Journey of Transformation
“We
start out as pilgrims, wanting to journey and hoping to be
transformed by the journey.”
Mark
Nepo (The Book of Awakening)
You
may be tired of hearing me say this, but life itself is the journey,
and whether or not we set our foot on a spiritual path, we cannot
help taking the journey. We set out as children with the naivety of
untried beings entertaining delusions of grandeur, and that is as it
should be. If we are not grandiose and convinced of our own power to
change the world as young people, we will have missed an important
developmental milestone—overconfidence. We need this to propel us
forward.
Along
the way, we see things we believe are indications of “success.”
We see wealth and popularity, we see glamour and comfort, and we seize
upon these. Sometimes they are enough. But after a while, they light
a smoky fire within us—the fear of losing them, jealousy of someone
taking away what we have achieved for ourselves. Then we are well and
truly hooked—like a striped bass on a big, shiny lure. Then fear
begins to direct our every move—often into very dark places.
We
need this experience, too. Believe it or not, it's often the one that
leads us back to the pilgrim's path. We wake up one day with the
undeniable realization that there has to be more than this. For life
to have real meaning, there must be freedom from fear. Not only that,
but there must be joy untethered to, and unadulterated by, the
world's siren call. We return to our soul path—the only one that
connects us to wholeness—transformed.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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