Again, we take a moment to review the beginning of our
long journey into the Light of our true SELF. As we look back at who we were
and what we were doing when we first started our Path, we realize that this
Path is comprised of many stairs.
THE STAIRWAY
I awake, or have I just fallen asleep, to find
myself on a stairway. Above me the stairs get brighter and of a looser form.
Below me the stairs become darker and more constricted to form.
I look at the stairs above me and feel a sparkle
of love calling me to climb them. But when I try, I find that an inner pull
urges me to turn and go down the stairs below me. I turn to look down the
stairway and feel a fear that chills my heart.
“Why would I want to go down there?” I say to
myself.
"Because you already have," whispers a
voice that seems to emanate from the sparkle of love above me.
"If I have been to that place," I ask,
"why would I ever want to return?"
"You do not need to return," the voice
breathes into my heart. "You have never left."
"No, that is not possible. I feel myself
only here, upon this step"
"But you are on other steps as well. In
fact, there is a ‘you, in fact, there are many of ‘you’ on every step. You see
each step represents a dimension, a plane of existence."
"If there are so many fragment of myself,
why don't I know about them?"
"Do you feel the pull from the steps
beneath you?"
"Yes, I do."
"That pull is coming from the portions of
your self that are lost in the lower dimensions. They are lost because they
believe they are alone. Because you have not freed them, you believe that you
are alone."
"How can I free them when I feel like I am
lost myself?"
"Oh my one, you are not lost. You have
found your higher voice; you have found ME! Your ‘lost’ fragments of self have
sent you up this stairway, like a scout, to see if there was another way. Now
you have found it. Go back now, and share your experience with them."
"Please don't make me leave. I remember it
down there now, and I want to stay here."
"You shall stay where you are, just as you
will stay where you have been. You will not move, instead, you will
expand."
"Expand?"
"Yes, you see yourself now as a single
point of awareness. Can you extend that awareness to imagine that you are
standing on every step?"
I close my eyes and call on my imagination. I
have always had a vivid imagination. Oh yes, there they are. There is a person
on every step. Each one has the same amount of light and density as the step on
which they are standing. They all look very different, but there is something
about them that feels the same, as well.
"Yes," the voice replies to my
thoughts. "They all are of one consciousness. Can you feel how you are I
are the same?"
It seems difficult for me to imagine that I
could be the same as this wise and loving voice, but I close my eyes and try to
make the connection. At first all I can perceive are the many voices of doubt,
ridicule, and fear calling from the stairs below me. But, gradually, I also
feel the love and support sparkling from the stairs above me.
With this feeling, my consciousness and
perception begin to expand more and more. I feel pulled like a rubber band
being pulled so tight that it is ready to snap. Tighter and tighter I feel the
pull until I can barely stand the tension.
Then, with a sudden SNAP, I understand. I am the loving voice that has guided me. I am the pull of fear and doubt. I am each person upon each step. In fact, I am each step and the imagination that created
them. I am ALL IN ALL.
"Yes," resonates the loving voice from
every person, every step, and every dimension. "WE are a multidimensional
being. It is OUR expansion from a singular consciousness to multidimensional
consciousness that allows us to KNOW who we are."
As we awaken to who we really are, we can more easily find the courage to
enter the shadows of our unconscious mind.
THE SHADOW POND
I turned to walk away, but with my very first
step I knew that I must stay. If I could not see what was in the pond, maybe I
would have to feel it. Maybe, I would have to actually enter the pond and feel
its dark waters upon me.
The thought of entering the murky water made me
cringe. Should I keep my clothes on as some meager attempt at protection or
should I enter the water as naked as the day I was born?
I knew the answer. I must face the depths
without any external protection. I must find my protection in the courage that
it would take to enter the murky pond. Courage, which was deep within my core,
would be my only protection to face the darkness and the secrets that it
held.
I shed my clothes quickly, before I lost my
nerve, and jumped into the foreboding pond. I held my breath and immediately
dove to the bottom. I navigated with my arms, as I was not quite ready to open
my eyes.
When I touched the bottom of the pond, I knew
that I must open my eyes while I still had enough air in my lungs to remain at
the bottom. A vision of muck and grime awaited my opening eyes. But what was
that-just over there?
Something golden was sparkling against the
surrounding filth. Oh it must be rescued, I thought. It does not belong here.
This golden thing is different from the dirt that surrounds it.
I swam to the golden sparkle and wiped the mud
from its surface. The dark mud hovered in the water, waiting to again cover the
golden object. I reached for the treasure with the intention of bringing it to
the surface, but found that it was held fast to the bottom of the pond. I
pulled and pulled, but it did not budge.
Finally, I stood on the silt-covered bottom to
gather enough resistance to free the bit of gold. My toes squished into the
sticky mud and my struggle filled the water with silt. I had to close my eyes
to protect them and pulled on the golden object while I pushed against the
floor of the pond.
Yet nothing worked, and I was running out of
oxygen. Would I have to abandon the treasure that lay hidden in the murky
pond's depths? I stood still for a moment and released my hold on the golden
object. It instantly sank back into the mire.
Only a small portion of it glistened through the
filthy water. With shame, I realized that I could not free the treasure. Then I
remembered that it had been my intention to "feel" the water. Yes,
now I felt it. It felt like shame, and guilt, and most of all, it felt like
fear.
The fear permeated every rock and every atom of
the pond. It is no wonder that which was beautiful could not be freed. As I
stopped my struggle, the mud that had filled the water began to settle-settle
onto me.
I felt it clawing at my skin reminding me of
feelings that I had felt outside of the dark pond. NO! I must leave these
depths and the feelings that they aroused in me. I could not save the treasure.
I would have to leave it in the murky depths.
Besides, I could hold my
breath no longer. I must return to the surface. The thought of escape felt good
and necessary. I swam to the surface with a mixture of relief and sadness,
relief that I could free myself from the silt and sadness that I could not free
the hidden treasure.
My head bobbed above the surface of the pond and
a cool rain rinsed the dirt off my face. I swam to the edge of the pond and
pulled myself onto a rock. Standing, I allowed the gentle rain to cleanse my
body. The feel of the fresh water upon my skin rejuvenated and calmed
me.
The mud of the pond was easily cleared, for it
was never mine. I realized then that the filth of the pond was something that I
had temporarily taken on, temporarily experienced.
I looked at the pond again. It seemed clearer
now. The mud that I had stirred up had again settled to the bottom. I
remembered the bit of gold that was still trapped there. How could I free
it?
I would have to again enter the murky pond and
swim down into its darkest depth. Could I remember my own purity, even when the
mud clung to my form? Could I find the bit of gold hidden beneath the silt and
bring it to the surface?
"Yes," I cried to the sun that was
breaking through the clouds. "I shall find what has been lost. That which
has been buried and forgotten shall be found and returned.
“Something of great value is lost in the depths
of the darkness, and I must retrieve it."
amazing wonderful,enlightenin' heartfelt compassionate aware ONe
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