"Einstein said that the most important question that a human being could ask is, Is the universe friendly?" I pause to let that question sink in. Whether for my benefit or his, I'm not sure.
"I don't know what the answer to that question is," I continue, "yet I'm going to live as if the answer is Yes."
He looks up from his perch on the tawny Indian motif rug. He stops petting our golden lab, Taz.
"I can see how that might work for you," he replies, "but I can't do that." That's the turning point instant when I knew that the separation he instigated was going to be a divorce.
"This is a journey to be taken, not studied." - Jed McKenna
Fast forward from that scene in summer 2002 to autumn 2003: I'm on the phone with someone coordinating an upcoming Miguel Ruiz workshop. "Great news," she says. "You're no longer on the waiting list. Do you still want to go to Teotihuacan with us?"
I stammer, "Yes!" It's only 15 days away. I have no plane ticket to Mexico. Not to mention, I have no way lined up to pay for said airline fare, nor the additional roughly $1500 for the workshop fees.
"I'll be sending you the details in the mail. There's not much there. Don Miguel doesn't tell participants what's involved in the workshop, nor outline any itinerary. The whole point is to be learn to be comfortable going into the Unknown," she explains. Perhaps appropriate for a place on Earth that the Toltec shamans call, "the place where men become Gods."
"There doesn't have to be a someone on the journey for the journey to continue." - Adyashanti
It had never occurred to me that there was no synopsis of the workshop on Miguel's website. I'd just read Beyond Fear (which interestingly enough is not listed on Don Miguel's home page collection of books right now...), and immediately searched for his website, saw the workshop--and knew inside that this was what I wanted. I jumped at the chance too as I had hunch that Miguel himself would not be leading any more of these excursions, which has proved to be true as he's handed the baton to his sons in the ensuing years.
All that excitement... all to find out that I was too late. The workshop was sold out. I was placed on a long waiting list, and promptly forgot about it--until the phone call from out of the blue (see above).
"There are two emotions that inform and animate the human animal; fear and a gratitude-love-awe mix that might best be called agape. As fear goes out, agape comes in. More accurately, a pure white light of consciousness hits the prism of self and splits outward to become the universe as we experience it. If the prism of self is gray and murky with ignorance, choked with fear, contaminated with ego, then so becomes the universe that radiates out from it. It's that simple. As the prism becomes free of such flaws, then the whole universe changes with it. It resolves into clarity, becomes brighter, more playful and magical. Because we are the lens through which it is projected, we are participants in its shape and motion; co-creators of our own universe."- Jed McKenna, Spiritual Warfare
INVITATION: Having observed online behavior for twenty years (not an exaggeration, just been part of the Internet from early on), I think blogs are best suited for skimming. For those eager to take a plunge a couple of octaves richer, I'm sharing a new private newsletter called, Encanto. (It's more of an interior, vertical journey than may be implied.) There will be 12-20 issues per month. I'm being purposefully vague as your own radar can discern for you your decision whether to embark with us.
UPDATE 01-27-10: I've a new hunch (sharing soon) on how to share this new project, and still keep it in public view on the Web, rather than a private newsletter.
p.s. Of course, I did go on Miguel's trip, after all. In fact, I ended up extending the journey for another six weeks and wended my way through Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras solo (well, I started solo... as these type of journeys do gather up fellow voyagers along the way).
p.p.s. Maybe I'm just being chicken-shit and should have posted the photo into this post. Link may or may not be "safe" for workplaces. Depends. Anyhow, beautiful artwork I found titled "Duet-Incanto" (you'll have to click to fourth photo in the lineup--the azure and flesh one) by Kim Joon.
art credits: NY artist Erika Somogyi's watercolor and gouache The Mirror, The Hourglass, and the Prism via Vigorously Lazy blog (wow you ought to check out Erika Somogyi's other works too); ancient Teotihuacan mural / graffiti art via James O. Jacobs; artwork from the game Sanitarium
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