Seeking the margins
of societal bounds pushes us to the limits of definition and understanding of
humanity.
The people seen out
of the corner of our eye, caught in glimpses of stark reality, coated in sacred
dust, groaning in the pain we inflict by our averted gaze, in fact stand at the
center of that which we have long ago lost sight. They stand in the center of
their humanity, their deep and intrinsic connection to earth, to space, to
stars, to Life and Being. They hold this knowing in the simple acts of feeding
their children, tilling the earth, lacking ambition.
We who sit on plastic
yoga balls and pay our personal trainers to force-feed us vegan meal plans are
the ones who claw tooth and nail toward the truth that gently enfolds the
humble people we do not dare to see. We are starving for the abundance they
hold, and sinfully, we gorge ourselves on the excess borne of their material
deprivation.
Yet even in our
folly, we cannot help but be immersed in the truth of Oneness. The difference
is that their surrender has been their salvation – they have spread their arms
wide and floated on the gently lapping waters of wonder in Something Greater.
In the struggle of the First World – absent-mindedness, incessant business, and
arrhythmic rationalizations – we have asphyxiated. We drown in our own
womb-waters because we refuse to breathe in the direction of dependence. We
insist we can feed only through our brain, not through our gut roped to the
Mother Globe and our iron-infused heart tied to Parent Galaxy.
Gaunt and grim, we
turn to look at those impoverished people who stand on the edge, and in horror
at our own absurdity, finally see that they stand at the threshold of a horizon
from which we have been running. Just beyond them, in the direction of their
sight, is a new paradigm of Personhood, formed of fine energetic connections
that lace a gentle path. This weft of light leads to Universal Integration, but
first, to a realized vision of Justice for inhabitants of Earth.
How do we return to
right relationship? How can we make the quantum leap necessary to traverse the
chasm we have created between us and our brothers and sisters of every species
who never let go of the truth?
The truth, it seems,
never let go of us.
It whispers to us,
Simply remember the
song your body hums to the rhythm of the cosmic hymn.
Resist the pull to
the top that propels you away from true presence.
Break open your
heart; empty out all you thought you had to be in order to reclaim who you
always have been.
First, look. See as
if you have never seen before, which you have not, as each moment is now,
and now is the only time what you see has been, and now is when you are
looking. In looking as if you have never seen before, notice the familiarity.
Hold the grace of the mystery that, somehow, you have always known what you
see.
Second, learn to
speak like that. When judgment creeps into your language, let silence reorient
you to the being in-itself, which is the object, the person, the place, the
idea you behold. Learn all things and people as a reflection of you, and
remember that you are wholly good. Listen – your story is told through the
mouths of others.
Third, align your
action with your speech. Feel the path you carve with every gesture and choice.
Allow slowness to keep you in your body. Witness each deed as a creative effort
toward a reality you decide.
Fourth, unclench your
tight fist clinging to comfort. The soft pillows of wealth stifle your lungs
and insulate you from a freshness your being craves. When you begin to feel
cold and heat again, your chills and sweat will disturb you. Soon, though, the
ease of knowing you are actually alive will create contentment in all seasons.
You will feel that you are neither warm nor cold, but that you are given
dimension by your experience of warmth and coolness. In a miraculous moment,
you will grasp in a flash the beauty of that release.
Fifth, go where you
will hurt. Pain precedes all growth and yields new dimensions. Penetrate the
ever-emanating orb of suffering by carrying it with others. Keep moving through
it, touching it, allowing its sting to singe your bones until, as a distant
pinpoint, you see with your companions a spark of hope, which will grow to a
joy that tenderly envelops the pain. The energy of joining-together is what
heals all brokenness. Reassemble the pieces by adhering to fellowship.
Finally, arise.
Realize you have always been in the right place, because, like all places, it
is the center. Meet the eyes of your brothers and sisters whose struggles were
caused by people who, like you, needed lessons to regain their humanness. Watch
as they lock eyes with yours, smile, and extend a hand. Reach out and meet your
own extended arm.
In the folded fabric
of spacetime, you once saw a hierarchy and division…now, you feel the tug of
strands all around. By this shape with no sides or angles, all form is
perfectly represented.
There is nowhere to
get to, no place at which to arrive. There is only here and now, and the
perfect alignment of oneself with the wholeness of this.
Divinity shimmers in
every facet. The face of God comes to light as Creation.
One touches the
vibration of All That Is by taking the pulse of one's own heartbeat.
Peace becomes the
only end.
