THE NEXT STEPS….
I have not yet gone on pilgrimage to all the power places that I wish to visit. The travels that I have completed, however, have certainly answered the prayers I had so ardently expressed before I began my journeys in 1984. At that time I had been seeking a noble purpose for my life and yearning for a way of serving the earth. Traveling to the power places and receiving the teachings of the Earth spirit has answered both those prayers. Now I have a wonderful service to perform. Through book writing and public speaking I can function as a voice of the Earth spirit, communicating the teachings I have received about the livingness of the Earth and the importance of the sacred sites as places engendering spiritual transformation. In sharing this information I can, in some small way, encourage and support the cultural emergence of a deep ecological consciousness upon which the health of the planet and indeed the survival of our human species ultimately depends.
In the journey through life we all are upon, the most important task is to cultivate a sense of trust. Nothing will serve us more than this: a profound and ever deepening trust in the infinite energy, the consciousness, the God force - call it what ever you will - that keeps the vast panorama of universal existence moving along.
Yes, the world is in poor shape, and many of its problems grow worse with each passing day. Yet we must not fall into depression and worry. We are called upon to change and to change quickly, but we are not required personally to shoulder the responsibility for the way the world is. All that exists is in a continual state of change. Let us for a moment, every now and then, take a step above the crises of the world and remember that our planet is only a tiny place in an infinite universe of constant change, that our crises are but fleeting instants in an awesome eternity of time. There is a perfection to the order and flow of this grand universe that is not absent from our tiny Earth, our present time.
The perfection of the universe is in the dying forests, the starving children, the exterminated species. This perfection is difficult to comprehend - the more so one sees and feels the suffering of the people and the planet - yet it is perfect nonetheless. Crisis precedes transformation, and the level of our present crisis is indicative of the level of transformation we are approaching. The current crisis of humankind is, in its essence, a crisis of the lack of relationship. Humans are out of touch with themselves, with one another, with the plants and animals, and with the greatest being of all, the living Earth. As this crisis of relationship grows, so also does the yearning for transformation. The crisis is then, in a very real sense, the fuel or catalyst for transformation.
We must be aware of the suffering yet recognize that to stop it may prolong it, may in fact be the worst thing to do. A midwife does not seek to stop the suffering of a birthing mother; instead she assists the mother through the pain and thus eases the birth. She has compassion for the mother's suffering. She recognizes that it is necessary, that it is a way of nature, and that it will pass. Our planet is likewise giving birth. We humans are simultaneously the collective sufferers and the collective midwives. Let us allow this process of crisis transformation. Let us yearn for change as we hold deep compassion for the suffering, but without or bitterness for the past. We humans have always done the best we knew how. As we have learned, we have done better. As we continue to learn, we will do better still.
Now we are called to conscious relationship with all else, to recognition of the oneness of all creation. This is the great new birth arising from turmoil and suffering. Let us assist in this birth by changing our attitudes and actions, both individually and collectively. Let us allow what will come. Let us not fight the changes. The changes are unstoppable, and resistance to them will only cause us and the world more stress. So do not worry. Be happy. Give love to your life and give your life to love. Then go out and dance and sing and play upon our dear enchanted Earth.
References. (Click here to go to Bibliography)
(4) Castaneda, Carlos; The Fire From Within
(5) Castaneda, Carlos; The Fire From Within
