NAVIGATION 3

P. 204-208

“Energy does not leave, it only transforms,” or as ACIM puts it, "Ideas do not leave their source" both of which are other ways of stating “We are always in the presence of God, the presence of love.”

“Once you understand that your physical body will not be here one day in its present form but you will exist in another form again and again and again, you have a much easier time being here because you don’t have to hold on so tight. This is not your last meal. You don’t have to stuff yourself and grab from your neighbor and feast until you’re sick because there’s nothing else coming. You have thousands of years and more and more and more of existence before you.”

  I struggle with this one. I spent so many years perceiving life as a “valley of tears” that I still get the shakes thinking about going through adolescence again, but what I am missing in those fear based moments is all the lessons, healing and growth I am working on this lifetime. 

It’s all learning. I’m going to share my own version of an older metaphor about life and it s meaning:

“You are the son of a loving father and you are asked if you would be willing to leave your country and explore a part of the unknown world so you could bring back what you discover to your father's kingdom. So you do; you volunteer to take this on, and you are reminded that the journey will be arduous and that there might be difficult times of loss and confusion, and times when you will even forget the purpose of your mission. Despite all of this you decide to go on this quest/this journey so that you can add to your father's glory. You will be the father's eyes and ears and what you bring back will be experience.”

I also recalled a marvelous passage from Kurt Vonnegut when one of his characters was challenged to answer the question “What is the meaning of life?”

He replied, the purpose of life is: “To be the eyes and ears and heart and mind of the creator of the universe.” Isn’t that great?

I also recalled when a master was asked what death is like, and he replied, “It is like taking off a shoe that is too tight.”

But the death that we encounter daily is the death of the ego, that tiny part of you and me that thinks it is IT! The process is so difficult for a time because the ego has no idea that it will be continually resurrected. Death to the ego does not mean its destruction so much as it means the ego is relegated to its proper place in the hierarchy of being. 

The way the guides put it: 

“But there is a death of the ego self that we are going to address now because you might as well be prepared for what is to come. Now this is not a hard death, this is nothing terrible, nor is it even really a trial. It’s simply a matter of outgrowing a personality self that has believed it would be in control for the rest of your existence. It’s that simple.”

Our roles change, and the more we are willing to release them, the easier the transition, even to letting go of the body. 

Now we move from the ridiculous to the sublime, from Vonnegut, the cynic, to Gibran the mystic.

In this beautiful passage Kahlil Gibran offers his reflections on parents and children, a powerful bit of wisdom about letting go of our supposed roles in life.

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, 

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 

and He bends you with His might 

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, 

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Parting thought. I’ve shared this one a few times in other places.

Remember when you were a child and some adult would inevitably ask, “Who do you think you are?”

I never had an answer to that one (because the question was always asked in such a belligerent kind of way), but what would it have been like if I had replied, “I am a Divine child of God, unconditionally loved, and so are you!”