living by a script

The world is changing, to say the least. You can almost hear the ground rumbling. Old people, old systems, old paradigms, and old storylines are falling away. We're questioning all kinds of trusted institutions like marriage, the presidency, the integrity of our marketplace, and the very security of our world. Academia is stale, healthcare is sick, and the family unit is assaulted by hyperactivity, fragility, and materialism. Tough times, indeed!

This is what we might call the "dark night" of a collective spiritual passage. We are asked to let go of old habits of being, and thus remember more accurately who we really are, making more room for ourselves and each other to let spirit flow through us. It's a lot like letting go of a stylish - or at least safe - outfit that got us needed attention, or inclusion. We mistake it for our very skin. We cling and pull, and still it comes off, and we feel stripped, naked, vulnerable. We feel that others are staring at us, judging us for our nakedness. Hmmm. Sounds sort of Biblical.

The point is, we are so busy trying to please others, or to fit in to some tired old clique, that we forget whom we're meant to be. Our souls are not vapid, winged ephemera whose presence is only palpable in the afterlife. They have specific qualities, like a recipe, that give us indications of what kind of life experiences best suit us, uniquely. Some of us are meant to be dreamers; others, housewives. Yet others, inventors or connectors. At some point, it may be time to give up the homefront for an office job - or vice versa! We may long, in our depths, to feel more complete by completing the menu of experiences our souls have designed for us.

It feels frightening to step outside the safe bounds of convention (even if you're unconventional!) and become something else. Yet the courage to do so opens new doors for a more exciting, fulfilling pathway. Beware the guardians at the gate! They are not monsters, like the myths portray; they are monstruous fears or disappointed friends, who want us to stay comfortably stable, unmoving. Can we move beyond trite scripts into a fresh zone of creativity? Try it.