That moment of return, the start of the ‘homeward-bound’ journey. Can we discuss that? In the image I drew yesterday, there is that mountain-top moment of ‘Yeah, I’ve arrived!’ which can also equally be a moment of ‘Enough! Make it stop!’
It’s a turning-point, pictured at the top of the mountain – the peak of the mountain. Is this the peak to which the Peak Project refers?! Those peak experiences I was after at the beginning of the project – some sort of direct line to euphoria, or whatever I was hoping for… Well, were you actually leading me to this realisation that we reach, what?, Peak Struggle & Strive, and then turn homewards? Explain, please.
Yes! You set out on this particular experiment seeking external experiences to internalise – ‘places to go’ and ‘things to do’ that would stimulate your endorphins and produce serotonin for you. We needed you to discover that actually a major paradigm shift was ready to occur in you. Pushing yourself to Peak Struggle & Strive was going to be your doorway into accessing an altogether softer paradigm. If you could but rest your Self in to the new way.
And the Taoist thinking is supporting you to do that – it is giving you a guided ‘come-down’ from your previous faith in Efforting. No-effort is the way of Tao. No-effort is the mantra of the Homeward-bound journey.
Man alive. Fascinating…
Read on…
-23- To talk little is to follow nature. A whirlwind does not last all morning. A sudden shower does not last all day. Who produces these things? Heaven and earth! Even heaven and earth cannot make wild things last long. How then can people hope to do so? People of the Tao conform to the Tao. People of Virtue conform to Virtue. People who lose the way conform to the loss. Those who conform to the Tao are welcomed into the Tao. Those who conform to Virtue are welcomed into Virtue. Those who conform to the loss are welcomed into the loss. Those who do not trust enough will not be trusted. (Tao Te Ching, chap 23)
There’s lots with real philosophical depth in this chapter, but I’m going to run with this nugget of wisdom: A whirlwind does not last all morning. If the journey up the mountain teaches us anything, it’s really that factor of ‘This too shall pass‘. The Homeward-bound journey is not necessarily about a world without whirlwinds or troubles or travails, I imagine, but rather about knowing now not to wrangle with the unwranglable winds, but to trust that they shall pass. Save energy and let the whirlwind pass. Right?
Right. Very good. Very helpful.
Can’t we come a bit numb to suffering though and end up hovering in a cave while the turmoil goes on outside?
Sure, if we lose our compassionate nature, but the heart is the home of compassion, so if we continue to follow the heart’s vision, which is to spiral inwards homeward-bound, then compassion will travel with us.
Is my heart centre-stage in my life?
***Med: 3m with Insight Timer***
Your heart can take centre-stage in your life if you so invite it. The heart is the original all-season protagonist: it survives whirlwinds, sun-drenching, floods and droughts. Invite it in to your scenario and let it take centre-stage.
Yes. This. May my heart’s vision be my vision. May my heart step forward and lead the narrative. May my heart project its beautiful energy out in to the world, where my mind would have led with words. May my silence be vocal when my heart is centre-stage.
I am inviting my heart to take centre-stage.
Afterthoughts:
- Sometimes I see that Mind is simply not up to the job of running my life.
- When Madame Mind, the charismatic lady of the manor, has exhausted herself ‘running the house’, Mrs Heart the Housekeeper comes in, takes stock of the chaos, and puts things back in order.