The Garden

There is a doorway to a wonderful place. A place of deep peace, deep contentment, and deep inner knowing.

And it is such an incredible journey which leads to this place. It is a journey of intense emotions, constant change, moment after moment filled with infinity, the sacred & the profane, expansion & contraction, duality & paradox, ecstasy & hell, comedy & tragedy, gratitude & regret, fear & trust, frustration & release, exertion & relaxation, forgiveness & resentment, excitement & disillusionment, agony & bliss, awe & contempt, wonder & despair, passion & apathy, confusion & clarity.

And when a person can sit in one of these incredible, dynamic spaces, filled with the ever-changing energies, tumultuous and flowing, and just BE - surrender, let go, and relax into the Infinite - this is when one connects with the Self, is filled with the light of his or her True Nature, and steps effortlessly through the doorway and into the garden of infinite potential.

Duality

I know this is kind of obvious, but for some reason I need to write this post about duality, I guess as a reminder to myself about what I already know. In some ways, that's all we ever do, is remember what we already know. Over and over, because we keep forgetting, and there is a beauty and a joy in this forgetting and remembering, although it can be frustrating at times.

And this forgetting and remembering, forgetting and remembering, is part of the duality. Well, this perceived duality, which isn't even duality at all.

Contraction and expansion, contraction and expansion, as we give birth to a new way of being.

I really hate to suffer, and I have a deep-seated fear of the suffering becoming "too much." I have endured seasons of my life when the hell in my mind has causes a strong desire for me to leave the planet altogether. Existential crises, where I wondered, "What is the point of all this anyway? And why should I stick around for it?" There is so much suffering in the world, it's been nearly unbearable for me at times.

But this suffering carves out more and more space for joy to fill one's being. And as I age, I can see more and more clearly, the incredible beauty of it all.

This is the wisdom of duality. This is the richness of it all.

Kahlil Gibran describes this so well.

"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Sorrow is the greater." But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your head board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. So you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at a standstill and balanced."
-Kahlil Gibran