We all go through changes in our spiritual Journey from time to time and I’m no exception. During a recent shift, I encountered a kind of energetic wall I could not seem to get through. Since this kind of thing happens to us all now and then, I did what any dedicated practitioner would do: I pulled out my tools and got to work.
But nothing seemed to work. I was filled with a daunting sense that all my darkest tendencies were coming up at once, so I spent increasing amounts of time in Communion asking for clarity. It was during one of those times that I received a rather sobering bit of insight from the Angels and Guides:
“The human condition allows for a tremendous amount of yearning, but not a tremendous amount of actualization.”
As with all of Their insights, the Angels refused to sugar-coat the Truth of the spiritual Journey. Instead of filling my head with empty platitudes, the Guides never treat me like a child. They tell it like it is, challenging each of us to see exactly what lies ahead and standing behind us to provide hope and clarity when the Path feels a little intimidating.
As the nature of the Journey is to help us to be free, it will by definition ask us to give up anything that keeps us bound to a limited sense of self. Since such an identity comprises the majority of what we initially believe ourselves to be, that means we give up, well…just about everything.
Enter the “not a tremendous amount of actualization” part. As many spiritual teachers remark, the Journey toward spiritual freedom is often sold as a purely joyful, blissful one. Don’t get me wrong–the beautiful freedom of true Communion transcends description, as you likely know. But laying down self-limiting perceptions can feel like someone is trying to rip your heart out through your ear. Indeed, we may end up resisting the very forces seeking to show us what it takes to actualize our spiritual yearnings.
Slowly we begin to see that the longer we are on the Path to self-awareness the more we find ourselves bagging up and donating all the things we once paid dearly for. Like taking a $300- pair of boots to the Salvation Army, you find yourself in a haze of disbelief as you sacrifice your carefully-coiffed personal identity, your attachment to being regarded as a “seeker,” your belief that you finally know what the Divine actually is. Such purging times can easily tempt us off of the road to actualization and into the time-warp of spiritual hibernation.
In the midst of my recent shift, I enjoyed a conversation with a student who asked about how things were going with my experience. As always, I told her the honest truth and shared how I was exhausted but hopeful that it would settle in soon. She laughed and said she thought it was supposed to get easier the closer we get to the finish line!
As I went about the rest of my day, I thought again and again about what she said. “Easier the closer we get to the finish line…” I mused as I tried to come to my own understanding of how it feels the farther along the Path I go.
For me, the Journey is like wandering across a foreign continent: The longer you trek, the fewer possessions you have. Your one extra shirt gets torn and is discarded, your hat blows off and is lost by the sea, your pen runs out of ink and is useful no more. By the time you are deeply committed, you find you only have a few items left–and they are likely your most cherished.
Now imagine that that cherished talisman, photograph or journal is the one thing the Journey asks you to give up. “Easier the closer we get..?” Maybe not…
But let’s not forget that the foreign continent delights in its ultimate goal of helping us to reinvent ourselves. The Journey allows us to see Reality as never before, to experience the Hush of true inner stillness. Easier the longer we journey? Perhaps not. But the closer we get to the happy isles the less we live in spiritual fantasies and the more we abide in the contentment of true actualization.
To read more of the Angels’ Words of Wisdom, please peruse other selections from our Wisdom category or visit www.hopeofthenewage.com/Wisdom
Grace and Clarity 