Journey Home
“Unraveling external selves and coming home to our real identity is the true meaning of soul work.”
Sue Monk Kidd
There is something primal and archetypal about coming home. Some of us never leave, and feel no need to discover life outside our ancestral birthplace. Such was not the case for me. High school graduation was something akin to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. I fled, with nary a backward glance. Much like the Prodigal Son, I went to a foreign country (California), which was as far away as I could get in my old Chevy Bel Air. As with the Prodigal, leaving home was not simply a desire to see the world; it was a rejection of all that had come before—everything that Appalachia symbolized in the 1960's.
Leaving home is a necessary journey. Like Ulysses, we go into the world to confront our own demons. We follow our own path, make our own mistakes, and find the lifestyle that is closest to our own true nature. This essential journey is the means by which we further the evolution of human consciousness. Hopefully, leaving home educates us to the fact that not everyone sees the world as we do, and that their values and beliefs are just as valid as our own. We return with new eyes.
Jesus made this passage himself. The voice that called him into the desert after his baptism offered him the gifts of the world. It challenged him to prove that his worthiness by exercising super-natural powers, and by selling his soul. The world’s love is always conditional. If you are good looking, intelligent, wealthy, if you have a good education, good job and the right connections, if you produce much, sell much, and buy much, then you are worthy of the world’s love. Otherwise, you're more or less invisible.
We are all prodigal children each time we search for love where it cannot be found. The voice that calls us into the world would have us forget the voice that assures us, “You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” At some point, we must ask ourselves this question: “To whom do I belong—to the Source of love, or to the world?” Waking up to the understanding that the world cannot give us what we seek is usually the point at which we turn for home.
The journey is not all bad. It teaches us to forgive ourselves for the mistakes we’ve made, and the absurdities we’ve involved ourselves in while out there in the world. We also forgive and accept the “failings” of those who gave us birth. Coming home is acknowledging that we remember who we are, and whose we are. We return with a new consciousness to contribute to the tribe. That new consciousness is the “home” that has been waiting for us all along.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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