 Gaily Dancing Peacockness ©2003 Rev. David Seacord Acrylic on Museum Board, about 20" x 15"
Everyman's WEEKLY Journal #54
© 2013 Rev. David Seacord
December 15, 2013
The Python and the Pig…
In the middle of the week at a farmer's market I had a brief chance conversation with one of my deceased father's friends, a elderly man who appears to have lived a conventionally Protestant religious life. When he asked how I was doing, I expressed myself by saying "I'm feeling like a python who is swallowing a pig". He smiled understandingly. What I meant to convey via the metaphor is that life is offering a steady diet of significant challenges, and that in accepting (not resisting) them, I am in a continual state of being 'masterfully and repeatedly' stretched. And I am clearer and clearer that this is exactly the divine intention underlying all the events of our lives… the end of the tunnel being a rebirthing into authentic selflessness.
There is a line in one of the Sufi prayers that I have had in my life for decades… it goes: "To Thee do we give willing surrender…". I noticed I choked a bit on that line sometime during this week, enough that it woke me up and prompted a self-inquiry investigation as to where the resistance was. What I saw resisting was the aspect of my 'I-ness' that still desires this life to be a relatively comfortable experience… you know, where 'The Godness Principle' acknowledges (by his/her blessings bestowed) that I am a wonderful and loving being (and then gives 'me' all the yummies & goodies that go with being that).
Obviously, being continually stretched does not fulfill that desired comfort aspect of my 'I-ness'; rather, it leads into a new territory well beyond the horizons of that comfortableness. In this new territory the I-ness of individuality is being discovered (by the now exposed and naked 'me') as increasingly illusionary, and what is concurrently being discovered is just how validly it is replaced by an authentic 'we-ness/Unity' (which carries within it a core invulnerability). And in my experience (because 'Truth is True' [ACIM]), this we-ness is validating itself as True on a multiplicity of levels… for instance, the we-ness purposefully/intentionally unifies the I-sense with the Godness-sense. It also unifies the I-sense with the 'other-than-I-sense'. Further, it transcends and unifies sentient and non-sentient and reveals both as of the same essence. It disappears all timelines into the impeccability of now-ness. And, it transforms being stretched beyond comfortableness into 'the Growing Zone, the Way Home to Selflessness'.
At one point I awoke in the middle of the night with the realization that my desire to stay comfortable by definition made me 'a part of the problem' (i.e., a part of the unconsciousness that sources all the suffering in this world). I saw that I would only be 'a part of the solution' if I were to be willing to roll up my sleeves and start creating and taking truly effective action to reduce this suffering (of myself, or of 'others-now-recognized-as-myself')…actions that clearly have in the past made me uncomfortable to even contemplate. Then, I also saw that the real solution/resolution pathway was to completely give up the desire to avoid these challenges…these confrontations with my own remaining inauthenticities…. that these challenges are absolutely required to be faced as I/you/we graduate/transform into what Carolyn Myss calls 'homo noeticus' (the knowing human). Why? Because (because 'truth is true') the application of Truth must be 'without exceptions'. My 'I' knows that accessing this level of consistency is the fundamental key to entering 'knowing', and it is to attain this consistency that my 'I' does personal sadhana and compassionate selfless service.
This knowing state (accessed) demonstrates 1. our reception (receiving) of our inheritance… and 2. it's manifestation: our in-dwelling oneness with the Universal Divinity. Each oneness who journeys this… this going, going, beyond… beyond the beyond… walks the journey uniquely, yet samely. As A Course in Miracle so beautifully teaches, "Free will does not mean you(I) can establish the curriculum, it only means you(I) can choose what you(I) are willing to take at a given time". My own seeing now is that I am compelled by integrity to choose/embrace my curriculum based upon what I am committed to being. When I am truly committed to being 'all that I am, all that I could be, all that is possibly possible on all possible levels', clearly the universe will respond with accelerated curriculum delivery… designed to produce an I that is fully and functionally trained to be that 'allness'.
This training begins with the individual mind, which must learn to surrender to the intentionality of the Good behind all appearances, no matter what. It further must surrender any habits of doubt or desire for anything but what IS, for what IS is 'the curriculum'. My view is that all spiritual paths ultimately lead to this surrender. I therefore suggest that if/when-ever you/I are feeling like 'a python swallowing a pig', the appropriate inner state most conducive to growing from the circumstances is Gratitude. That (Gratitude) practice is quite simple: Follow the breath with attention until the mind quiets, then enter the heart-cave by 'willing surrender'.
Namaste, & Sat Nam,
David
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Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag
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