A Spacious Perspective

Who am I?  What is this whole mysterious unfolding called Life all about? Why have I been given my life?  And what is it that I am to give the world?

In order to contemplate these questions, it is helpful to look at Life from a bigger perspective.  I have a couple of armchairs up on the moon and I invite you to come sit with me and look around.  One of the things we notice when we do this is the preciousness of it all. We look all around us and see that most of the Universe is space. It is 24 trillion miles to our closest star!  And as Carl Sagan once said, “There are more stars than there are grains of sand on every beach of the earth!”  We can also look at our planet and see the vast creativity of Life. There are towering mountains, blue green seas, giraffes, babies in all shapes and sizes, millions of flowers, majestic waterfalls, and jungles full of parrots. When we compare our planet to the planets surrounding us, we can understand that something very extraordinary was able to take hold and flourish here.  Also, if you condense the 4.5 billion years our planet has been evolving into a 24 hour period, human beings wouldn’t show up until the last 4 seconds of the last minute on the last day!

Stepping back into a broader view, it is obvious that to be given the gift of a human life is a very rare gift.  And you and I have been given this gift. With a broader perspective, we can also see the suffering of the world, including our own. There is so much fear, violence, powerlessness, meanness, unworthiness, grief, self-hate – not only in the world, but also inside of ourselves.  It certainly can make your heart ache but it doesn’t have to make it break. For there is something else going on here.  All over the world, more and more people are bringing curiosity and compassion to the suffering they carry, so they can be a part of the healing of our planet. More and more people are discovering how to live from their awake, aware heart which unites rather than divides, includes rather than excludes and is a wise guide through Life.

Because you are reading this blog, you have found your way to a conversation that says “Yes, there is suffering, but there is a pathway through it.”  You are discovering how to show up at the doorway to freedom, the door that is always present in every challenge of our lives whether it is health, relationship, financial, violence, etc.. For it is really true, what is in the way IS the way!

It doesn’t matter how challenging your life is at the moment. Because you are reading this, it is evident that the universe is waking you up. It is pulling, prodding, pushing, inviting, and compelling you to become a conscious human being where your mind, body, and heart are all in the same place at the same time. To make immediate and intimate contact with Life, no matter what Life is offering in this moment, opens a doorway, not only for your own life, but all beings.

When we live from this spacious place, the question becomes, “What is my responsibility?  What is it that I am ready to give back?”  The greatest gift you can give is to show up for it all. For the path to your freedom, and thus the freedom of all human beings, is the path beneath your feet. To cultivate the ability to have moments when you let go of the struggling mind and be in this moment right here, right now, in this breath, is to be a conscious human being.

Image: Island Universe by William Hayes