In the Woods with Cool Hand Luke
Little children listen to consciousness before the age of five, and they are passionate about a lot of things. They have not developed the personality of restrictions. We need to make this a way of life, not just something that comes around every twenty or thirty years. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Sex, Lies, and Assumptions – June, 2010)
Yesterday morning a curious stream of consciousness emerged when pen met paper during my journaling time.
Activism starts in the heart
Nothing to prove
Only conviction to express
With art.
Art.
The art of living
Full out
Not busy
Engaged
As your unique
Expression of the divine.
Wisdom.
Live wisely.
Only you know the meaning
To you, for you, of YOU
Revealing herself
In events
Around every corner
Opportunities to awaken.
Be present
Gifting self
Gifting others
Your gifts to life.
Hmm, I thought as the stream ended. I smiled. Although I was curious about its meaning for me now, I set my journal aside and headed out for my early morning walk with Cool Hand Luke. I had a vague sense that the stream might be intended for this week’s post, but no clarity until this morning when I picked up one of Gregge’s booklets in search of inspiration and direction.
It opened not to page 1, but to the page that began with the quote above. The page ended with this additional wisdom from Gregge: Consciousness recognizes Life not society. It recognizes that knowledge is not hidden under rocks, but is right there in front of you. All you have to do is to see It, study It, and learn from It. I’d found meaning along with inspiration and direction.
Ah, living a life guided by consciousness and passion, not by the world’s standards and demands. How do we do that? We wake up. We break free of the ‘personality of restrictions’ that those standards and demands try to impose. We discover our values and live in alignment with them. We examine our beliefs and let go of those formed by limitation, replacing them with an understanding that we live in an abundant Universe. We make choices and practice ways of being that are aligned with our beliefs and values. We experiment. We observe. We experiment again.
And, as we do these things, our faith deepens. We live more at ease; artful, perhaps. We discover the many faces of passion from quietly hugging a tree or enjoying a stream’s gentle burbling to marching on the front lines of change for causes our heart cares about. We hear consciousness speak quietly above the roar of the crowd. We embrace life with passionate abandon and put the ‘personality of restrictions’ in its proper place as a vague, shadowy relic of where we’ve been on this journey of life. We live!
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver
Burbling Cottonwood Creek