Six Weeks in Andalusia, Spain / May-June 2014
Six Weeks in Silicon Valley, California / July-August 2014
"The only things that concerned the sheep were food and water... They’ve forgotten how to rely on their own instinct, because I lead them to nourishments." - page 7, The Alchemist
"Without a Vision, the people perish... - Bible Proverbs 29:18
Someone once asked Helen Keller a provocative question. She answered, "What would be worse than being born blind? To have sight without vision."
For human beings with a heart pulsing and a spark of life burning within them, shelter, food and water will become insufficient. As I write this in early February, the sunlight peaceably filters through the windows and palm trees wave in the balmy winter in New Orleans. I have the knowledge of the security of water, food, and the welcomed stay to caretake here rent-free as long and languidly as I wish.
There's no rationale to go. In fact there is the subtle lull of inertia to remain. Still I cannot deny the higher, wider, more blazing, beckoning pull.
Comfort isn't the end game. “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down," said Kurt Vonnegut, and thus I book a one-way ticket to California.
"The comfort zone is supposed to keep your life safe, but what it really does is keep your life small.... A few rare individuals refuse to live limited lives... They have something that gives them the strength to endure pain--a sense of purse.... A sense of purpose doesn't come from thinking about it. It comes from taking action that moves you toward the future. The moment you do this, you activate a force more powerful than the desire to avoid pain. We call this the 'Force of Forward Motion.' Its power is the power of life itself. Everything in life is evolving into the future with a sense of purpose--from a single organism to a species to the entire planet. Dylan Thomas called it "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower."” - The Tools, by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels
In the bestselling fable, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho opens with the Andalusian shephard Santiago decides to follow a half-hunched dream with hesitation, and eventually wherever it may lead.
"Maria Marin, 21 years old and unemployed. She says it would be really hard leaving Spain in spite of having little hope of getting a job in Andalusia." - "Youth unemployment in Spain remains high despite reform," Marketplace.org Jobless Generation news, December 18, 2013
What if instead of seeking provision from others, we were the creators of provision for others? Imagine opportunities to thrive for ourselves together, junto, with others. What if rather than compromise and cage our inspiration for wages, we unleashed our gifts unto the world?
"... don't be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you.
Start walking toward Shams. Your legs will get heavy
and tired. Then comes a moment
of feeling the wings you've grown,
lifting." - Rumi (via Howardism.org)
This is an invitation to plant your dream vision from seed into fruition in an active pilgrimage this summer. It's not just your own Personal Legend coming into ripeness, but widens inclusive of the whole cosmic symphony of which you are part.
“Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.”
― Hafez
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