Why would I think easing into this "blind step" of spiritual unfolding would go slowly when 4 1/2 months ago I was stubbornly skeptical of Divine Beings and had no real desire to go to India--and now I am moving there for an undetermined period of time? During my 12 hour layover in the Hong Kong airport, I began relaxing into the new reality and started considering what is my "real" motivation for going to India. Karn keeps referring to it as a spiritual vacation, but my inner resonance doesn't buy that one. The time back in the Western world with my spiritual seeking tribe and surrounded by the freedom, abundance, and safety that the US represents was good for deepening into the question of, "What am I doing and why?" The layover gave me time to update my two blogs, make facebook entries, and read through all miscellaneous paperwork lurking in my travel folder. Ok, so now what? I found a nice video of an interview by Angelina Jolie regarding life in Cambodia, world issues, and the beauty of a photo shoot. It made me reflect on her influence/inspiration to kick start me heading back out into the world. Her work as an UN Ambassador in combination with her Hollywood connection has always intrigued me--it seemed like the perfect coupling of light and dark.
During the past two years of moving through my deepest inner darkness with the help of Narayana Baba and Mataji, it was time to start looking and experiencing the outer darkness (at least that was my perception) in the world at large. South Africa was my first stop and India became my second stop. So while mulling all of this over, I also chewed on one of my current questions regarding humans on the planet: is there something beyond the individual's pathway? I recognize that we are all related/connected through an internal spark of energy (life force), living in the world proceeds, and we start developing varying amounts of lint on our lint screen. We can learn techniques and follow beliefs for "self mastery" that can help minimize or reduce the lint build up--our own or contributing to others. My research from reading, interviewing, and questioning shows that we need to start with our own-- and get a handle on that. Obviously, a monumental task in itself and one that I have personally only started to see a hint of a light at the end of the tunnel, but is that enough? Many of the spiritual teachings say that it is. Or is it just the start of a new layer?
As I sat in the airport and decide to start with one of the books that I would consider light reading--wham--it was all about this idea, (The Hole in our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision US.) He talks about taking the idea of "God" moving from a private/inward belief to a public/outward belief to be more complete. More grace, it is that opening the page to just what you were asking to investigate. This question is taking on the feel of my entire spiritual reality--my shoelace is caught in the escalator and there is an undeniable pull to keep moving into the unknown. The difference this time is that I am armed with faith (not blind) and an open heart (instead of skepticism and a potentially openable heart.)
Richard is very Christian, so I am doing some mental substitution for my current belief of no one religion taking precedence over another--just the idea of spiritual unity. He included a quote in his book that I thought was lovely.
Christ has no body on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out;
yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good;
and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.
--Saint Teresa of Avila--
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An interview with Jolie that will be posted later in the month. In it, she is expected to discuss how her visit to Cambodia was a life-changing experience, awakening her to the plight of Third World countries. She adopted her eldest son, Maddox, from Cambodia and she and Brad Pitt established the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which is active in community development and conservation in the country. She's barefoot, wearing her own clothes, less makeup and toting her own elegantly weathered monogrammed Alto bag. Yet Angelina Jolie looks radiant and completely in her element, reclining on a wooden boat in a verdant, lakeside landscape in Cambodia's Siem Reap province. Jolie discovered the country in 2000 when she filmed "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," and it sparked her humanitarian activism. | |
During the past two years of moving through my deepest inner darkness with the help of Narayana Baba and Mataji, it was time to start looking and experiencing the outer darkness (at least that was my perception) in the world at large. South Africa was my first stop and India became my second stop. So while mulling all of this over, I also chewed on one of my current questions regarding humans on the planet: is there something beyond the individual's pathway? I recognize that we are all related/connected through an internal spark of energy (life force), living in the world proceeds, and we start developing varying amounts of lint on our lint screen. We can learn techniques and follow beliefs for "self mastery" that can help minimize or reduce the lint build up--our own or contributing to others. My research from reading, interviewing, and questioning shows that we need to start with our own-- and get a handle on that. Obviously, a monumental task in itself and one that I have personally only started to see a hint of a light at the end of the tunnel, but is that enough? Many of the spiritual teachings say that it is. Or is it just the start of a new layer?
As I sat in the airport and decide to start with one of the books that I would consider light reading--wham--it was all about this idea, (The Hole in our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision US.) He talks about taking the idea of "God" moving from a private/inward belief to a public/outward belief to be more complete. More grace, it is that opening the page to just what you were asking to investigate. This question is taking on the feel of my entire spiritual reality--my shoelace is caught in the escalator and there is an undeniable pull to keep moving into the unknown. The difference this time is that I am armed with faith (not blind) and an open heart (instead of skepticism and a potentially openable heart.)
Richard is very Christian, so I am doing some mental substitution for my current belief of no one religion taking precedence over another--just the idea of spiritual unity. He included a quote in his book that I thought was lovely.
Christ has no body on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out;
yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good;
and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.
--Saint Teresa of Avila--
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