We are all bathed in the illusion of what appears to be real. Life presents us with various scenarios – some exciting and exhilarating, and others dire and depressive. But the key is that we – the real “we” – have the opportunity to weed through the elements of desire to find the pearl of great price that is hidden within the scenarios each of us face. For some, it is an adventure, for others, a seeming nightmare. Yet, we are all given provisions to find our way out of the maze in which we seem to be planted. It is a mind field that requires discretion and discernment, and that is the making or breaking of us in this incarnation. There is no judgment related to finding or not finding, there is only the lack of light that we keep from ourselves when we continue to scratch and dig in the fields of empty. One way we can tell when we are looking for love in all the wrong places is that we feel a momentary high and then we crash and need something new and novel to spark our enthusiasm. The continual rush to find something “out there” that will do it for us is futile. There is nothing out there.
The true unifying agent is only found when we exhaust ourselves of the endless search that leads to continuous dissatisfaction and turn within to find something that goes way beyond the world of appearances. That is the Inner Sanctum, the still small voice, the cave, the quiet place, the Silence, and many other names that point to the only realm where true joy and lasting satisfaction can be attained. The key is that we have to turn all our programming upside down and recognize that we’ve been searching for the wrong things, because the journey to our true Self is not about finding, it is about receiving.
When we go within, yearning for communion with something higher than our ego wants, we open ourselves to being vulnerable. We are finally turning inward because the outer world no longer satisfies. We aren’t being fed our daily bread in ways that nourish our soul. We are living on a junk food diet that merely exploits our basest nature and inflates our illusion of specialness. Once those false doctrines come tumbling down and we’ve exhausted our avenues to “fulfillment”, we are ready to make the real journey…one that is without distance and only requires that we make a turn away from the noise and distractions to allow the priceless pearl to open to us.
Quieting the mind, stilling the chattering mind, disarming the unquenchable desire body – these are the things we need to be willing to do in order to come into the Peaceable Kingdom. As we do this, there are incredible rewards waiting to be claimed. Our true nature is revealed and we no longer feel like separate sojourners on a rocky path where we have to maintain attitudes of survival of the fittest. We are aware that we are all linked in unity at the core and that working together we can create meaningful lives and healing of our planet and ourselves. It is all an inside job, and it starts with each one of us. Like small lights, we are turned on one at a time to bring about a glow of beauty that ignites the spirit of our fellow travelers. We see the unity of ALL life and recognize the sacredness in everything from the stone to the magnificent eagle and crawling insect, from the most exotic flower to the smallest weed. EVERYTHING is sacred when we look at it through the lifted veil of illusion.
As we enter the Kingdom held within us, we are refreshed and renewed. There are answers to all our issues, fears, and hurts. There is a source of sustenance that is never dimming, never ending, and the only thing that separates us from it is our own act of separation, often based on a sense of unworthiness.
As long as we persist in seeing ourselves as separate individuals who are here to gain our own ends at the expense of the rest of life, we are living a lie, and we can do that for all of our days, but internally, we will know that something major is missing. We may be experts at self-defense and avoidance. We may have the most tangible assets to show how powerful we are, or can sway others through our will, but inside at the core, we cannot hide from the truth. Something very important is missing, and until we acknowledge this and seek first That which we TRULY are, we will live a life that is a dim reflection of what we can truly be.