Version 2.1 | 09.24.2010
© 2010 Howard McQueen
It is remarkable, this journey we undertake,
constructing and then being faced with the challenge
of deconstructing our home-grown sense-of-self.
Rather than ask the question “why” is life the way it is,
it seems more fruitful to surrender to the realization that we,
like all living things,
even the earth, moon and celestial bodies,
are in relationship to smaller and larger rhythms,
smaller and larger gravities constantly influencing our experiencing life.
We are, each and every one of us,
universally bounded by these powerful influences.
If we choose to not recognize and appreciate the influences of relationship
(i.e. others upon us and our influence upon others),
we can drive ourselves into madness, depression, anger and numbness.
“Why is life doing this to me?”
Life itself becomes the perpetrator
and we, the victim.
However, equally available and at our disposal are our innate abilities to:
1. Focus and concentrate where we place our attention
2. Move from a reactionary to a responsive manner in which we perceive and choose to interpret events and circumstances
3. Begin to experiment with and gain a mastery of how we can shape, influence and direct our intentions to be in relationship with that which is alive in our lives
This journey we have been born into is nothing short of learning to resurrect and reclaim our own self. It is a journey into our own darkness and light, our own stubbornness, our own fear, our own ecstasy, our own ability to shut down or awaken. It is a journey in uncovering and the recovering our native wonder, our innate innocence and our awe at the mesmerizing and uncontrollable flow of life.
True sacrifice, as Saki Santorelli says is
“The pull of the soul toward what is possible (once we have shed) the pull of the past toward what has been conditioned”.
True sacrifice is personally experienced as an ongoing commitment to letting go, to releasing and liberating our own sense-of-self that has become entangled with our learned and practiced conditioning - that which supposedly protects and defends our self from life. Sacrifice is finding the courage to let go and become naked again to being deeply, unconditionally touched by the experiences flowing from life.
May you be blessed, in each and every day, to discern and choose to sacrifice aspects of your burdened sense-of-self, to lay down the feelings of resentment, of being aggressed upon by life, of feeling inadequate,
of your relationship with inner guilt and shame …
Come accept life on its terms. There is an abundance of sacredness to give, to receive and to share, together … in our extended relationship, with
Family, Tribe & Community!
These are some of the most potent and sacred practices that encourage unity.
These are the sacred vows that individual selves can choose to sow,
to capture, redirect and blend the energies of Yin & Yang.
This is a pathway into enlarging each individual heart,
to experience that we are a living we-ness,
that we are, irrevocably born from and return to a common, sacred Oneness,
with all of life's forms.
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