Where Is The Way?

“What stands in the way becomes the way.”

~ Marcus Aurelius

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Our western world is obsessed with simplicity even as the many complexities of reality show us that things are not simple. Somewhere between incomprehensible complexity and delusional over-simplification, there is a way. Where our psycho-spiritual growth and development is concerned, there is always a means within reality to find our way to what we most need and want.

First, we must acknowledge that there is a shadow self - and, therefore, collective and communal shadows - which validates that there is not only much we do not or cannot know, but also much that may simply be hidden. That’s the meaning of “shadow work”: to bring things into the light where they can be seen, understood, and addressed.

Practically speaking, we must begin at the places that are most problematic - the places where, for whatever reason, dysfunction reigns in us and in our lives. We simply cannot move forward into greater potential without first dealing with the issues that impair our journey. We want to move from dysfunction to function. This may include anything from missing capabilities needed to navigate the world, to behavioral improvements that address those impairments.

Then, as a result of the deep inner work that moves us toward functionality, we are called to become whole again - to knit together our many parts and pieces into a unified whole. Not merely cobbled together, but interwoven and strengthened. Once again, we must enter the realm of our shadows to better see what lies within us and to bring it into cohesion. Somehow, we must become whole and one, rather than many and fractured.

Then it is the most profound call of all — to individuate, the Soul's Journey Home, to rediscover the Calling with which we arrived in this Incarnation, to move beyond our conditioning and normalcy. To use the scriptural language which many have heard — to be in the world but not of the world, or to wear the world as a loose cloak. This allows us to find and follow our own unique path of fulfillment and contribution.

Last of all, we our called to transcend even that, to elevate above our selves, and every aspect of the world. Yet strangely enough, in order to do so we must be deeply embodied in life and our experiences. We seek to be fully engaged and to also become observers to our engagement.

Piaget taught us you cannot skip the stages of development, it takes each to lay the foundation for the next. The body of work known as Spiral Dynamics goes further to teach us that each stage must be healthy else the health of the whole cannot hold.

Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven is within, and that it was nowhere else to be found. Yet when it is discovered and embodied it then alters our entire outer experience. The world does not change, but we change in the world, and through that inner realignment, we then act upon the world.

Each unfolding day is one more opportunity to set foot on the path. Rest assured, whatever we encounter, it is intended for our journey.

Seeing True in Action™

A dear friend and fellow journeyer suggests that we must simultaneously walk with the sun in our face - following it as the sunflower does - while also keeping our shadow selves before us, so we can see them and not be undermined. Only a great deal of awareness can help us find our way

Nothing but the best my friends! It cannot be otherwise.