Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone the question, "Does this path have a heart?" If it does, the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use. ~ Carlos Castaneda, In Corrogue I am building paths out on this acre of diamonds. These paths come from all directions and form all sorts of shapes. There are diamond shapes, and square shapes. There are triangles pointing east and west. At some future time I will build octagons. Lastly I will embrace the land with circles and crosses. All these shapes serve to remind me of the power of symbols and the way in which a symbol can transform my life into the real life. My favourite symbol at this point in my life is the Celtic cross. For me it represents the unity of the masculine and feminine. It is a symbol of time merging with the timeless. The Celtic cross abounds in Ireland. There is hardly a day when travelling the lanes around this cottage when my eyes do not feast upon its beauty. Incorporated into the body of this cross is the endless weave. These are two strands that are woven together without beginning or end. This reminds me of how life and death are not separate just as time and the timeless are never separate; just as the Beloved and I are never separate. I think that the cross on its own is such a lonely symbol. It is all straight lines with beginnings and endings. It is a very masculine symbol. When you add the circle to the cross it becomes complete. The circle is feminine. It is empty and full at the same time. It has no beginning and no end. It represents eternity. This week I have been watching the movie trilogy of The Lord of the Rings. At the centre of this movie is the circle in the form of a golden ring. Only this circle as represented by the ring is not the circle of love but the circle of power held within time. It is the symbol of a dark power. As a symbol the movie represents the journey of the ego that has lost contact with the soul. To wear the ring of power gives you invisibility. In essence, you are no longer seen. In essence, you can no longer feel your soul life. On placing the ring of power on your finger you enter an invisible world. This world is the separation from the beauty of love. You enter the world where all is me and mine. You enter the world of possession. You become possessed with the power that you can do whatever you like. You leave the real life and enter the world of belief. You enter the belief that you are separate from love. Lord of the Rings is the story of the soul journey. It is the story of the forces that move within all of us. It is the story of the heros journey. This is the quest to come to a place of timelessness within this place of time and space in which we all live and have our being. You can have the ring of power but then you fall out of the circle of love. This journey to return the ring of power to its original source is a moment to moment journey. It is a journey into the dark places of the heart and the mind. Each of these dark places can become an ally when you offer them the light of acceptance rather than the harshness of judgement. At the end of the journey all that you hold precious has to be let go. At the end of the journey you stand on the edge of the chasm of fire. All that you think is mine has to be surrendered. All that you hold onto as belonging to someone separate from love has to be thrown into the fire. On the edge you will fight. The ego will fight you and will seek to cling to the power it feels rightfully belongs to it alone. It is afraid. It fears that without what is precious to it there will be nothing left. In the movie, Frodos hobbit companion Sam acts as his conscience. They come from middle earth to save the world. They have come from the heart and it is Sam who in the final moment of decision asks Frodo to Let go the ring. We encircle our lives with the illusion of the ego. We encircle our lives with the idea that we are moral and that life has a beginning and an end. We encircle our lives with the limitation of time and space and rarely if ever come to know the beauty beyond limitation. The fight that takes place in the movie Lord of the Rings is the fight that takes place in each of us. We all carry the ring of power. We all carry the inner critic Golem who would kill to keep what is my precious. When you take the journey of the hero you cannot go back. You have let go the burden of the precious ego and you are left empty. You have come to the centre. After this letting go you cannot live in the world in the same way. It no longer holds the attraction it once did You are no longer seduced by the illusion of the precious me and mine. The journey continues but it is not the journey of time and space alone. At the end of the movie Frodo cannot go back home. His home is now in the eternal. His home is in the soul. He has to go to the other shore. This is the shore that the Celts called Tir na Nog. This is the place of true belonging. It is the place of heroes. It is the place that Christ called heaven. It is the shore that Buddha called nirvana. This shore does not live beyond the death of the body. It lives beyond the death of me and mine. It lies in the journey to the edge where you surrender all that you hold onto as being precious little me. This journey of the soul is the only path worth taking. It is the path less travelled and it goes through the dark wood of non-acceptance. The question for each of is, Am I prepared to quest? The quest asks you to answer the real question, Who am I? On the heros journey all paths lead to the centre. There you will find the beauty of no thing because you become the flow of everything. When you let go and surrender to the Beloved all that you ever wanted arrives because there is no longer any sense of wanting. What to want when you know you are it all. You come to be in Tir Na Nog. You come to the land of the ever young where there is only the eternal now and you need never be afraid of anything ever again. You have come home to the homeplace of your longing and belonging. When you do this you come to know that the blessing is here and you are it. Tony Cuckson 2005 |
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