Read the entire series – Journey To Knowing
The circuit? That’s the one where we return to where we started and see our very own footsteps in the sand that we presumed had washed away in the tides of many incarnations, those passages through personalities and cultures that we assumed had left some indelible marks, but then find, much to our pleasurable surprise, that they can fade to insignificance once we shuck the comfort zones their gates and fences provided. Poverty and wealth, illness and health, ignorance and education, they all drop away as the feathers on Icarus’s wings as he closes in on the sun. Perhaps he dies on that final descent, or maybe he merges with the divine fire, a spark surrendering?
As we process the experiences that seem to confer progress on the transformation we are calling the inner journey we allow ourselves glimpses of the completion that some call graduation, perhaps seeing a radiant form emerging from some indistinct human shrouded in mist, or some saintly blessing to stragglers below, or maybe just an extended chuckle with longtime friends, signifying some shocked arrival at some space no-one would ever mistake for a destination. Or maybe a clown waving a sign like Yes You Have Arrived, Welcome Back!
It has to happen sometime, does it not? The aspirant cannot aspire for ever, surely? Even thousands of years can disappear in a puff of now-ness, right? You have already transcended the desperation of Why not now and feel reconciled to the uphill trudge of casting off attachments one by dreary one. Those nasty past lives that embarrassed you in dreams seem to have faded, leaving you ready to shrug off regret and remorse to enter that brave new world of baggage free travel. Those parcels of doubt and low self-esteem are ready to be returned to Santa Claus and sit by the door expectantly.
So what’s next in this chaotic parade of paradox and challenge passing by and through us in our cages of provocation, opinion, wounds and moods? Well, confronting our immortality and doing more than taking taxi through the dark side once in a while. Embracing the complete you and not just the charmers and lovable innocents. How about the warriors and ruthless cutthroats perpetrating or avenging some village massacre? Or the seductress, bewitching and poisoning her passage to some pinnacle of wealth and power? Or the mean spirited matriarch, rewarding obedience with smidgens of approval? Or that swashbuckling cad, casting maidens aside in some romp through the counties and escape by sea? Or the remorseless swindler cheating partners and banks across continents and cultures?
Perhaps the fallen priest pilfering funds and spoiling innocence? Could be one of those minor cogs in some competitive wheel, feathering their own nest as the big time cheats plough on? Or the willing servants of kings and empires, absolving their guilt with the mantras of duty? Or the fervent disciples of some new god demanding obedience from any who are caught in your rampage of righteousness?
Well, we’ve all been there, one way or another, sometimes many ways and many times, trying to keep our sorry heads above water. And trying to forget those nasty blemishes while recalling the love of nature and family will only get us so far. Rounding out our education as we prepare for graduation, maybe centuries hence, brings us to the knowing, after denial has exhausted itself, that sinners need saints, criminals justice, religions the faithful, royalty their revereres, empires their enemies, armies their opponents, banks their borrowers, markets their sellers and buyers.
To achieve that perfect balance, so obvious to the meditator and the momentarily enlightened, the world requires teams of opposites and rivals competing for the dominance that so quickly dissolves. Every role requires streams of volunteers, basically to keep the game going as the aged and the young appear and disappear. The tower of babel, rife with misunderstanding and squabble, eventually resolves into translation and telepathy. We all speak their same words and think the same thoughts, it just takes millennia to make it all happen. Millennia that can melt in the moment of release.
