WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES

There are times in one’s life when lightening strikes, when something (or everything) you held dear and cared for and loved comes crashing down. There are times when change is inevitable, and this change stretches us beyond our comfort zone and touches us in those oh-so tender places which frighten us and shake us and make the ground tremble. There are times when even awakened consciousness has no power over these changes that come like a missile in the night.

It’s such a common myth that an awakened being lives a life of endless ease and perfection, that everything is taken care of and there is no need to turn attention to temporal concerns. But — awakened or not — if you haven’t tied down your camel, it will get lost in the desert storm. Every human being — awakened or not — must chop wood and carry water if they are to survive and thrive in the world of form. If you live with your head in the clouds, or if you do not value the shelter provided by your physical vehicle and your physical home, you will bear the repercussions of this later on in life. And if you feel your material needs should be taken care of by others just because you are an enlightened being, then you miss out on the incredible opportunity for the soul’s evolution in this lifetime. The paradoxical grace of being in the world but not of it, is just too immense to miss out on!

And so life brings us — awakened or not — cycles of change and cycles of challenge and cycles of growth. What’s different in the awakened being is that, even though it seems an insurmountable task to the mind and even though it touches the invisible cracks of the heart, nothing is a problem because there is no victim in it. There is no “poor me” that is being punished by life, there is no flapping around in the story, there is no real fear. And even though the situation feels unbearable, there is the capacity to bear it. And even though the uncertainty is unwelcome, it is allowed to come home to tenderness.

And in this quiet spaciousness, a new doorway opens. Whilst your hands and your feet and your eyes must tend to the camel that needs to be made safe and secure, your inner world is untouched by anything that can come and go. You are rooted in the groundless ground of presence, and all ghosts of past and future evaporate in the face of this infinite openness. And if you stay still and stay quiet, the mystery that weaves it all together starts to do its magic to reveal the steps along the way.

And even though you may think it is you who is making decisions, there’s an intelligence that has already created the way.

~ Amoda Maa

(image by Kevin Phillips from Pixabay)