Sunday 28 September 2014

On strength

"Oh, come on! Can't you be strong enough and let the things be as they are?!" I kept telling myself over and over yet still ended up reaching out to the one person who most likely didn't even need me to. But I couldn't tell for sure and that's why I kept coming back. My fault; my weakness! But I am not a person to burn the bridges. I strongly believe that any bridge left standing will one day unite people; maybe not the same people as before but it will! And, in my heart, that's a reason good enough to keep that bridge there and open.

So this week it was all about being strong and what it means. I felt it rather intense when I ended up sick and helpless over the last few days. What does it mean to be strong?

Let me give you two option to start with and think about:
It could be the ability to keep up the walls that protect what you treasure most behind. Within those walls you are well aware of any dangers coming and you have time to get ready and react accordingly.

It could also be the willingness to be out there, rather fragile, vulnerable and facing those dangers just because deep down you know and understand that what's not real, can't harm those treasures you carry within.

"Human beings - fragile and resilient!" Camino Called Life

Besides the options I gave you above I feel there is more what we tend to label as "strong".
We sometimes say that those who withstand the storms of life are strong. But what is it that makes them withstand in the first place?

We often see those who are brave enough to stand their ground and fight for their truth and way as strong. But where does such fire come from and does it always kindle other hearts or burn them instead? What controls that fire?

We tend to admire loud, persistent, visible but where is that strength when you look at yourself in the mirror right now, quiet and alone, as authentic as only you can see yourself?

Since being a child, my father was always telling us the story of a Slavic nature. Especially in times when strength and kindness were needed. 
He told us: "It is said that Slavic people are like dough while strong nations such as Romans are like rock. Sure, it was meant to harm Slavs and their reputation and ridicule their ability and willingness to be molded under the pressure. But try to hit the dough with a knife! The dough won't be destroyed and the knife won't stay untouched after that."

Another Zen story talks about the strength we need to hold the water in our hands. The strength we need is actually gentleness! The more we squeeze the water, the more difficult it is to keep it. 

So what is it then that we need to be strong?

Is human being the strongest of all?
Where does our strength lie?
And why did we get it in the first place?

Not the strength that builds the walls, sets the boundaries between the countries, nations, and people. But the strength that changes the hearts and builds bridges that will unite one day.

The strength that, as that dough, leaves others touched and changed but not destroyed.


"So I chose to live and create my world ruled by love and embrace the vulnerability that comes with a smile.
In the kingdom of animals, a grin may express inferiority. Animals grin when they approach a fight or try to step back from one. That's the explanation people made. In the world of business, women are often advised not to smile too much in order to be taken seriously, as an equal opponent. That's also the advice people came up with. When my dog greets me, he happily grins and shows me his fluffy belly. That's his definition of love!
My definition of what it means to be strong changed and it seemed I would need to come to it with a different perspective." Camino Called Life


“On the day when it will be possible for woman to love not in her weakness but in her strength, not to escape herself but to find herself, not to abase herself but to assert herself--on that day love will become for her, as for man, a source of life and not of mortal danger.” Simone de Beauvoir

Sunday 21 September 2014

On Grace

“All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception. Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void.” 
                                                                                  Simone WeilGravity and Grace

Very early this week I found out that I might learn something about grace. It started with grace I received unknowingly at one particular moment and then it went on showing me its various ways and colours!

What is grace? Grace, the basis of not only Christianity, other religions but also philosophies and to some extent even our common sense. Grace, defined as simply as I can despite its complexity, is a gift offered to us unexpectedly, unknowingly, undeserved! And I write "offered" because to be offered and to accept are two very different things. Acceptance requires free will, another major pillar in many religions, and humility.
So besides not being in control of how or when we can be presented with grace, we most likely won't even know what to expect in the package. And with that comes an incredibly important state we need to acquire in order to receive and recognize it - openness, willingness, and gratitude! 

Brian Gray talks in his lecture on Compassion and Forgiveness how grace not only frees us from our own karma but it frees higher spiritual beings from having to weave the threads of karma for us and so enables them to nourish all of life. 
However, in relation to our own karma, grace does come as a result of our intention to overcome ourselves, our own small world and our choice to give what we withheld, provide what we didn't, forgive others and ourselves trespasses because we simply didn't understand one another. 
When we learn to love, we learn to nourish one another and create space for grace to fill in, not for ourselves only, not for one another but for the whole world.

And after all, whatever I wrote in this post, trying to summarize briefly the power and way of grace, it still is the act of God and He does give generously and especially to those who haven't set their intention on healing themselves or others, who don't earn it, who are confused or lost, who trespass against us...and I believe it could be that such "wanderers" unknowingly carry that void within; the soil for the grace to take roots!

Whether they recognize the grace that filled their void, however, and take it to others, is another story.
Nevertheless, it will be given generously until, one day, we all do.


Monday 15 September 2014

On love and pain

My first "Caminocalledlife" post was about love and since then I longed to write more about it, more about love and be more specific. I really wanted to name one post On Love. And I still want but I have my doubts about it already.
I realized love is interwoven in every one of them and I can't seem to separate it from anything. And so I find it somehow comforting even today to say "love and pain is the same!".


True love sometimes allows great suffering!
It's just because what we need to learn is essential for our growth, for healing, our own as well as the whole world.
If you need to learn that, one thing only, the lesson you came here to experience above all else, then there is only one way, as Christ said..."One way, one truth, one life."

It is Love!
Love is the way to learn and experience what we need, it is opportunity, encouragement and lesson itself at the same time.

Nothing but love, nothing else, has the power to break in the heart and break it so that the light can get in!
And that's the place when/where oneness, unity of our own spark and divine light, the understanding and acceptance come from.

Only love is true! Everything else falls apart in its light. Everything!

We carry the light within no matter what, whether we are aware of it or not. We don't choose it, it is who we are!
And yes, love is sometimes painful because the light gets in and out and new being is born at that moment. And that always hurts. But that's not where it ends. We don't need to embody the pain, it is not where we should stay and linger. Pain if understood and transformed is what brings that new life.

I noticed that pain comes to my life everytime I forget who I truly am and why I am here. Everytime I prevent that oneness in any way, everytime I stop and avoid transformation. I am here to be divinely myself but I am not here for myself!

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others..." Matthew 5:14-15

Love and pain is the same because both come through others as a gift! 




"You have to keep breaking your heart until it's open."  Rumi




Sunday 7 September 2014

On Rhythm

The rising and the setting sun, the waxing and the waning moon, the hand that's wide open, seemingly empty yet ready to receive the blessings. The whole universe follows this rhythm; the rhythm that is bestowed on us with every breath we take.

Everything seems to follow the law of expansion and contraction...Then a pause follows to prepare a space for the rhythm to continue; endlessly.

"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."--The Kybalion.

We love the moments when things go well, flourish, and prosper. We strive to keep them that way and tend to resist the change that could possibly shake them up. In fact, every change does shake things up and that is why it is hard to surrender to changes. It is difficult and yet it is normal to feel that way as well.
This is one side of the rhythm. And then there is the other one. The moments we dread, we resist, we wish away. 

This weekend I had a long conversation with a good friend of mine. We talked and I shared my doubts concerning the present stage of my journey.
"Just imagine this journey as a puzzle. Some pieces are big, important, you will always remember them. Like your pilgrimage! And then there are pieces that are small, insignificant, easy to overlook but your picture wouldn't be whole without them." 

Your picture is not made of big and beautiful moments only! Your picture is not made of tragic and dramatic moments only! 

Calmness in the face of joy and sorrow! Teaches Steiner

Ignoring the small pieces, the moments of sorrow and sadness, as well as expecting joy and harmony at all times does not seem to be the way.
Balance and acceptance, on the other hand, can guide us through the valleys and over the mountain tops. Balance and acceptance awaken our senses to possibilities that surround us, miracles that occur naturally, unseen beings waiting to help us along the way. And with balance and acceptance we bear fruits that last forever (John 15:16).
However, balance and acceptance would mean very little should we overlook the blessings each season has to offer.

Enjoy the sweetness of summer and know that winter is coming...followed by another spring, fresher and greener than before because you walk in it with your eyes open and aware.

The journey always starts and ends with Joy but what carries us through is balance, acceptance and peace!

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:12