Allowing the soul to lead.

Clearing a Space

“I write—though perhaps it sounds pretentious to say so—to make a clearing in the wilderness, to find out what I care about and what exactly to make of it.”

Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer is a writer, who has modest homes in California and Japan, but he lives wherever his soul takes him—the more remote, the better. That is because he likes to lose the familiar long enough to truly be where he is, and to experience first-hand realities that are not his own. Somehow, I, who am utterly rooted in place, relate to that sense of “clearing the wilderness” in order to find out what I truly care about. I wonder if you do, too.

It seems to me that the world gets crazier and crazier, to the point that I want to shut it out, and clear a space to experience sanity. I have begun turning the television off after the evening news and doing something besides watching political candidates slander one another in the hope of becoming America's leader. And, I can't wrap my head around people being dragged from the sea along with their babies, only to be sent back to war ravaged areas controlled by maniacs.

Even here in this land of plenty, we are focused on our money rather than the children who are being denied everything from clean drinking water to a proper education. We'd rather put our capital into prisons than mental health and rehabilitation facilities. It's bizarre to me. It seems that in every instance where there is a clear and obvious solution, we make the worst possible choice. Maybe there's been poison in our drinking water all along, and we're just now experiencing the long term effects!

Now and then, each of us needs to clear a space. We need to withdraw ourselves from the collective mentality, and decide what exactly is important to us. Picture, if you will, an aerial view of a huge herd of grazing bison. Thousands of them, gathered on a wide plain. One animal spooks and begins to run away, then suddenly, the whole herd is thundering headlong into a canyon with no outlet. In a matter of minutes, the entire herd is cooped up with no exit. That's the collective mentality today. There is nothing gentle or thoughtful about it. Do we really want to be part of that? Can we allow our souls to lead?

                                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                                       Jane