When the time comes for the embryo to

receive the spirit of life,

At that time the sun begins to help.

This embryo is brought into movement, for

the sun quickens it with spirit.

From the other stars this embryo received

only an impression, until the sun shone

upon it.

How did it become connected with the

shining sun in the womb?

By ways hidden from our senses:

the way whereby gold is nourished,

the way a common stone becomes a garnet

and the ruby red,

the way fruit is ripened,

and the way courage comes to one distraught

with fear.

I read this in The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis.  She offers this as a poetic example of “…the sense of the whole, of the need for us to be in tune with our true nature to bring forth life.”   She describes the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) approach (which I am following through acupuncture treatments, herbs, and diet and lifestyle choices) as “…declaring our desire to be in alignment with nature…putting our trust in our body’s innate wholeness and seeking ways to help the body remember what it was meant to do…”

Rumi and Lewis are talking not just about life coming to the embryo, but the phenomenon of higher powers enlivening the creatures and other elements of our world, in an infinite array of shape, texture, color, personality, and potential.   There is so much mystery in the universe.  Children live and breathe with desire for discovering clues.  They are enchanted by the surprise and magic of it all.  What is it about growing up which hides our love of magical mystery?

I vow to continue unraveling the ropes which have tied up my enchantment.  I vow to help others see their knots and learn ways to untie them.  And I vow to give my children the freedom to discover clues and ponder mysteries, and to help them cultivate the power to tame the ropes that would bind, to use them for practical purposes, to jump with them, to turn them into harmless dancing snakes.

I’m doing some research on the Joseph Campbell Foundation and grants offered by the Opus Archives and Research Center.  I’m reading Cambell’s bio and notice that in 1953 he was “appointed President of the Creative Film Foundation.”  I do a google search on “Creative Film Foundation” and haven’t found it yet, but came across the American Film Foundation where I quickly see that they produced Maya Lin – A Strong Clear Vision, a film I completely stumbled upon at the library last week and which is sitting in Hayley’s livingroom waiting to be watched.  They also produced Bird by Bird with Annie, a film about the writer/teacher Anne Lamott who’s book of the same name is on my Amazon wish list.  This is part of the synopsis:

Annie likes to pass on the “secret of life” that she found written on a computer terminal bearing a picture of Koko the gorilla: “The law of the American jungle: Remain calm and share your bananas.”

I see a lot of wisdom in that and add it to a collection of inspirational/wise quotes I keep.  The next quote down happens to be from one of my favorite philosophers/writers, Alan Watts*:

From the moment of your birth, you’re in freefall.

Beyond my appreciation for the quote and it’s reminder that this craziness is what it’s all about (so I should stop freaking out when falling), this makes me smile because I had also just read in Joseph Campbell’s bio that he was “named the general editor of the series Myth and Man, which includes Alan Watt’s Myth and Ritual in Christianity.”  That reminded me about how much I’ve learned from Alan Watts and that I need to seek out more of his wisdom.  So I had a google search up for “Alan Watts” when I read that quote.  Funny!  These multiple synchronicities are like trail markers helping me find my way through new terrain.  And, I’m only receiving the benefits because I bothered to move my gaze from the ground (where I’ve been fixating out of fear of stumbling) to what lies ahead. At moments like these, the steep climb feels like a walk in the park.

*The wikipedia entry says Watts wrote about “subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the non-material pursuit of happiness” – I guess one of the reasons I like him so much is because those are the subjects I keep coming back to as most meaningful/worthy in my life.

This photo will make sense when you get to the final paragraph.

The more I tune in to current reality, the more I show up and pay attention, the more I am Now Here, the more synchronicities I have the pleasure of experiencing. Each occurrence is a sign that I am in harmony with the flow of life, instead of fighting against it or being the fish who’s unaware it’s swimming in water. I am studying the heck out of mental/emotional/physical/spiritual equilibrium these days and it’s wonderful when the insights come in waves which reinforce one another. That’s what keeps me swimming, and what helps me jump back into the water when I can’t see the bottom of the river or which way the current is going.

Speaking of being Now Here, that’s a clever reminder from my man Baron (see Choose Wisely – Part 2). Though I’ve not met him, his teaching greatly benefits Jeph and I, body and spirit, and I am grateful for it.  The library has been a great source of synchronistic materials this year – something about wandering the stacks and letting yourself be guided to the material you need…Last week I picked up a book called Meditations from the Mat, by Rolf Gates, and was  pleasantly surprised to see his shouts out to Baron, from whom he learned how to really teach others.  In the intro, he talks about Baron sharing his teaching philosophy: be there to help others unfold themselves (good metaphor for yoga practice!) and discover their true nature, their core, their essence, their Source.  It was a synchronicity to discover the book (which is full of wisdom very much in line with what I am working on) and the connection to Baron.  I’ll probably have to buy it so I can continue to benefit and receive inspiration for my own writing.

And carrying on the theme of connecting with your source, I was visiting the Communicatrix (a favorite writer and clever, funny, witty gal) remotely a couple weeks ago and read about The Remembrance Challenge.  It sounded like a worthwhile practice so I signed up and today is Day 9 of my effort.  It is aligning nicely (synchronicity!) with the pranic healing exercises (will elaborate in future posts) I started around the same time. I’ve been looking for some assistance with meditation and I like the approach here: filling up instead of just emptying. It’s great, and important, to clear out, and I’m doing that too, but it’s really nice to have guidance around what to fill the emptiness with: the pure you, the Real reality.  Connecting with that reality which is You Now and Here, and accepting it, provides solid ground to take the next steps.  In ‘Getting to the Core of Your Business’ (where The Remembrance is outlined), Mark Silver describes it’s benefit for dealing with the inevitable life crap:

If you are walking and you step into dog poop, it’s not very pleasant. This happens all the time– we step into situations in the world which feel like we landed in the doo-doo. Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time trying
not to have stepped in it.
The truth is, support is right there under our foot. But to take the next step, it feels like we’re sinking deeper into the doo-doo. But that’s the only choice we have, and we find it’s not so bad after all.
The Remembrance gets you through the doo-doo, by putting you squarely where you are. Once there, you remember to witness the Divine Reality, so you feel the strength of the ground under you, holding you up, rather than focusing on the dog doo, that keeps you from taking that next step.

I got a good laugh when I read that because just a day or two beforehand I had stepped in a big pile of…mud…(see photo) but it looked an awful lot like doo-doo, and I definitely sunk deeply into it.  It was cool, though, because J was there and while I muttered “oh-my-god” in a shellshocked way, he sprang into action and directed me around the corner (of the model home who’s window’s we were peering in when this happened) to the water spigot where I was able to rinse off my foot and sandal (and the other foot/sandal for OCD symmetry.)  Cool that I was wearing sandals so it was an easy fix.  And cool that J is so observant and street savvy – one of the many reasons we’re a good team.  It felt really good to react with lightness, even humor, to a messy situation.  I take that as a ray of progress for this control freak!