Paradoxically to the mind, but in ways the heart knows
natively, inside the core of the tender and the raw is a nonordinary gold, a
jewel that is found only there. We may not see it at first, as it is shrouded
in darkness, buried in mud, and hidden inside the strands of awareness.
This gold is available at all times, though it may appear
in unexpected and unrecognizable forms. As contradictory life circumstances,
achy feelings, dream symbols, or causeless joy. As the variety of symptoms
which surge in an open nervous system, arising in our lives to seed meaning,
and remind us of something we may have forgotten along the way.
The jewels tend to uncover most evocatively by way of the
others who come into (and out of) our lives, especially if we will take the risk
of allowing them to matter. As our lovers, children, family, and friends, these
ones have an uncanny ability to push up against everything that seeks the light
of holding within us. How annoying. What grace.
Through the appearance and disappearance of form, we come
to know the inherent purity of matter, revealing its oneness with spirit, each
weaved of the same luminous substance. Here, we see that form and formlessness
are not two, dancing and interpenetrating with one another as they play and
spin the relative into being.
As the veil parts and our perception is cleansed, the
struggle to get from “here” to “there” dissolves into the vastness. What is
left is pure potentiality, but this level of openness can be disorienting,
especially as we see that there is no possibility of an incomplete moment.
No longer enchanted by the trance of “there,” we drop into
the magic of the sacred world, in all its chaotic glory. Here we can play with
form, seeing it as an expression of pure spirit, not fearing we will fuse with
it and lose our way. And yet even if we do become lost, which we inevitably
will, we can rejoice in the opportunity to be found once again.
Photo of Lamayuru, home for a summer, long ago, dreaming of
the golden. I’ll never forget coming into Lamayuru after staying in Kashmir on
the lake – the awe, the space, and the majesty of it all. It is like the moon
there.
My new book – The Path Is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You – is now available
The Way of Rest summer retreat – registration open now (we're about 85% sold out as of June 1)
My new book – The Path Is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You – is now available
The Way of Rest summer retreat – registration open now (we're about 85% sold out as of June 1)
