Many Paths

 

photo credit: Heather Peters

The following tale of five men lost in the woods has appeared in many forms throughout the years. I did a search and cannot find anyone to whom it's attributed. I saw it again today on an Eckhart Tolle group chat and it felt perfect for this time of searching.

​"​Five men got lost in a vast forest. They tried to find their way out.

The first man said, “I will follow my intuition and go left.”

The second man said, “I will go right. I have a strong feeling about this.”

The third man said, “I think I will walk back the same path we came. This should be the safest option.”

The fourth man said: “I think we are on the right track already, so I will keep going straight. I am sure this forest will end and I will find a village or a farm to ask for directions.”

The fifth man said, “I don’t know what to do. I think I will climb up this tall tree and take a better look around before I make up my mind.”

So the fifth man did that. While he was climbing, the other four men scattered towards their own directions. The fifth man now could see from above what was the shortest way to a village. He thought that the others should not have chosen the paths they did. He was wrong, though.

Each man chose his own path and gained a different experience. The man who went left, found a long path but in the end, it led him to the town.

The man who went right, had to fight a pack of wolves, but this way he learned how to survive in the forest.

The man who went back, met another team of hikers and he made new friends.

The man who went straight, found a farm and was hosted by the family for a couple of days before leaving for the village.

Everyone was enriched in their own unique way by the journey.

~~~

Some reflections on this story...

What if​ ​there are no "right" or "wrong" decisions?

Could it be that every decision offers us new experiences, which in turn offers us innumerable further opportunities for growth?

It has taken every decision of our life to bring us to where we are right now. In the fullness of the present, are we really in the wrong place? Even if it feels so, can we be sure?

What if there are no mistakes? ..... Only opportunities?​"​

​"Learning is joyful if it leads you along your natural path, and facilitates the development of what you have.​"  --  A Course in Miracles - T-8.II​

Impressions From Truth

 

Thailand  - photo credit: Aaron Springston

Spiritualization of thought is said to be a slow process, and many people think they don't have "time", hence it's not worth the effort to try. To remember that I am One with God is a giant step toward this spiritualization. This knowledge puts our goal right where we are, here and now, rather than somewhere far off which we may or may not reach at some point in the future. I am One with God right now! To know this intellectually and to understand it from the core of your being are not the same thing. The hunger to think AS divine Mind, the longing to know myself as Love, these desires cannot be satisfied with words. Glimpses of truth cause me to crave more. Rising above human belief may seem like the work of a lifetime, but the realization that you want to know God happens in a heartbeat. I want to be ready!

"Let me remember I am one with God." A Course in Miracles

“Before human knowledge dipped to its depths into a false sense of things,--into belief in material origins which discard the one Mind and true source of being,-- it is possible that the impressions from Truth were as distinct as sound, and that they came as sound to the primitive prophets.”  Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 213:30-3

Deciding to See

 

photo credit: Richard Quick

Recently, I’ve been noticing young women awakening to the beauty of their own being! It has been nice to see instances here and there, but this evening I opened up Facebook and saw three posts from young women wherein they claimed their joy — right now, not in the future when something changes, but right now! One of these is very close to my heart because she’s someone who felt incomplete because her biological father had not acknowledged her in the ways she had hoped. It took his death for her to realize she could claim her wholeness without him filling In the blanks for her. And she has! Another beautiful young friend has spent years plagued by insecurities. She has felt her family was disappointed in her, and she shared in their disappointment. She is beginning to glimpse that there is, as she put it, “beauty in imperfection”. I see her gaining in confidence and inner strength. The last of the three posts tonight was from a young, vibrant mother of three, whom I’ve known most of her life. She is a joy to watch glow in her daily activities, and she and her parents are very dear to my heart. She ended her post with these words: “I’m here. We ALLLLL are. So there’s NO one else to be except YOU. This world needs it desperately. Unapologetically you. My vulnerability lets me dance, speak, teach, love unattached to others judgements, my sensitivity lets me feel other people’s pains and problems, my passivity lets me see all sides to everything and not judge anyone or take on their experience. This took me years to learn! Your perceived ‘bad’ qualities… could they be your gift to this world? Your gift to you?” I treasure these women and will remember them as I notice everyone beginning to bloom!

“Your decision to see is all that vision requires. ²What you want is yours. ³Do not mistake the little effort that is asked of you for an indication that our goal is of little worth. ⁴Can the salvation of the world be a trivial purpose? ⁵And can the world be saved if you are not? ⁶God has one Son, and he is the resurrection and the life. ⁷His will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth. ⁸In your determination to see is vision given you.” A Course in Miracles W-20.3:1-8

Spread Your Wings

art by J. Clement Wall

​

The Journey - poem by Mary Oliver

"One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.”

― Mary Oliver

To Listen or Not to Hear

 Face-to-face duplicate bridge is happening again. Throughout the game there was a phone ringing in someone’s purse. After the game, my partner looked at me and asked, Doesn’t that phone ringing drive you crazy? I laughed and told her no, because I didn’t pay it any attention. She was surprised and more than a bit disbelieving as she asked me how that could be possible. Many platitudes (or maybe truisms) went through my thoughts. “If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”. And, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff”. I told her I simply ignored it, to which she looked at me as though I might have sprouted wings! On the other side of this coin -- when I got home, a dear friend from California called and we had a long talk, solving most of the world’s messes in 30 minutes or so. As we hung up, I told him we had identified the problems, now it was time to implement change. While he agreed with me, I’m not sure he thinks it’s possible. Ignoring that phone ringing is the flip side of recognizing something is wrong, then translating my thoughts about it to facilitate change within myself. Then I’ll be prepared to listen, as affirmative action calls to me, and I hope I’ll be ready to Be The Change I Want To See!

“Mortal mind accepts the erroneous, material conception of life and joy, but the true idea is gained from the immortal side. Through toil, struggle, and sorrow, what do mortals attain? They give up their belief in perishable life and happiness; the mortal and material return to dust, and the immortal is reached.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 536:24

When Intuition Calls You

 

Intuition has been my focus today. I’ve pondered this spiritual quality quite a bit, so when my eldest son told me they are currently spending some time in Santa Fe, my thoughts went to a dear friend who followed her heart and studied for two years with a teacher in that area. Susan was visiting friends in Santa Fe and had been to the market to pick up supplies. On her way home, she had the radio on and suddenly a man speaking caught her interest. The station was fading in and out, and the man seemed to be using two or three different languages. She couldn’t understand him, but she told me it sounded like “flowers coming out of the radio”. When she got home, she called the station and found out who it was she had heard. His name was Martin Prechtel and he lived in Ojo Caliente, a small village between Taos and Santa Fe. She found out he was a teacher of accumulated knowledge from his childhood on a Pueblo reservation in New Mexico and adult life in Guatemala. Susan knew, intuitively, that she must study with this man. She left everything she knew well and moved into a tiny room in a house, living her life in the way she was called to do. I admire anyone who follows their dream, but especially those who don’t stop one step before fulfilling it!

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. Angels are God's representatives. These upward-soaring beings never lead towards self, sin, or materiality, but guide to the divine Principle of all good, whither every real individuality, image, or likeness of God, gathers. By giving earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain ‘angels unawares.’” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299: 7-17

A Series of Unfortunate Events

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Looking back at the series of unfortunate events of today, I could be tempted to say “I’ve had a bad day”. But I don’t care for that phrase, or even believe that such a thing is possible. Days are, after all, neither good nor bad (only thinking makes them so!). The act of living in the present makes all the difference, don’t you think? I won’t list the mishaps and oddities which have occurred around me today, but I have closely examined my thoughts and actions. I’m not one to chant affirmations, but rather attempt to live by intuition, which can be heard from listening instead of telling. You can’t push the river, you know! Usually, before going out the door, I quiet myself and ask for the wisdom to listen for what I should do and where I should be. I did not do that today. As I sit here pondering, I think of my dear, departed Kevin and a serious accident he was involved in almost 40 years ago. If he had been a few seconds later or sooner in his arrival at an intersection, he wouldn’t have been hit by a motorcycle going more than 100 miles per hour. That one moment affected everything he did from that day forward. What I have experienced today will remind me tomorrow to surrender to the inner guidance which is available to us all. I’ll revel in the sweetness of moments, rather than rushing through things I’d rather not do. I don’t care for the choices I made today, so tomorrow I shall choose again!

“Shepherd, show me how to go, o’re the hillside steep.
How to gather, how to sow, how to feed thy sheep.
I will listen for thy voice, lest my footsteps stray.
I will follow and rejoice, all the rugged way.”
Poem from Mary Baker Eddy