Some days, like today, Google Maps sends you through odd neighborhoods and into dead end cul de sacs. And yet some days, also like today, Google Maps will lead you through the same onto smoothly winding, wide-shouldered roadways. The trick is to just keep flowing on in humble gratitude, no matter where Google Maps (or any other route-giver) sends you …

“Just because you feel lost doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re doing something wrong. Indeed, feeling certain that you are correct in making a certain decision keeps you from adjusting fluidly when things shift or go awry, and feeling certain in any particular situation often keeps you from noticing or attending to the many surprises and wonderments that life continually sends your way. Indeed, if you think that the journey of self-discovery must be taken to bring you more solid facts and certainties about yourself &/or the world, your ignorance of the same will become crystallized and you will inevitably become frustrated and frenetic. And that is natural, for seeking more knowledge about yourself and your individual place in the world keeps the two – your ego’s identity and the world in which it is living – fractured and separated. In truth, the more you seek to discover things about yourself, the less you will comprehend of the world and your true place/role within it. In contrast, the more you relax into your current station of self & surroundings, the less you will worry about ‘self-improvement’ or ‘self-discovery’ and the more deeply you will simply seek to Do the Good you can already Do – exactly where you already happen to be and exactly how you already are. This attitude of intentional immersion is what allows for the arrival of real Wisdom, and the wiser you get in this way, the more you will see that there are many paths that can be taken in any moment, and that everyone round you has just as many choices available to them, and that just because your chosen path is different from someone else’s doesn’t mean one of you is wrong or the other better, much less than either of you are any less or more deserving of love and kindness. If you allow the feeling of being lost to drive you into a search for absolute truths and correct answers or better routes or more harmonious places elsewhere, you might immediately feel like you are making progress and you might end up feeling more secure shortly thereafter, and yet in reality you will be taking large steps backwards along your Soul’s wished for path, and you will never know the more deep-seated Peace that you seek. So allow yourself to be lost when you are lost; allow yourself in those moments to realize that you have actually already arrived – Here – in this one and wondrous place. And then allow yourself to look about your station and find someone – anyone, fully regardless of bent or species – that could use some kindness &/or an area – any area, even right beneath your feet – that could use a bit of beautifying … and then get to it! For that is the only way any of us will ever truly come to know our Selves, much less gain a greater understanding of our world … Grand adventures (like great Awakenings) require nothing more than a willingly caring heart and the ability to trip over the cracks in the world.” ~ inspired by Vironika Tugaleva & Seanan McGuire

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019) by Scaughdt