This month’s subject matter, The Seeker Within – And The Soul’s Message, was no featherweight, so it was lovely to welcome Tisiola, back into the Facilitator’s Chair.
She began the evening’s discourse, by inviting us all to dig deeply, and listen intently with our hearts and our bodies, to the message being brought to us, from our inner longing. Not only that, she reminded us all, that it was an invitation to speak up and share with the group, what our perception of the soul was; how we had sought to know the soul better; what we felt was our purpose for being here on earth, and did we believe this earthly dwelling to be our one and only home etc.
Just the usual little questions, women and men, have been asking themselves since the beginning of time.
Going around the group, I think most of us believed the soul was that inner thing, we defined as our Pure Essence; All knowing; Eternal Oneness; A Non-Judgemental, effusion of love and calmness.
We also discussed how all too often, we sought the soul externally, instead of within, and often, just when you think you’ve finally worked it all out, something gets thrown into the mix to dissuade you of that rationale.
One lady, felt the presence of the soul, as a golden thread, which lovingly ran from her inner-self, and connected her to others, whilst another offered up the question; is the soul merely our mind, and our mind really just our brain?
This is certainly a question, and belief that many have proffered for consideration over the years, and that consciousness dies with the death of the brain.
I have never believed this, and many who have, are now seriously questioning it, in light of the over-whelming well-documented evidence being amassed from the thousands and thousands of N.D.E’s (Near Death Experiences), O.B.E’s (Out of Body Experiences) survivors. Because of medical advances, both of these experiences are becoming more prevalent, and the medical profession and scientists the world over, are becoming far less dismissive of them.
Especially after the brilliant and factual experience documented by Eben Alexander, a renowned Neuro-Surgeon, in his book, Proof of Heaven, where he totally debunks his previous belief that consciousness dies with the body, having experienced fully, that it does not, and he has lived to tell us that.
Gary Zukav (G.Z.), author of many books, including, The Seat of the Soul, over twenty years ago, says humans are foremost, immortal souls, and physical beings, later, and the way for us to develop spiritually, is by becoming more emotionally aware.
He also says that the soul is not a mythical entity, but rather a powerful and purposeful essence, which is in fact, the very centre of who we are. And whilst it resides in the very centre of our being, we are not the entirety of our soul, which is so large, we cannot even begin to fathom its complexity.
The poem Tisiola read to us, from Juan Ramon Jimenez’s, called I Am Not I, encapsulates all I understand the soul to be at this point, although I believe it to also be so much more.
I Am Not I
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
who remains calm and silent
while I talk,
and forgives, gently, when I hate,
who walks where I am not,
who will remain standing when I die.
Because unlike our bodies and personalities, our souls existed before we were born, just as they will exist long after our last breath has been taken. They are eternal. We are not our souls, but our souls are us.
Rumi puts it beautifully, ‘You are a drop in the ocean, and the ocean is in you’. Something like that.
How futile seeking to find ourselves externally, when the answers to our questions, all lie encoded within us, just waiting for us to discover them. To ignite the hidden light within us, and release our inner knowledge.
Once we have cracked the kernel of this nut, the fruit of our mission will be ours for the devouring. Nothing can stop us, once we set our sights on our true destiny. The universe of possibilities and the tools required to achieve them are at our disposal. No obstacle can deny us our birthright; the why we are here; NOW!
Like Zukav, Jean Houston (J.H.) says we are all spiritual beings here having a human physical experience and we are all perfectly adequate to the challenge of our time. And that it is the seeing in others, that so often engenders their awakening, to see their possibilities. Crossing the bridge of otherness is how J.H. describes it, and she considers it her holy incarnation, her mission, to share with others her understanding of the power of love and loving, and to act accordingly in the depths of that appreciation. Or as Joseph Campbell put it, ‘The privilege of a life time, is being who you are’. And she, like a great many other waking souls in this world now, is not about to forfeit the honour of what it is, to be given this life.
G. Z. maintains that the old pathway of living and conducting the business of our earthly lives with the five sensory system, and operating power through exterior force, producing violence and destruction, is over. It has well and truly reached its use-by date.
Even our earthly home, the planet, has been screaming at us for decades to change our ways or face eviction. Well, as loving and forgiving as nature is, the time has arrived, and she can no longer continue to sustain, our abusive ways. She is crippled by us, and still she tries to support us. But our days are numbered.
So, if the old paradigm is dead, what now?
Fortunately, more and more people are waking up and realising that their being here, now, is no random act of chance, accidentally arriving here for no reason other than no reason.
I believe this planet is a school, a place to learn, and as J.H. says, we are students and teachers at the same time. Beneath our layers and layers of humanness, our souls hold the codes and keys to our possibilities, and once we start digging in, we discover the lure of our becoming.
G.Z. says that our new evolutionary pathway, is to align our personalities with our souls, and to create harmony and reverence for life, and that our purpose is to grow spiritually.
To do this, we need to operate from a new power source, and that’s the true power, soul power, that resides within each and everyone of us. It is the power that operates from love, not fear. Love wants to nurture and support, not rule over and rule out. Love wants to lift, not lower, to elevate not eliminate, to sustain, not sabotage.
And in order to accomplish this massive realignment, people (especially women), the world over, are realising that unity, not disunity, is required. Women the world over are beginning to re-claim, their rightful place alongside men, where millennium ago, they once were. Wisdom was once, always associated with the image of a goddess - The Divine Feminine.
Boy, hasn’t that been buried deeply!
That’s where the ability to dig deep, comes in handy. We can all do it, and we need to, to unearth the treasures buried within. Buried so deeply beneath our layers and layers of human frailties, we’ve forgotten they’re even there. But they are! So, wake-up, stay awake, call your inner strength (it’s dying to hear from you), and get digging!
Like millions of seekers the world over, I’ve picked up my spade and started digging.
Come on, join us
Toodle pip
Bella H.