Stepping Stones

I find that it is important in my life to recognize what things and situations and relationships are solid and will be consistent through my life, and which ones are stepping stones. Some have thought that I have difficulty with commitment, but it is quite the contrary. I have no problem committing to things and situations and even people that I think are going to be around. The others, well, I treat those areas as transitory, a stepping stone in life's journey.

So how do I know what is solid and what is not? Sometimes it is a matter of guess work. Sometimes it is a matter of instinct (which I have certainly learned to trust), and sometimes it is a matter of patterns. Patterns you say? Yes, patterns. You see, I watch patterns in situations and circumstances and patterns of behaviour. When I see a pattern that is consistently non-committal or wishy washy, or even a pattern of disloyalty, smoke screening and betrayal, I step aside and do not commit to that. Sometimes things change. People are, after all, able to grow. But that sort of thing requires conscious connection and decision making on their part. Let's face it, every situation and circumstance will turn out of the quality of the people involved. So when I back away it is because I notice something that is not authentic. When I get closer, it is because I see that something is worth the investment. This is not a judgement. It is a discernment.

Blessed Be
Trent
http://www.youtube.com/trentdeerhorn
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Seekers

“Do not search for truth, just do not have any prejudices.” Master Taisen Deshimaru.

So often I encounter people who claim to be spiritual seekers, and some of them are truly embarking on a journey of self-discovery. There are also some (too many) who only equate seeking with reading books. These ones, I have learned, think that they know everything there is to know about spiritual connection but have never actually put it into practice. I almost want to use the term “book learned blockheads”, but I know that this is not entirely their fault. They have been raised in a culture where knowledge is equated with wisdom, and knowledge is supposed to be academically based. They are a product of their environment. So I write this not to bash them in any way, but to compassionately educate them in print, so that they may also come to understand a few things.

First off, knowledge is not wisdom. Knowledge is the gathering of information. Wisdom is the appropriate practical usage thereof. Just because we know how to split an atom does not mean that we must create an atomic bomb. This is wisdom.

Secondly, if we have knowledge and do not put in into practical use, that knowledge is lost and can never be applied to experience in life, therefore does not develop into wisdom at all. We can read all there is about how to build a sweat lodge, but until we do the task and then experience the sweat ceremony, we have no wisdom from the experience. We only are left with a technical manual for how to build a sweat lodge. This alone leaves us empty.

Thirdly, when we seek we must do so in a passive and receptive way. We can’t take something we have gleaned knowledge on and then lord it over all other information we gather, using it as a tool through which to determine what is “correct” and what is “wrong”. There are many ways and many paths up the same sacred mountain. To think that ours is the only way is to hold prejudice against others’ ways. Yet their way may be exactly what works for them to get them up that same mountain. Who are we to judge? All we can really do is allow the process to be what it is for us, and to be what it is for them. The truth of the matter is that there is a sacred mountain and, being a mountain, it has many paths. If it were only one-sided it would not be a mountain; it would be an illusion; nothing more than a cardboard cut out. So when we allow ourselves to be open and receptive, we make vast discoveries on a spiritual level and on all others levels as well. We don’t have to search for truth; we simply need to be open to it unfolding from within our consciousness. It cannot do that if we are going to laugh in its face as being something silly just because it is different from what we have discovered to date.

Perhaps a better term than “seeker” might be “explorer”. That way we would have not such a predatory aspect to the gathering of information, and would instead have a receptive spirit of discovery. When we allow ourselves to explore, we allow ourselves to be open to a vast universe of possibilities.

Blessed Be

Trent Deerhorn