the hardship of the journey
is exactly matched
to the value of the prize
and the greatness of the soul
who dares the way.
We look away from our wounds. We hope healing will come from outside of ourselves. Our psychological wounds are the places we first became separated from ourselves and in so doing became separate in a way from the world. In that separation, we suffered a fate like the story of Babel: we fell into confusion.
Con-fusion means to pair or join together that which is truly separate. The place we might try do such a thing is in our thinking mind. We create and live in Story. We con-fuse the idea of virtue and we tell ourselves any kind of self compassion is weakness, and paradoxically, our wound is to feel uncared for and abandoned by the world, when we perhaps have accepted the state of abandoning ourselves. We deny ourselves self-care saying “I need to be stronger; I need to walk it off; other people have it worse; there is no use simply complaining…”
Who taught you to speak to yourself in such a way? Strength is in Vulnerability. Love is sitting with your feelings and honouring the one in you that was injured. You are here to show others love by first showing love to yourself, so they many never learn from you such language. To acknowledge one’s feelings is not a complaint. It is a small prayer, for meaning and for love, and it is very very sacred.
The secret aim of Life is Growth and transformation. This is the alchemy of the soul, and the crucible is right here in the heart of this moment,the pain must be transmuted into understanding, and what is in shadow must be led gently, into the light. That is the work you came here to do. Everything else is Story, a fiction told you by people who did not know themselves and did not know how to Love.
“To love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love. To know how to love someone, we have to understand them. To understand, we need to listen.” Thich Nhat Hanh.
We came here to listen, to Understand, to Love. It begins with you. Everyone or no one. Every sadness, every fear, every wound, is an Opportunity for Practice on ourselves.
No One Else is Coming.
And when we get good at it, we can really help others. We help them to Understand and we Lead by Example.
the gold of life
is not found in success.
it is hidden
deep within the heart
of self-discovery
and the entrance to that mine of wonders
is struggle and adventure.
