Journey of The Great Circle - Autumn Volume

November 23 EMERGENCE I feel a natural impulse in me inviting me to cultivate a life of inner freedom and service to others. The high elevations of the Rocky Mountains in the western United States have unique weather patterns that can radically change very quickly. If you observe the clear blue sky above a mountain peak in the cool hours just after dawn, small white clouds will seem to suddenly appear in the sky as if coming from nowhere, or as the popular saying goes, “… from out-of-the-blue”. The high-pressure systems over the mountains blend with low-pressure air in a particular way which cause new clouds to abruptly emerge into the sky. Emergence is the sudden appearance of a new characteristic, or quality of expression, when, over time, the conditions in the environment have lined up for it to occur. The process of emergence can be likened to the novel quality of boiling water in which a pot of clear motionless water that has been heated for a period of time will build up enough energy to generate a sudden response in the water so as to be agitated from the heat and burst into a pot of bubbling liquid. Emergence is the mysterious manifestation of a whole new paradigm of possibility arising from the accumulating experiences that create a sudden transformation. At one time on Earth eons ago in the early evolution of green vegetation, there were no flowers in the forests or grasslands that had yet taken form for the verdant leafy plants of the planet had not yet learned to attain the expanded level of consciousness required for flowers to be created. But then, as if in the blink of an eye, the plant kingdom experienced a leap in consciousness which allowed a sudden out-picturing of a brand new form of plant life, for as the conditions became just right, the first flower appeared on our planet. The vast spectrum of unique species that live on Earth, including early humans, have evolved because they share this transforming emergent aspect of Nature. Thus, emergence can also be thought of as an inexplicable, and seemingly miraculous, quantum leap of awareness in the linear arc of evolution. In today’s world, there’s an opportunity for another important facet of emergence to take place in the hearts and minds of people everywhere, as men and women awaken a possibility of making the personal inner shift from a self-oriented fear-based awareness to a higher awareness based on love, compassion, and service to others. And similar to the billowy clouds that suddenly appear out of nowhere within a clear blue sky, at one time on Earth long ago, there were no awakened humans, yet through the natural phenomenon of emergence, through the gift of grace, And through a commitment to love now “heating up” all over the planet, people everywhere are now awakening. November 1 SUFFERING I relax into what is - the present moment - and accept that my life is unfolding perfectly. Due to the spin of the Earth and the force of gravity, all rivers exhibit a natural current that keeps them steadily flowing toward some distant ocean or large body of water. If you throw a feather into the moving current of a river and it lands on the water’s surface, it will be caught in the flow of the river and travel effortlessly downstream. Should you decide to jump in and let your body float motionless on the water like a feather, you would obviously advance in the direction of the river’s flow. But, instead, if you tried to swim upstream while the current is strong, you would have to struggle and work very hard against the constant force of the water. It’s much easier to let go of control and surrender in the direction of the current than to fight against the natural flow of the river. The idea of jumping into a river and deciding to swim with - or against - the current is representative of how we choose to respond - or react - to the many events of our life. We can expand our peace of mind by consciously surrendering and relaxing into what is, whereas suffering is felt when we resist life’s experiences just as they are. Suffering comes from resisting what is actually happening right now in our life, from resisting how things really are, in other words - resisting life as it appears in this moment. For some people, there is an obsessive desire for life to be different than it is, to have it be the way it used to be in the past, or the way it could be in the future and, thus, they live in an illusory reality that is other than the present moment. Suffering comes from our attachment to desiring a personal agenda or specific form of reality and also from defending a dysfunctional self-image that does not serve us. Furthermore, suffering is caused from a fear of death that we’ve acquired during our life erroneously believing we will be annihilated forever, or cease to exist, a belief that arises from the ignorance of not knowing our Eternal Nature. As we consciously cultivate a greater awareness of what our life is truly about, Life offers us new choices that can lead to sublime experiences of inner freedom. When we intentionally dive through the threshold of expanded awareness and plunge into the waters of greater understanding of what really matters, there comes a time of grace when we recognize how to effortlessly flow down “the River of Life” as it merges with the Ocean of Limitless Love. The ultimate goal of our awakening journey is much more than learning “to flow with the River”, it is ultimately “becoming the River itself”. December 20 “THE BIG QUESTIONS” I frequently ask the questions that help me expand my awareness of what my life is truly about. At some moment during your life, you have probably walked outside in the early morning chill and noticed the alluring sight of a spider web ornamented with glittering dewdrops that sparkled like tiny diamonds in the golden rays of the Sun. Spiders patiently sit at the center of their fragile webs, which they weave with delicate strands waiting for flying insects to unsuspectingly enter - and be helplessly caught in their lairs. We can use the image of a web as a metaphor to appreciate how the practice of contemplation can be a technique for “gathering insights and revelations in the net of an open mind”. Contemplation is a practice in which we still our mind, ask a question about an idea to explore, and then witness our thoughts being directed by Life into a flow of patterned awareness that brings us greater clarity about the question - through revelation or intuition. Each inspired inquiry or question we offer to Life can feel like “a vast net of unlimited potential”, a net where various expansive thoughts are gathered into “a container of possibility” attracting “the winds of revelation” that we simply behold in our awareness. “The web of contemplation” is invisibly formed within us to catch soaring intuitions and insights, and snare ever-expansive perspectives of greater understanding and compassion, yet allows “the clouds of illusion”, or loveless thinking, to pass right through. There are numerous types of contemplative practices that are valuable and revelatory, and one important practice is frequently asking the perennial questions of life. For example, “Why am I here?”, “What really matters?”, “What is my life truly about?”, and the question “Who am I?” that has been asked by countless people for millennia. When we ask these kinds of questions, it’s similar to panning for gold in a mountain stream where dirt and mud pass through the sifter, yet the precious gold is what remains. "The Big Questions” are like powerful telescopes that peer into a starry sky, for they help us gain a greater understanding of life’s mysteries and paradoxes.