Staying In The Light
In those few moments he comprehended everything. He was very excited, and his heart was filled with peace. He could hardly wait to tell his people what he had discovered. But there were no words to explain it. He tried to tell the others, but they could not understand. They could see that he had changed, that something beautiful was radiating from his eyes and his voice. They noticed that he no longer had judgment about anything or anyone. He was no longer like anyone else. ~Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements Introduction: The Smokey Mirror
Re-reading the Introduction to Ruiz’ book of Toltec wisdom always reminds me of my first reading of Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. Any passage, though, that addresses enlightenment and transcendence is a reminder for me of the smoke that surrounds us, clouding our clarity in our day-to-day lives. I recognize it most right after a big event has concluded, which just happened for me this weekend.
After a big book launch on Saturday, I had the chance early Sunday morning to watch the sunrise from my bedroom window. Now, to be honest with you, the sun rose over neighbors’ houses and ornamental trees planted in my own lifetime. I don’t live on the ocean’s edge or on a mountain range. But the sunrise itself shot its rays directly to me and stopped the craziness of the last two weeks, clearing the cloudy mist that has been swirling all around me. It was a reminder of what is most important in this world — the inexplicable understanding of our existence, of pure love, of pure life, in this very moment.
This is why Julia Cameron‘s “Artist Dates” are so essential to stay in the light of our greater understanding of our life and of our existence. We need to stop the madness, the crazy ride we sometimes take, even when what we are doing is for beauty, love, and light.
It is easy to lose sight of the greater purpose of the moment, no matter what we may be doing. We get so distracted with meetings, planning sessions, and multi-level communications that the origins of why we are doing what we are doing gets lost in the mist Ruiz writes about.
I think of it this way: Our motivation to begin a worthwhile project begins as a seed born from the sun, or the energy source. The more we get involved with its organization, its implementation, and its final execution, though, we work farther and farther from that energy source. We are led astray by the man-made structures and plans that always seem to muddy our first intentions.
What we really should be doing is all of these things — planning, organization, implementation, and execution — as we orbit the source of our original idea. By staying closer to the light source (by being ever-mindful of why we are doing what we are doing), we remain committed to the cause while staying in the light.
I can’t take too many Artist Dates. The distractions are so many, and I need that balance in my life. It is not selfish. It is not disrespectful to others. It is necessary for me to remain selfless, balanced, and enlightened — three things that are getting increasingly harder to do in our very cloudy lifestyles.
What are you doing to stay in the light?
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