The Only Thing That Matters (9 page)

There is something more that you have come here to remember than simply that the “traveling companions” moving through time are called Body, Mind, and Soul and make up The Totality of You, or that the Soul goes on forever in the same form, while the Body and the Mind change form along the way.

The fact that your Body and your Mind
as well as
your Soul exist forever creates a whole new context for the living of your life, affecting dramatically the
how
and the
why
of it—for this fact suggests that your Body, Mind, and Soul are
equal parts of you
and are
meant to be used together.
This is not the way they are always used. In fact, for most human beings, this is not the way they are usually used, or even sometimes used. The number of people who operate from the Body, Mind, and Soul simultaneously is, relative to the total population of the earth, rather small.

And this is chiefly because the average person has not considered the Body and the Mind as part of a triumvirate. At least, not functionally. Perhaps conceptually, but not functionally. Yet they are aspects of the Triune that is The Totality of You, and
knowing
this allows you to understand that while your Soul is, in fact, “leading the way” on The Sacred Journey by clearing a path, your Body and your Mind, as equal free agents, are no less important on the eternal trek you are taking.

And because they are equal free agents, they
do not necessarily have to follow the Soul on its path
. And
that
piece of information is not inconsequential.

Even as parables and storytelling were used in the previous chapter, now let us employ the device of metaphor.

The dictionary defines
METAPHOR
as “a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, esp. something abstract.”

Well, there are few things more abstract than The Sacred Journey, so metaphor may be a useful tool here.

The Life Path Metaphor

In this symbolic story of how things are, your Body, your Mind, and your Soul are proceeding along a path. It is The Path of the Soul, called that not because your Soul is the only one taking it, but because your Soul is leading the way.

Yet while the Soul is leading the way, it is not requiring or demanding that its companions follow its lead. So, your Body and your Mind sometimes veer from The Path, setting out into the woods on either side, seeking a different adventure.

Tromping through the woods can seem like fun for a while if you imagine that you are only your Body and your Mind, but sooner or later you realize that you're much more than that … and then you begin to sense that you're taking a very long time getting to where the Much-More-Than-That seeks to go.

The American poet Robert Frost captured this feeling wonderfully when he wrote in a stanza of one of his most famous works …

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep
.

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Robert Frost

The promises you have made have been entered into between you and yourself. They are promises to make more of this life than it seems to be; to be more
in
this life than you appear to be; and to give more
to
this life than you receive—so that Life Itself may be extended, with Its expression expanded. For it is the function of Life to create more Life through the Process of Life Itself.

Your promises, as part of all this, were not made at the level of Mind. They were entered into at the level of Soul, prior to your birth. And, of course, the word “promises” is a human term, used simply to get across an idea. A more accurate word might be “processes.” These are the processes that Life Itself uses to ensure that Life Itself continues. These processes are encoded into your physical being as part of your very DNA—what might be called your Divine Natural Awareness.

When humans forget or ignore the fundamental processes of Life Itself they are, essentially, stepping off The Path of the Soul—which is the shortest path to where all humans yearn to go. The irony here is that at the same time they are leaving the Soul's path, humans complain that they are
not getting anywhere
.

This is the practical implication of the free agency of the Body and the Mind—what some religions call Free Will. And now you know why all of this has been examined here in such detail. This is about much more than the
esoterics
of universal cosmology. This has
on-the-ground implications
in everyday life.

The good news is that while it may appear that you are
not
“getting anywhere” when viewed from the perspective of Body and Mind alone, this is not true. You
are
getting somewhere, but because you have “strayed from The Path” and wandered into the woods, you are now getting to where you are going
the long way
.

Yet going the
long
way is not the same as going the
wrong
way.

This is very, very important for every human being to remember. Through this Awareness, hope can replace despair, and that is wonderful because while despair is blind,
hope has eyes
.

Now you can see that
others
have strayed from The Path and found themselves deep in the woods, just as you. Yet those who have gone before have tamped down the underbrush and inadvertently bent some of the branches in their rush to return to the Easier Trail, showing you, if you look closely enough,
the way back to The Path
.

So it may seem as if you are lost, yet you can find your way again if you keep moving forward, but start paying attention to the signs along the way.

The challenge, of course, is to notice them.

This is one of them.
Are you noticing it? Are you paying attention to what your Awareness is showing you here?

11
The Most Important Question of Your Life

D
EAR
O
NE
… please understand that what you have just heard is not just word play. It is a statement, in the language of metaphor, of the human condition as experienced by many, many people. Perhaps, most people.

Some people have referred to the experience of taking the long way to where they wish to go as feeling “lost” or “without direction,” and this can happen at any time during one's Sacred Journey, early or late … and more than once.

Now let's add to the metaphor here, so that through some further imagery you might get an even clearer picture of just what is going on.

The Life Path Metaphor – Part II

Think of the journey you are taking as a hike not only through woods, but woods that cover mountainous terrain.

While this hike is uphill and is challenging, there is that clear path that can make the challenge exhilarating and enjoyable.

Not all “challenge” has to be a negative or arduous experience. Certain challenges in life can be exciting and wonderfully rewarding. Yet a journey that is painful or arduous is what you may encounter if you stray too far from The Path and try to make your way to the top of the mountain through the thick forest.

What you could really use now is a Sherpa.

Enter: The Soul.

On this hike your Soul is leading the way for good reason. It has already been to the mountaintop, so
it knows how to get back
—and its way is the fastest way.

In fact, your Soul is at the mountaintop now.

That's right. The Soul is not really “going” anywhere. It already
is
where the Body and the Mind seek to go. The Soul, like God, is—already and always—Whole, Complete, and Perfect. It requires and needs nothing. It simply chooses to know itself in its own experience. In this, it is exactly like God. In fact, it
is
God, individualized.

The Totality of You—that is, your Body, Mind, and Soul
combined
—is thus both the journeyer and the destination. Part of It is journeying, and part of It is already where It is going. The purpose of the Journey is for the Totality of You to be able to experience what the part of you called your Soul already knows of you.

By dividing your Self into three parts, you can both
know and experience at the same time
your true identity over and over again—your Body and your Mind assuming different forms from lifetime to lifetime, even as your Soul retains eternally its original and only form.

The purpose of the Body and the Mind taking different forms is to provide the Soul with endless
differing
expressions through which it can experience cyclical reunification with God, even as the Body and the Mind experience repeated reunifications with the Soul.

What the Soul is doing at the macro level, the Body and the Mind are doing at the micro level. It is all the Same Journey, taken by every Life Form, each in its own way, across the cosmos.

On your journey, the Soul is technically not
leading
you to your destination; it is
calling
you there. The Soul is going to keep showing the way and, by cutting through the thicket
from the other end
as it connects with your Mind and Body, creating the way. But, as mentioned, it will never
insist
that you
take
the way.

This is because your Soul knows that there is
more than one way to the mountaintop
, and that there is no “right way” to get there. There may be some ways that are
faster
than others, but “faster” doesn't mean “right.” It simply means “faster.”