, your lucky coins that you can pull out at any time and watch as they do their magic. There is no better path than a path with heart aided by loving kindness and compassion. When in doubt, find your footing again by asking: Is this a path with heart? Does this path have heart? Is this the right path? However you ask, you will know the answer by how your own heart responds to you, with loving kindness and compassion when you have gotten it right.
