Things are still accelerating on this end. The growth is simply amazing. Challenging, occasionally uncomfortable, but amazing. I'm still a little ways away from sitting down and being able to write concrete articles about the concepts, but it's my intent to do so. Let me say in advance how much I truly appreciate your patience with me. I know that I've always shared my path as I live it, but I'd honestly like to tie what I share with you in neat little packages and present those packages as articles and essays, rather than rambling in a series of letters.
It's honestly not that I'm trying to avoid writing an article or putting in the effort to present things in a nicely structured manner. The issue is that everything is so incredibly new that I don't have a concrete handle on what I'm experiencing and the larger implications that those experiences represent.
That doesn't imply that I'm not doing the work. But imagine that you suddenly woke up, not only on another planet, but in a completely different reality. You step out of bed and float to the ceiling. You open up the refrigerator to hunt for breakfast and discover that the appliance doesn't hold food, but is a doorway to a parallel universe. While those are obvious exaggerations, my world is a little bit like that at the moment.
For instance, where I'm used to reacting emotionally to certain situations, my responses are suddenly balanced, thoughtful and surprisingly wise. Things I used to worry about, I simply no longer have any idea why they were ever important to me. My world is filled with so much joy and promise that I truly understand the concept that our limitations are illusionary and I'm beginning to discover how to not only teach that perspective, but I'm learning how to explain the process of dismantling those illusions.
The other thing that is simply amazing is that, from the time I was a very small child, the person that I was in the waking world and the person that I was in dreams and shamanic journeying were two different people. Their responses, their attitudes, the amount of inner strength that they had access to were on two completely different levels. Now I am the person in the waking world that I only became in journeying and in dreams. There wasn't any transition or integration that I'm aware of. I simply shifted to the second and the "old" me is no longer present anywhere in my world. I have no idea what implications that holds, only that it is so nice being able to completely shed the skin of the old me.
My perspective has shifted so much that, instead of being led to one path to learn a specific lesson and then being led to another to experience things in different way, I've somehow moved beyond the necessity of having spirituality presented in any sort of framework whatsoever. I'm taking notes, writing down thoughts and perspectives, and those concepts will not only be shared here in Old Ways (and will most likely become the majority of what I teach through this site) but are rapidly forming themselves into the book I've been trying to write for years.
What I'm discovering is that, at the core of spirituality, there are three concepts that are at the center of what it means to be a human being. When you take away all of the labels, all of the titles, all of the framework and all of the illusions, these are the three concepts that lay at the heart of all of the spiritual paths I've explored and are the very core of what I believe and what I have tried to teach over the years.
The first concept is clarity of perception. So much of our world is wrapped up in illusionary limitations, all of which we've allowed to be put in place or have put in place ourselves, that we actually move through life and spirituality handcuffed and blindfolded. Once we release those illusions, and we do hold onto them, we have to learn to be comfortable with the openness their absence creates instead of simply replacing them with another illusion.
The second concept is reconnecting to what is real in on our world. As human beings, there are a handful of things that we not only have an intrinsic need to connect with, but the inherent right to do so. We have the need to belong to a culture that gives us a sense of connection and belonging. We have the need to honor the milestones in our world, whether they represent our own journey, the journey of someone close to us, or a change in our environment or culture. We have the need to love and be loved in return. We have the need to have a fulfilling connection with our understanding of spirituality and to have the freedom to honor and celebrate that connection in the manner we choose. And we have the need to have the freedom to grow where our path takes us, without limitation.
The third concept is developing the tools that will allow us to grow and follow our spiritual path without the need of teachers, guides, or clergy and learning how and when to apply those tools. That may seem like a simple concept at first, but what happens when you experience a major transformation in your world and everything is new? How do you apply those tools when all of your points of reference are new? I have the process down to the point preceding this period of transformation and I'm rapidly learning how to proceed through this portion of my path. Once I have this down, I can share the entire process with you.
It always amazes me that, when we really grow and move forward, the path doesn't become more complex, but it is simplified with each step. The lessons don't become harder once we graduate to the next level; they become easier. As additional possibilities are added and limitless choices are presented to us, our path simply becomes clearer. I'm not writing lessons and articles at the moment because I'm lost, but because I have so much clarity and understanding that the implications are still sinking in. Once I fully understand the process, I can teach it. Until then, I truly appreciate your patience as I finish up this period of personal transformation. I'll do my very best to share everything I've learned as soon as it integrates a little more into who I am.