Wandering Free...

Wandering the woods without a trail,
my focus on finding The Truth
is realized as a self-made illusion.

Not needing to find yet another belief system;
no longer a need for a specific path
cut by others; nor the illusion of
future "enlightenment" through practice,
discipline, or self-control...

Finding comfort in loosening the
constraints of the "spiritual cocoon"
that I wrapped myself in for so long;

even the mantel of meditation
has become too heavy and is unraveling -
becoming frayed... like an old prayer shawl.

Reborn from the Chrysalis of my comforting beliefs,
finding freedom in just BEing ME,
without suffocating concepts or a defined
"spiritual image"; instead finding my true Face...

Breaking free from the conceptual "spiritual"
constructs; the scaffolding of beliefs and ideas
about "spirituality" that propped "me" up;
caged in spiritual ideals, unable to fly...

Freed now from the cage of my own making,
I can breathe, I can LIVE
intuitively, being moved from within,
listening for what calls to me...
discovering freedom in being open to where life goes,
as I wander the woods without a trail...

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 18, 2019

~

With gratitude to Debbie whose email inspired
this poem and her phrase: "wandering the woods
without a trail."

A Collective "Spirituality" - Matt Licata

At some point we will be invited to revision the concepts
which have guided us along the way.....dissolving what has
come before, and starting over, as if it were the first day.  To
illuminate the lenses through which we are seeing self, others,
and world...

[Spirituality] is not a state where we become liberated from
feeling, but freer to experience it more fully..... Not transcending
 our vulnerability, fleeing into a state of power and untouchability,
safely hidden away in some protected spiritual cocoon.

We will never be fully alive by embracing only those feelings and
those dreams that our families, societies, and teacher claim are
worthy and valid.  But only through the courage and mercy
required to touch it all.

To partake of the entirety of the spectrum of this human experience,
with as much curiosity, soul, and kindness that we can discover.
To give ourselves permission to care, to take a risk in allowing
another to matter, and tend to the heart it inevitably breaks in
response to suffering, disappointment and despair.

To see for ourselves to what degree the unconscious quest for
power, mastery, certainty,and invulnerability may be an
expression of fear, not love.

To realize how little we know in the face of the mystery [of life].

~

A collective spirituality is not going to be subtle, nuanced, or
creative enough to meet the longing within.  The way to direct
revelation and embodied experiential discovery is not the easy way.
It's not the path of five-steps to empowerment, manifestation, or
thinking our way into permanent happiness, abundance and bliss.
It is a humble journey, heart wrenching at times, as we compassionately
[embrace] the disowned parts of ourselves that surge for re-union.

It is unlikely we'll fully understand or resolve the mystery of self and
other, of separation and union...  But we can break open into the
questions as beginners, as amateurs, and as servants of the mystery.

Matt Licata