I'm Not Lost

Where in the world are we? When we go traveling, we often rely on a map to get us safely from point A to point B. In this high tech world, there is now a wonderful system called a GPS. These are not fail safe because the current map needs to be registered with the GPS system in order for it to be able to tell you where you are. Otherwise, when you go on a road that is not yet on a map, the GPS will think you've gone off the road.

Whenever I lose my way I do what most indigenous folks have done for eons. I go visiting. Eventually I find my destination, but that isn't without a lot of fun along the way. I don't use a GPS because I don't particularly want to have to deal with technology all the time. Besides, a GPS cannot direct or guide me on some of my more meaningful journeys. These are the journeys to the other realms of existence, in which a GPS is useless anyway.

I'm not lost, I'm just not on your map! People think that there is a map to life and everyone has to take the same road in the same direction. But what if, for example, one doesn't want to get married, have 2.3 children and have a big house with a white picket fence? What if one wants to instead be an artist who lives in a loft/studio and drinks coffee all night because that is when the creative juices flow? What if someone doesn't want to become a doctor but instead wants to be a professional dog walker and have the doctors, who don't have time for their dogs, be their clientele? Is there any map for these types of decisions? And if there were, would we always have to follow that map?

Maps set us up for expectations. Yes, they definitely give us geographic security, but they also create an expectation of what things will look like and how we will reach our final destination. The thing is, there really is no final destination! Life itself is a continual turn of events from conception through birth to death and the Light, and back into conception and rebirth etc. There never is finality. We may have gotten to where we have wanted to go, but then what? It really isn't enough to make it to the playoffs, we have to decide if we actually want to win the playoffs. So reaching our destination and then just sitting around drinking coffee all day long just doesn't cut it. What else do we then do?

Yes, I like to have a plan. Like most people I know, plans keep me focused. But then there is an even larger part of me that likes to go with the flow and see what happens. The problem with that is that it leaves just enough room for stagnation and laziness. So to balance both aspects is important.

This is why I never journey without purpose. If it is just a joy ride, I leave the journey alone. There is no way I am going to the Underworld, Middle World or Upper world without some purpose. Yes, I usually find even more gifts and tasks than I originally thought, but at least I had a goal in mind and then achieved that and more! Some people journey just for the heck of it and wonder why they get lost? Well, this activity reminds me of when, as a teenager, a girlfriend would phone me up and then not talk. There is only so much sound of her breathing that I could take and then I was bored to tears. So I would say goodbye and hang up. This would offend her and she would phone back to complain about the fact that I hung up. I would inform her that I had much more to do with my time than blow it on the phone listening to her breathe, then I would hang up. At times like that I wished that I lived in a tent with no phone to bother me.

Spirit also doesn't want to be needlessly bothered. So it hangs up if we are only journeying for the heck of it and don't really mean it. When you are not on the physical map, and abandoned in the middle of another realm of existence, the experience can really mess you up. So have some intent, even if you are not on the map. That way you will never be lost.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com