Journey of The Great Circle - Winter Volume

January 21 MASTER OF FREEDOM It is the destiny of a baby bird to hatch from the protective shield of an egg, gain strength from the nourishing food provided by the parent birds, and eventually leap courageously from its nest to soar high above the trees. It is the destiny of a caterpillar larva to grow - and reach its full expression so it can, one day, crawl to the place on a tree or rock where it will form its cocoon and be transformed into a butterfly to take wing through the skies. It is also the destiny of every one of us to respond to our natural inner yearning to cultivate a higher awareness that will correct any unloving beliefs we have so we may transform our unconscious habits, prevail over self-imposed fears, free ourselves from suffering, and ultimately awaken to who we really are. The Intelligent Force of Life that animates all people with this powerful innate longing is constantly inviting us to expand our awareness of what is true, cultivate our greatness, express our creativity, and embrace our limitless nature. In order to consciously transform our personal lives from a life of suffering and self-limitation to a life in which we experience inner freedom and peace of mind, we must boldly act on this invitation by participating in a journey of discovery. It is our journey of awakening - where we inwardly align our awareness with the Source of Life as we outwardly share our unique creative gifts and talents in ways that contribute to a better, more enlightened world. It is accepting that our life is unfolding perfectly just as it is, living in the present moment, and being aware of our Oneness with all of life. Our awakening journey is also about constantly expanding our awareness, developing our unlimited potential, and awakening to our True Eternal Nature. This is our journey of life mastery as we learn to compassionately serve the wellbeing of others and love the people in our life unconditionally. This spiritual quest can be thought of as a sacred divine marriage, for it is the hallowed union of the Servant of Love within us completely integrated with Limitless Love. It is the cultivation of our Compassionate Heart fully merged with Infinite Presence, and this sublime union can be expressed in our daily life as a Master of Freedom. The archetype of the Master of Freedom can also be described as our Fully Awakened Self, which is our awakened awareness of inner freedom and loving all of life unconditionally. It is our destiny to embody our Awakened Self, to jump from “the nest of limitation and fear”, to benevolently transform ourselves within “the cocoon of the Infinite Power of Love”, and to leap confidently into “the unlimited skies of awakened living” that await us. January 10 PILLARS OF AWAKENING One way of thinking about spiritual awakening is - “it’s the natural evolutionary journey of ongoing inner development that every person in the world is constantly embarked on” (whether he or she is consciously aware of it or not). Our journey of awakening can also be thought of as “a magnet from the future” mysteriously pulling each of us towards it. For spiritual awakening is every person’s destiny - and arises from shifting one’s awareness from the imprisoning bondage of the habitual drives of the ego (which are focused around self-centered power, control, and fear) to the freedom and liberation of aligning with the Source of Life and serving the wellbeing of others. So to support our awakening - Life may offer some experiences that shake us to our very core and “lead us to a sacred place” of intense breakdown - and profound breakthrough, a place where our heart opens to new possibility and greater awareness. It’s then, through grace, that Life presents to us the gift of a personal vision of hope, a glimpse of how it would feel for us to live in inner freedom (a life of spiritual mastery). At times throughout our life, there are exalted moments of spiritual epiphany when we are blessed to receive such an expansive vision, a brief look at how it would feel to live in a state of gratitude for what we’re learning from every experience we encounter. Every so often, there are times when our heart suddenly bursts open and gets a sense of how it would feel to live each day surrendering everything in our life to the Infinite Presence of Love, discovering the most natural ways to flow with the changes of life and letting go of our attachments to our desires. There are those moments when we experience an intuitive insight of how it would feel to fully accept that our life is unfolding perfectly just as it is and, ultimately, to be aware of our Oneness with all of life. These elated epiphanies of grace, these extraordinary moments of awareness, are like powerful magnets drawing us closer to “a turning point”, a shift where we, more consistently, live with an awakened awareness. These four fundamental qualities, gratitude, surrender, acceptance, and Oneness, are referred to as the Pillars of Awakening that light the pathway of our journey so we may more clearly and consciously navigate the winding road of life. It then becomes our responsibility to pursue this invitation to live a life of inner freedom by cultivating greater awareness of what is true - using daily transformative practices that help us embody and integrate these attributes into the fabric of our life.