Crossing the Slough of Despond

"They told me of the Slough of Dispond, where Christian was well nigh smothered. They told me that there were Archers standing ready in Beelzebub-castle to shoot them that should knock at the Wicket-gate for entrance. They told me also of the Wood and dark Mountains, of the Hill Difficulty, of the Lions, and also of the three Giants, Bloody-man, Maul and Slay good. They said moreover that there was a foul Fiend haunted the Valley of Humiliation, and that Christian was by him almost bereft of Life. Besides, say they, you must go over the Valley of the Shadow of Death, where the Hobgoblins are, where the Light is Darkness, where the way is full of Snares, Pits, Traps and Gins. They told me also of Giant Despair, of Doubting castyle and of the ruin that the Pilgrims met with there...And that after all this, I should find a River over which I should find no Bridge..."

--John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

Your Own Personal Assistant

Every day, we wrestle with questions great and small. What we often don't realize, however, is that we need not do it alone.

It is said that we only use 10% of our brains. But we can use the other 90%--if we know how.

Simply put, we can put our subconscious minds to work.

Here's how:

1) Enter a meditative state. Breathe in and out, until your mind is clear.

2) Then, picture the dilemma with which you're wrestling. Picture it as words written on paper. Maybe it comes to you in the form of an object. Does it appear as a wispy, abstract thought? That's fine too.

3) Now comes the fun part: turn it over--fully, without reservation--to your subconscious. You may picture it as a person, sent to assist you. Maybe it, too, is abstract and vague. I like to picture mine as a boundless, calm, crystal-clear ocean. Whatever form it takes, hand over your concern to it.

4) Wait.

The wait may be no longer than a good-night's sleep, or longer if the matter is serious and complex. Whatever the case, trust that your subconscious mind is amassing all its ample resources for the task.

The answer may unfold gradually, but more often--upon awakening in the morning, for instance--you may experience an "Aha!" moment in which the matter becomes clear.

Put your own personal assistant to work--you'll be very pleasantly surprised.

Blogging Dante: Part 5

"He seemed gnawed by remorse for his offense:
O noble conscience without stain! how sharp
the sting of a small fault is to your sense!"


Our conscience can be unduly harsh. Do not hold a grudge against it, however; it's there to guide us.


"No man may be so cursed by priest or Pope
but what the Eternal Love may still return
while any thread of green lives on in hope."


For as long as even a sliver of hope exists, you must press on.


"Such is this Mount that when a soul
begins the lower slopes it most must labor;
then less and less the more it nears its goal.

Thus when we reach the point where the slopes seem
so smooth and gentle that the climb becomes
as easy as to float a skiff downstream,

then will this road be run, and not before
that journey's end will your repose be found."


To reach heaven, we all must traverse our own personal hell.


"There is a place below where sorrow lies
in untormented gloom. Its lamentations
are not the shrieks of pain, but hopeless sighs."


The absence of hope burns harsher than any fire and brimstone.


"'Don't be afraid,' he said. 'From here our course
leads us to joy, you may be sure. Now, therefore,
hold nothing back, but strive with all your force."


However harsh your journey may be at the moment, never lose sight of the destination: the joy that awaits you.


"Remember, this day will not dawn again."


So seize it.


"Thus you may understand that love alone
is the true seed of every merit in you,
and of all acts for which you must atone."


Cultivate your love. It is within you--and more boundless than you can imagine.


"When Love inspires me with delight,
or pain, or longing, I take careful note,
and as he dictates in my soul, I write."


Whatever Love prompts you to do artistically, follow its injunctions with zeal.

On Diving

Depression, guilt, self-loathing--it feels solid, real.

This, however, is an illusion. But you need not take my word for it.

See for yourself.

Get into a meditative posture. Some prefer to sit. If, like me, you can only meditate while laying down, that's ok too.

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Then...listen.

Allow whatever you're feeling free rein. Let it flood you.

Do not resist. Just feel.

After a while, something interesting begins to happen. The melancholy, which had felt so solid, begins to flicker.

At this point, you may feel strange physical sensations. Your arms may tingle. You may experience alternate feelings of coolness and warmth. Your center of consciousness may shift to the top of your head so you barely feel the rest of your body.

That's ok. Let it happen.

Eventually, you begin to sink down, beneath whatever sensation happens to be passing through.

Whatever you find down there is far more real than what you began with. Let it happen.

What do you discover down there? Sadness? Anger? Or just a vast, turbid numbness?

Do this as often as you can. Familiarize yourself with whatever lies underneath your melancholia. THIS is where reality awaits you.

Blogging: Friedrich Nietzsche

"How relieved the general feeling of life would be if, together with the belief in guilt, we could also get rid of the ancient instinct of revenge, and if we even considered it a fine cleverness in a happy person to pronounce a blessing over his enemies, with Christianity, and if we benefited those who had offended us. Let us remove the concept of sin from the world--and let us soon send the concept of punishment after it. May these banished monsters live somewhere else henceforth, not among men, if they insist on living at all and do not perish of their own disgust."

Guilt and revenge have plagued humankind for generations, resulting in untold deaths and misery. I, for one, wouldn't be sad to see them go.

 "But the worst enemy you can encounter will always be you, yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caves and woods."

As a wise man once said, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us." Our most vicious battles are often fought with--ourselves. In such battles, who is the winner? Can there be a winner?

"Lonely one, you are going the way to yourself. And your way leads past yourself and your seven devils. You will be a heretic to yourself and a witch and soothsayer and fool and doubter and unholy one and a villain. You must wish to consume yourself in your own flame: how could you wish to become new unless you had first become ashes!"

Overcoming oneself is an arduous, and courageous, task. Do not spurn it. However difficult it may be, peer into your innermost depths, and overcome yourself.



"Physician, help yourself: thus you help your patient too. Let this be his best help that he may behold with his eyes the man who helps himself."

Do not wait for others to "fix" you. Work on yourself; you'd be surprised how many others will then lend their assistance. First you must show that you are serious about healing.

"There is much filth in the world; that much is true. But that does not make the world itself a filthy monster."

 

 

 

The world screams with anguish and suffering; yet that makes it no less beautiful. Gratitude for one's life, for one's world, is a very high, noble sentiment.

"Behold this man languishing here! He is but one span from his goal, but out of weariness he has defiantly lain down in the dust--this courageous man! Out of weariness he yawns at the way and the earth and the goal and himself: not one step farther will he go--this courageous man! Now the sun glows on him and the dogs lick his sweat; but he lies there in his defiance and would sooner die of thirst--die of thirst one span away from his goal!"

 

 

 

How many people have given up just short of their goal? How many ailing souls have quit mere seconds before insight and true healing? Learn from them--and keep going no matter what.

"The higher its type, the more rarely a thing succeeds. You higher men here, have you not all failed?

Be of good cheer, what does it matter? How much is still possible! Learn to laugh at yourselves as one must laugh!"

 You have failed; so what? Now you know what does not work. Cross it off the list, and plot your strategy anew.

"The most spiritual human beings, if we assume that they are the most courageous, also experience by far the most painful tragedies: but just for that reason they honor life because it pits its greatest opposition against them."

 

 

 

Life's difficulties are no argument against it; if anything, they are arguments for life. These same difficulties are a crucible in which your love and compassion are mercilessly forged.

"Strong hope is a far more powerful stimulant of life than any single realization of happiness could ever be."

Nurture your hope at all costs; it will never fail you.

 And, lastly...

"The 'kingdom of heaven' is a state of the heart...[T]he 'kingdom of God' is nothing that one expects; it has no yesterday and no day after tomorrow. It will not come in 'a thousand years'--it is an experience of the heart; it is everywhere, it is nowhere."

A Second Burial

The burial awaiting us at life's end is not the first.

How many of us have not been buried under the debris of crashing hopes, broken dreams, lost loves?

When any structure that brings us meaning comes crashing down, it is overwhelming. Suffocating.

The dust of our failure seeps into our lungs, choking us.

Do not believe it.

Struggle for one last breath--and reach up. Claw, with every waning ounce of strength, to be free again.

Reach up through the rubble. Maybe a helping hand will grasp yours and pull you to safety.


But at all times, reach up.

Inhale. Exhale. You are free.

"The Past Is Finished"

"The past is finished, and cannot be undone,

Care for the future should be our concern."

--Theognis of Megara