Today I’m starting with two lead quotes: one from a favorite novelist, Herman Hesse, see above, and the second from another author of stellar insight, Sarah Ban Breathnach. She writes: “Turn away from the world this year and begin to listen. Listen to the whispers of your heart. Look within. Your silent companion has lit lanterns of love to illuminate the path to wholeness. At long last, the journey you were destined to take has begun.” What’s the journey you are destined to take by listening to your heart?

In many ways this past year, by default, has been a turning away from the world for me because there’s been so much mental, emotional and physical loss. The lovely paradox has been that because of this, I again began to listen to the whispers of my heart which led me into places I never imagined and taught me lessons I didn’t know I needed to learn. It’s only been in this silent reflection that I’ve recognized my ‘silent companion‘ and the ‘lanterns of love‘ that have illuminated the path to wholeness.

As we run to catch up with all the new inventions, political and social changes that seem to be everywhere, it’s difficult to turn off the whirring machine of our fast paced cultural upheavals and listen to what’s quiet, gentle and renewing. In a moment of awakening we might simply ask ourselves what we’re listening to and why. We might even want to seek the inner sanctuary into which we can retreat to find our True Self rather than listening to the sirens of desire calling us into the fray of life we’re conditioned to follow.

What drives us to keep striving for the next best thing, to stay on the fast track to nowhere instead of being now, here. Why are we listening to all the chatter and what do we expect to gain from it? What really matters when everything and nothing matters at the same time? And what of our silent companion? Who is it that lights the lanterns of love, that invites us to walk the path of wholeness and how do we retreat long enough to discover this inner Self? Can we awaken periodically to stop, look, listen and follow?

As I reflect on the unnatural conditions on our southern border where innocent children are separated from their parents, displaced and traumatized: I continue to ask what conditions will make possible the flowering in our hearts to create a new universal love for all our relations? What is possible, necessary and budding in the midst of all this insensitive change? How will the heart be heard when power and control continually usurp the dignity of every human being and love is trampled by fear and violent actions?

The answers are in a belief that Life is an open road rather than a blind alley and that we humans are on a defining trajectory creating a path of wholeness for all. Even as the past continues to fight for control, those of us who have together seen and experienced this New Creation continue creating the inner sanctuaries of wholeness for a new way of being which is now and not yet. The lanterns of love continue to be lit everyday throughout the world while Peaceful Presence, our silent companion, guides and directs us on our way. At long last, the journey we were destined to take has begun.

This journey requires ongoing attention, awareness and contemplative action. It asks that we become more aware of our collective unconscious which holds both energies of heaven, the highest levels of consciousness and hell, the lowest levels of awareness. It invites us into the paradox of life, that we may reconcile all opposites and co-create a whole new consciousness beyond all duality, separation and division. It’s calling us to a new form of listening that hears the joy, tears, love and fears of the entire created order.

As we let go of the mechanistic model of life, we can step back and see ourselves in new ways. We can begin to appreciate the wholeness and design of who we are and who we’re not. Here we can make use of the totality of who we are, find the clarity to recognize the wholeness that is us and create a whole new planetary experience. We can discover the uniqueness in each moment of birth, life, death and new life that breathes us and like tuning forks, resonate with the creative music of the cosmos that few hear. Truly, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Turn and Listen Listen Listen.

• As you walk through your days this week, month, year; turn your attention from the external reality to the internal one. Stop, Look and Listen for the unseen and unheard that you may become more at unity with the visible and invisible, known and unknown.
• Become conscious of looking for the lanterns of love that have been lit for you along the way of your path to wholeness. Note what you experience along the way. . .
• Meditate and contemplate on the journey you were destined to take. Be aware of the small and large steps you’re continually being asked to take. Continue the practice of inquiry: “What is this moment asking of me?” Discern, Relax, Observe, Process. . .
• The path of wholeness involves embracing the darkness and the light. Notice each in yourself and reconcile these apparent opposites into a wholeness by transcending, including, forgiving, maturing and harmonizing one thought and action at a time. The time for evolution and new solutions is now: Always Here. . . Always Now. . . Taste and See While Learning How. . .