You are the path

FEAL | 21 Sep 2004

I will touch this topic a number I times I am sure. I’ve been meaning to go into it for some time now. The other day this topic came up in a discussion with a friend and this has spurred me on to write.

You are the Path
This is something that I have remembered and re-cognised in recent years. I know that for me it had quite powerful implication’s. Implication that spurred me on into deeper challenges that I was, however, able to face with greater strength and trust. Trust in the perfection of all that is unfolding in my world.

I’ve come across many spiritual teachings. I am aware of many different religions and philosophies. I am also aware of many so-called “New Age” ideas that are now moving through the collective psyche. One thing — among many — that I have noticed is that often (although not always) the “Path” is portrayed as something “Out there”. Something that is somehow separate from the person walking it. This portrayal of separation comes through in various ways, which I shan’t bother to elaborate on — better you notice them yourself.

What I will elaborate on is what I have realised myself.

The path that we each tread — whatever that path may be or entail — is in fact ones self.
The path to Enlightenment, for instance, is not separate from the person walking it. In my experience it IS the the one walking it.
One of the implications of this is that every single detail of who and what you are and how you are is all a vital and intrinsic part of your path to Enlightenment. Your nature, on all levels — those you are conscious of and those you are yet to be conscious of — is the very foundation of your Enlightenment. If or when you really get a feeling for what I am saying here, and if it at some point rings true to you, I suspect you will find that somewhere inside you’ll have a big sigh of relief.

Relief from what?
Relief from the illusion that you are somehow imperfect, faulty, a mess, in need of fixing, loaded up with heavy Karma, or whatever else you’ve taken on board in order to justify feeling cut off from Source. Relief from trying to fight with your story. Relief from struggling against yourself in order to get somewhere and become something other than what you are right here and now.

Now this is not to say that if you’re a real angry bastard much of the time that you won’t have to move on from being that way. It’s not to say that your being aggressive is something you’ll hang on to because it’s part of how you are. Rather, what I am suggesting is that there is no need to fight and judge that anger. Fighting it and judging it is like trying to burn chapters of a book that you don’t like. These chapters — out of your life story — are there to be read. They can be read with the same level of acceptance through which you read all the “nice” chapters in the book. It all is, after all, just a story — good, bad, sad, angry, or otherwise.

That anger — for example — is a force that when approached with Awareness will open up doors into long forgotten places within your Being. Like rooms in a house where they lights are turned off and the doors are no longer noticed. As you go around your house turning your lights on — so that one day the house is fully Enlightened — you will eventually have to find and go into those forgotten rooms. This anger — or any other thing about you that you might judge and battle with and try to disown — is what will lead you into particular rooms. Once in that room you might find there are some old family (ancestral) heirlooms or childhood collections of “Stuff” that you had long since forgotten about. It might be stuff you’d rather not look at, but again, with the deep knowing that it’s all CREATED BY YOU AND FOR YOU and that whatever is in this else is ALL there for your return to Love and Truth, you will find you can face that stuff, see it for what it is and then deal with it in an appropriate fashion.

Be open and loving with yourself about all the “imperfections” you perceive in yourself. Realise that none of it is personal, unless you take it personally. Yet, having said that, I will add that ALL of it is your responsibility — meaning it is all there to engage YOUR ABILITY-TO-RESPOND. They way in which you respond will determine your experience and what results from facing these shadows.

Remember, you are your own path.
Whatever religion you might subscribe to — or whatever beliefs you might choose to follow — if they are taking you “out there” in order to find and follow your “path” then I will simply say that this is just a way to take time over what IS right NOW.

With love,

PS. There is much more I could write on this but that’s all I feel to put into words for now. If you have any particular questions just ask them using the Comments feature.

  • Jonathan
    (NOTE: part of my response to a slight variation on Amber's comment is located at Dialogue with a friend)

    Hi Amber,
    In regards to ego-self and Divine Self, and self-realisation as opposed to Self-Realisation. Well, I don't have an immediate brief answer to this question. I could explain it in a much longer reply but I don't feel to just now (most likely because I want to go to bed shortly). What I will say is that the ego is always on the path of "attaining" something. It also seldom takes responsibility for what it is experiencing. It tends to project outward rather than turn everything inward. Hence if you are operating from that place then you will tend to see yourself relating to life in that way.

    Divine Self (as you put it) has nothing to attain. It already is what it is --- exactly as God created it. It's only interest in this world is in letting go --- in release. Release of that which is not real so that you wake up to what IS real. Divine Self tends to turn everything inward as opposed to projecting outward. Divine Self is joyful and peaceful. Ego-self is disturbed and quite often rather messed up.

    Now, neither is right or wrong. Even if you experiencing yourself approaching life from what you might identify as "ego self", your Divine Self is untouched by this. Hence it is a matter of choice (at some level). So the key is not to judge yourself when you are aware that you're operating from what you might call ego-self. No, rather the key is to embrace everything. Love. Accept. Allow. Release. You can only release that which you are willing to gently and lovingly hold in your hand. Don't fight with the ego-self. It's neither good nor bad. It is whatever you make it.

    In regards to the "Created by you" part. Well, it's not so much that you are choosing suffering. The suffering part of your experience --- I would say --- is actually about how you choose to relate to what you are perceiving in your world. Resistance to what is tends to create the experience of pain. Pain is not "Bad" or "negative" --- albeit it is not exactly pleasant when one is engaged in the experience of it. Pain is a perfect "mechanism" for waking us up to where and how we are forgetting our Divinity in any given moment.

    Also, this word "choice" --- It doesn't feel accurate to say "you have chosen absolutely everything that has happened to you on this Earth". Yes, choices are made. But the consequences are governed by certain laws and principles that have nothing to do with your choices (at least not at a level you're likely to be conscious of).
    If I choose to bang my head against a wall and I feel pain in my head as a result, I have not exactly chosen to feel pain in my head. No, I simply choose to bang my head against a wall. The pain I feel in my head afterwards is simple a natural consequence of that action within this world of matter. We make so many choices in every moment right throughout time and space and the consequences of these can get rather intricate and complicated (from a human point of view). This is actualy a way of describing Karma.

    That's all for now.

    With love,
    Jonathan

    PS. I am not sure what you mean by this sentence: "I’m wondering does there has to be ‘wounding’ at play with what arrives (or rather I have chosen) in my life and if love just dances with love, no unravelling required, no story to dismantle."
  • Amber
    When you say with "deep knowing that it’s all CREATED BY YOU AND FOR YOU" are you saying that I have chosen everything I experience on this earth, everything?
    If so, at what level of my being (do you suggest) I have made this choice and when? And why would I choose such suffering!?
    &
    What do you believe to be the resonance between myself and the seemingly 'out there' experiences I have. Someone once said to me that our damaged selves are drawn to another's, that is where the charge lies. I did not like the idea of this at the time. Now I can see some of the truth in what they say; that my 'damaged' sense of self is drawn to people/institutions/places and manifests experiences that create a story, that holds the potential for healing to occur if I choose to disidentify and work to unravel it by remembering my divinity.
    I'm wondering does there has to be 'wounding' at play with what arrives (or rather I have chosen) in my life and if love just dances with love, no unravelling required, no story to dismantle.
    Also, you mentioned elsewhere and Debbie made suggestion of it in her writing (which is an interesting and provocative dialogue) about ego-self and divine self.
    How does one know what is ego, what is divine? How does one know if one is seeking self-realisation not Self realisation? ie. whether I'm on a big ego trip or a genuine commitment to Self to healing and liberation.
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