What We Can't Resist

There is a fire in me this morning, you might say it's a creative force. I'm listening to a Heart song called 'These Dreams,' and the line 'I need to hide away...there's something out there I can't resist' is playing on repeat in my head. What is it we can't resist?

I said recently, some are calling these times a tomb. This is a reaction to chaos - there is destruction wherever you care to look. Others would cover their eyes and ears, find what solace and release they can in their idea of love. Any idea borne of need is fear in sheep's clothing. The need to run is understandable and overwhelming.

The image depicted is strong, symbolic and expresses what we can't resist - truth. It's the face of the Hindu Goddess Kali; in essence truth and destruction manifest. Issac Newton's Third Law of Motion describes that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Kali (which you may see as an energetic force) rises as a reaction to meet circumstances much like our current ones. It is inevitable. She is the energetic force that equalises an imbalance.

Deep in the symbolism that is Kali lies another truth, she is that within us which is fearless. This is love. We cannot resist. There is tremendous relief, a soul sigh of release, within destruction. Destruction and creation, they are one. You see, nothing is ever lost or even found – it just is.

How Sweet it Tastes

We’re living in interesting times. I heard that said yesterday, ruefully. A gentleman of deep thought had been discussing social media and the lack of connection between people. A retired teacher, he’d seen the writing on the chalkboard long ago. Our conversation was warm, authentic and…connecting.

In the reflective hours of later, his words and their implication opened, one thought expanding into another. There was a certain irony, sharing thoughts and moments of something real, we were connected. I’d said that to him, for as much as we are not (in our perception), there is so much more that we are. We’re connected, inextricably, inevitably, eternally to everyone and everything.

Considering the times though, authenticity is the revelation. The truth is being revealed everywhere you care to look. Many are focusing on limitation, what we are not and where that’s showing itself. Where we put our focus is also where we’re creative, literally creating our reality. It seems hard not to imagine times past like a warm bed, comforting. There is no comfort to be had from dwelling in the past though as it’s not real. That which lies ahead, where fear would take us if we let it, is similarly unreal.

Here in this moment, fully present to what’s on offer there is this - expansion. Each moment offers us the chance to transform, expand into new potential. We are the creators, connected to limitation or expansion as we wish. A strawberry is as sweet as we choose.

- S. Marian.

Buddha told a parable in a sutra:

A man travelling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

(Buddhist koan, belonging to all.)

Say Yes!

Today say yes! As we move into what feels like uncharted terrain, even the obstacles don't feel the same. Those that come up are fundamental, triggering pain. There's no beginning, no end on this journey of ascend. It's true we're ever becoming and already became, but the answer is just the same - say yes!

Say yes to what is, breathe deep into you, through that you'll become what you always knew. It's the opening of childbirth for the child long born, it's a stretching into resistance, letting go of all form. Say yes to what you hide, to the dark corners of you, say yes to your shame and your deepest fears too. Bare your heart, bare your soul, let the spear pierce the skin...for this is where the transformation begins.

It's a sigh of surrender, opening to the sea, it's in you, it's in me, it's what sets us free. You cannot get lost, it's not possible, just try, that which you fear was always a lie. It's not found in flowers, not in these words, nor gestures or poems, it's not felt in the mind but where the heart roams. So set yourself free, let one word be spoken, say yes to it all and your truth will be woken.