Let not the troubles in the world get you down, nor the tyrants who cannot control themselves, nor the state of the environment, but do make every effort to stabilize yourself and your inner environment so that you yourself are in a good balance. When things are bad in the world around you hold fast to your good and loving self. No matter what is happening remain kind and compassionate, for these are the virtues that will carry you through any trouble and bring you peace of mind, body, and spirit. As within, so without.
One person can enact change and that change must begin within the self to have a most profound effect, for to look only to others to enact change leaves the self untethered, disconnected from the true reality of the heart and that which matters most. The heart knows what real change looks like, for the heart has its connection to all that is, to the heavens and the earth, to the smallest and the greatest, to all that lives in earthly realm and all that exists in infinity, that which you cannot see but can feel. The heart is the organ of connectedness, knowledge, wisdom and love. You can’t go wrong if you stay heart centered every step of your changing journey. The heart knows where to go. Let it lead.
Keep love uppermost in your mind, body, and spirit. Keep love as your uppermost intent, love for all beings, including the transitory, changing self, the self who knows what to do and does it with intent, though perhaps riddled with fear, and the self who does not do what it knows it should do, perhaps overcome with carelessness and abandon. Love will carry you through these trying times no matter which self rules, the strong or the weak. Count on it, count on love. You can’t go wrong.
Keep your intent strong, that which you hold in your heart, the means by which you achieve an end, but equally the spark of an inspiration, the energy you put into upholding that which you truly know, accept, and envision as possible. Keep your intent strong, your heart calm, and your truth always known. In this manner, with loving kindness, weather through the worst of times. Each day, declare your intent aloud for the good of the self and the greater good of all. Intent!
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.
