Let Go of the Shore

DREAM that I had just left this big sprawling house where many people were, and I was one of them. I was pulling my bundle buggy behind me, following a man, but not to seem as if we were together. More like a little sister would follow her big brother, but not side by side. The ground was a little bumpy and my bundle buggy was rattling because it was empty. Then for some reason I turned around and came back to the house, remembering that 3 of my girlfriends were there when I left. The place was packed with people eating, as if it was a restaurant, but I didn’t see my friends. I wandered around trying to see what people had ordered, to get a sense of what’s available and what I might order, but I didn’t see anything near appealing…

DREAMWORK:

I have been following my brother Animus who has left the collective, the safety of the status quo, to journey on the path of the Middle Way. I had extricated myself of my belongings except my bundle buggy, the container for gathering what I might buy. So even though I’ve detached myself materially, I’ve not given up on the desire to acquire and amass. I think brother Animas had a backpack or a small bundle too. We were at the very beginning of our journey to Dao. The ground was bumpy, I have been full of niggling doubts that were like little siren calls to lure me back to the safety of status quo. I caved in and went back for another look, and the place had turned into nothing but a restaurant, an established place of business marketing to our need for comfort and fulfillment. I have been here countless times before, everyday of my life, trying to get my fill. But like all ‘good’ and ‘successful’ marketing, it keeps you coming back for more, not because of any great business acumen or strategy, but because it pacifies our base desires for a time. In a way it is very natural, we have the need to eat, a business is build to provide for (and milk) that need. Except we’ve forgotten the spiritual part of eating, the sacrament, as we have with everything else, so that part is always starved. But the spiritual is bigger than and contains the physical, so we never feel sated entirely, not for more than a few minutes at a time. Hence the pursuit for more and more and more, and the fear of not getting it.

So I went back for more, because I am still in the grip of this fear. Probably this fear also prevents me from getting closer to my Animus. I’m not ready to commit my whole self to him or the path, because I still believe I have to get my fill elsewhere. But it is, as I already know, an exercise in futility, for there is nothing that appeal to me in our society and culture anymore. My fear is all that remains of my compulsions.

Let go of the shore, as one of my favourite poems and teaching says below. Let go, of my personal desires and fears, and be carried by the river, then I will find the people who are in there with me, and together we will celebrate the sacredness of all life.

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From The Elders Oraibi – Arizona Hopi Nation

"There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river,
keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we've been waiting for."