Journey of The Great Circle – Summer Volume

September 4 CONSCIOUS SPIRITUAL PARTNERSHIP In the seventeenth century, alchemists attempted to discover the arcane mysteries of life by using a mortal and pestle to blend certain obscure materials into novel compounds and then placed their prepared substances in a clay container called a crucible where the mixture was heated with great hope to reveal something new. If we agree that the purpose of life is to develop our creative potential, expand our awareness, and learn to love others more fully - so we may consciously live a life of inner freedom, then one dynamic arena that can serve this goal is the crucible of relationships. Our relationships present us with opportunities to deepen our awareness of what really matters by together forming “a vessel of the heart” where we blend our beliefs and perspectives while examining and re-evaluating (if necessary) what we believe to be true. In relationships (especially our primary intimate relationship) we encounter various situations in which we’re given the chance to cultivate a greater vision of our Fully Awakened Self by acting as mirrors for one another so we may consciously refine our awareness and transform any unhealthy or loveless aspects that impede our growth. Within the shared covenant of spiritual partnership there is a sacred agreement that we will do our best to keep our heart open, aid one another’s spiritual unfolding, and use the mutual resources and creativity within the relationship to offer our unique gifts and talents toward contributing to a better world. If we desire to cultivate a conscious spiritual partnership, we can choose to practice each day a series of transformative exercises that support the healthy growth of our relationship. First, we honor and celebrate the holiness in each other - and give our sacred alliance to the Presence of Love so our union more easily benefits one another and the world. We use this awareness practice of seeing the holiness within our closest intimate partner as a way to practice seeing and honoring the magnificence within each person in our life. It is especially important to cultivate honest, empowering, and integrous communication, for communication is like the electric current flowing through the walls of our home without which we can’t turn on “the light of awareness that removes the dark”. Furthermore, it’s essential to be present for, and emotionally available to, one another and to use any challenge that may arise as an opportunity to grow ever deeper in love. It’s also vital to regularly be in service to one another - and share daily expressions of love, which can be likened to nurturing a flower garden with a bounty of water and nutrients, for when a garden is nourished, it prospers - and when it's not, it withers. Developing a conscious spiritual partnership is like being alchemists - in which we both decide to mix into “the hallowed living crucible of our spiritual awareness” a solid commitment to exalt one another with the promise - “our enduring love is what truly matters”. September 9 THE QUEST FOR INNER FREEDOM If you were to observe a healthy four-year old child who is with his or her mother, typically around that age, the child will be very inquisitive about life and frequently ask the mother a barrage of curious questions. Why is the sky blue? - What is that for? - Where did this come from? - How does that work? It’s very natural for young children to ask questions about the world around them, and most of them do this regularly. Yet as children grow up to become adults in our seemingly regimented modern society of conventional career choices and socially accepted behaviors, some adults lose touch with their natural impulse to question life’s mysteries. The natural human yearning to question is a dynamic and important catalyst that can help sustain our ongoing quest for conscious growth and development. The human mind is biologically equipped with an amazing capacity to learn using the simple mental focus of an appropriate and powerfully expansive question. Throughout history, kings and peasants, philosophers and laborers, have been asking the classic perennial questions of life for thousands of years: Why am I here? - What really matters in my life? - What is my life truly about? - Who am I? The question “What is my life truly about?” can logically point us to a related question, “What is the mission of my life?” that asks what creative actions we can take in our life and how to most effectively contribute our creative gifts and talents to others. “What really matters in my life?” can point us to a similar type of question, “What is the meaning of my life?” which inquires into what is genuinely valuable and what makes our life truly worth living. The enduring question “Why am I here?” can point us to, “What is the purpose of my life?” referring to expanding our awareness of what is true and living a life of inner freedom, as well as the yearning to develop our potential and learn to love unconditionally. “Who am I?” is a very powerful question within an awakening life and is the kind of question each of us, at some time in our life, will likely investigate, which refers to aligning with, and ultimately realizing, our True Nature. The answers to the first three questions become ever-more clear as we sincerely contemplate the unending inquiry of this last existential question. For when we authentically know who we really are, then all other questions simply melt away. July 30 THE GIFTS OF PAIN When we watch an emotionally dramatic film in a theater, we may “lose ourselves” in the story by getting totally caught up in the movie’s sentiments - yet immediately after it’s over, we again remember we were simply looking at, or witnessing, a blank screen onto which a continuous sequence of moving images was projected. Similarly each day, we encounter a series of internal and external experiences that are, in a corresponding way, projected upon “the screen of our mind” such as our passing thoughts, our emotions, and our many physical sensations. Sometimes, our physical sensations may be in the form of pain or discomfort, yet they are still temporary passing experiences, like clouds passing within a blue sky, that we must either interpret, build a story around, or simply witness. When we resist life the way it is - and build a personal story around our pain, we suffer, yet witnessing our painful experiences and fully accepting them as they are offers us an opportunity to choose genuine peace of mind. In our everyday world, we tend to be culturally programmed by our modern society that pain is to be covered over - and pleasure is to be sought after and held onto. Of course no one wants to experience pain, and we must always try to alleviate it when it enters our awareness - or when we observe it in the lives of others, yet pain is an essential and natural part of life that everyone encounters and, if we remain open, pain can offer us specific kinds of “gifts”. Our pain gives us an opportunity to learn to accept that our life is unfolding perfectly just as it is - without judgment or resistance, for life simply is the way it is. In the vast school of life, our pain can be an effective “teacher” to bring to our awareness any inner blockages that need to be removed so the flow of Love can circulate in us. The whole Universe continues to evolve as a result of adapting to endless crisis and chaos, and thus, is always looking for better creative solutions to solve its current challenges. Our pain also gives us opportunities to access new solutions and insights of creativity as a natural response and way of dealing with the experience of pain.