| Taking The Wheel of Life Out For a Spin | 11 comments |
 10 Apr 2008 @ 19:47, by David Bartholomew[excerpted from DoingIt!, March, 2007] and we let it slip away ~~ We May Never Pass This Way Again, by Seals & Crofts Having come, by a truly awe-inspiring and humbling set of circumstances, to a greater awakening of devotion— -- to the Earth; to gifts that have constantly, consistently and continually been bestowed upon me; to recognition and increased respect for the commitment of the seeker within myself and those I have come to witness in their myriad individual reflections of such back to me; to the Creative Force by all names— -- it seems I am now being bombarded with snippets and nuggets and moments… everywhere I turn; each, one more bit of proof that more is moving toward the positive in this world than we sometimes dare to believe… and certainly more than is reported to us. I feel something is awakening in me that will result in increased words and pictures, stories, documentation that hope to be increasingly effective in mirroring back to you the divinity and perfection within you, others, our world and beyond. I hope that you are achieving your own awakenings each day and feel that you are. The remembering of who we are and can be is available through limitless means. As I am writing this I am allowing an amazing documentary to wash over me— Wheel of Time by Werner Herzog. This film documents the bi- or tri-annual pilgrimage by thousands upon thousands of monks and devoted worldwide, to the village of Bhod Gaya, India, reputed to be the place where the Buddha is thought to have attained enlightenment. So many staggering stories of acts of devotion— 3000 mile journeys, over 3 years, of millions of uninterrupted prostrations… the twelve day Kalachakra ordainment/initiation process… the building of the intricate “wheel of time” sand painting-- mandalic outer representation of the over 700 hundred manifestations of the Buddha consciousness… symbolizing the inner, three-dimensional visualization of the same … built by few, witnessed by thousands, and wiped away clean soon after. So much respect in the witnessing of this chronicle, for those who guide us toward possibilities of what devotion , true devotion, can look like; these reverent people and their actions serving as signposts… large arrows pointing us in a direction on a path that many of us have newly accessed. Such stark contrast to my being able to get myself on a consistent daily practice, stay in control of the rudder of my emotional boat, or to any of us who allow “life” to interfere with our spiritual preparations intended to evolve us into our best selves. My devotion-- to growth, respect, integrity, you name it-- and yours can look infinitely different than theirs. Their example mainly inspires me from a perspective of scale, magnitude, degree of commitment, unwavering discipline… and especially, in the undertaking of all of it with so much joy, even through street level trials more demanding than those with which most of us might be challenged. I come to view this program after a really fun chat with a new friend from Brazil, Luiz, an ethnographic filmmaker and “daimista”-- 17 year devotee of a Brazilian ayahuasca tradition and interested visitor/witness/participant of numerous other rituals and disciplines worldwide. During this enjoyable talk we worked our way from tradition to tradition, noting the recognition of that uplifted state achieved in so many practices out there. He mentioned it a commonality among daimistas he has known to go out and sample and share the traditions and sacred practices of others, collecting these memories and moments, as it were; perhaps pollinating the seeds of utmost inspiration here and there; this, in his noted observation, in contrast to some only comfortable enough within their own tradition, who don’t, perhaps, allow themselves the gift of witnessing the ways in which others celebrate and re-create their unique aspects of divinity and consciousness. Alas-- to deprive oneself of the experiencing and understanding of so many of the threads that make up this tapestry of evolving humanity, to eliminate much-needed examples that so many others are DoingIt! These are the important things going on in the world today-- in your world. Turn off the “news” that speaks and illustrates otherwise; fuel yourselves instead, as often as possible, with these true capsulizations of the real human experience-- these bits of ammunition (flower power!)—to ward off any surfacing doubt that mankind is achieving any sense of its original objective. That you, in your sphere, are doing better, getting it… are exactly where you need to be and are realizing your individual purpose. Continue to take time and create your own acts and rituals of appreciation and celebration. Work yourself into a state of joy. Bring the sacred into even the most mundane tasks. And devote some time to seeking out how others might be doing the same. |