Dance a measure,
Find your name
And buried treasure…”
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
Awakening…… to ideas, opportunities, love, light…… awakening…… in hope and gratitude.
We’ve all experienced situations where we stumbled around, trying desperately to find our way…… then, seemingly out of nowhere, the light shone brightly……. the answer magically appeared….. in the field of psychology we call this insight…. A sudden understanding of what is happening, our part in the matter, and where we need to go, moving forward. Yet, this concept has always left me a bit cold……. I’m not convinced that knowledge is ever magical, or sudden. I believe it is accumulated, over time and experience.
The part that feels accelerated, in my belief, is awakening. Awakening is a gradual process, but the final stages feel immediate….. oftentimes, so immediate, it feels like a splash of cold water, thrown in one’s face. Even so, rarely is there an occasion where circumstances spontaneously pop; usually, there’s been a progressive shift….. however glacial the pace.
In order to seize the new, we must release the old……. this bit of conventional wisdom is easy to swallow, in the abstract. It becomes more difficult when we’re called to action, charged with the prospect of stepping outside one’s comfort zone. There is a grieving process that takes place, and it is as natural as the air we breathe.
So, we grieve…… for a day, a month, a year…… and sometimes, we realize that some losses are not designed for complete release. Some losses are designed to weave into a tapestry of awakening…… and maybe we don’t have to fully release everything, after all.
What is required is the willingness to stir…… to awaken…… there is no possibility of union with the Sacred Assignment if one is unwilling to move, onward and upward. Awakening can be likened to a beautiful quote from Simone Beauvoir: “I tore myself away, from the safe comfort of certainties, through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.” Commitment to awakening implies an openness to truth…. and love….. and all of the other wonders of this world.
The Sacred Assignment is filled with junctures of awakening…… taking the next step, the next mini-assignment….. wide awake….. or remaining in yesterday’s path, with its limited ability for elevation. Oftentimes, it takes great courage to awaken…. but the results are incomparable.
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