Brave New World

Journey with me into a new terrain, a realm of the spirit which you can only see and understand through story and parable. In this way, consciousness can take form and spin new life out of it. 

In our imaginary other world, a seed with a wonderfully rare and rich potential was planted. In the beginning, as a baby sprout, it had only just started to sprout leaves, grow lush, green and lovely branches when it became apparent that it was different from the other sproutlings. Soon, by its rapidly florid growth and large leafy branches, it began to reveal that its true nature may be unique or rare. To others it may have been perceived as strange or weedlike.  Unbeknownst to itself or the other young sproutlings in the forest, it might have had something special to offer the forest than the other trees. Then, one day, a farmer came along and threw a big heavy, stone rock over the eager young plant.

What did the plant do? It grew very deep roots, drove its roots down, close to the center of the earth where Mother Earth's nurturing warm body held it, healed it, and allowed it to grow very strong. As it took counsel from the earth's soul, it grew wise.

Then, one day, Mother Earth said, "Now. Push up against that rock. It's time to take your place among the other trees in life." 

So, it pushed and pushed. It even got very sick and tired from all the pushing. But, it persevered anyway, and put all its strength into pushing, trying, harder and harder. Then, exhausted, it stopped and thought it might even die completely from all the work of pushing. Then one day, it awakened to find just enough strength left in its roots and gave one more little push.

Wham! The rock was thrust aside, ejected into outer space, and the root's system shot a huge big leafy plant up into the air. Admittedly, it was a unique plant, but it had the strongest root system in the forest.

It looked around and noticed other rocks wobbling on the earth. As it attempted to help move those rocks, suddenly, one after another, the whole forest exploded with new shoots. The energy was bursting everywhere, all around him.
 

Life, that held the plants incubating for half a century or more, now produced the most abundant and beautiful plants in the whole forest. Life that was frustrated and forced to grow away from the sun, now had found the light it always sought. The longing and desire had grown so strong, that now it was the most vibrant and alive of any of the those other trees. 

Maybe you were that fledgling little sprout once. When you were young, full of curiosity, brimming over with a fresh new idealism and energy to touch everything, feel, smell, understand everything, you became the master of the great and powerful "Why?"

The young explorer in you romped and played in the sunshine, in the rain, in the snow, everywhere you could get to, with anyone who would go along. You didn't care about your clothes or a curfew and least of all what anyone thought of you.
 

In fact, the awareness that people's opinions of you could matter came much later in your life. For just that wonderful little while - for the first 10 years of your life - you were the young explorer of East Buffalo or wherever you grew up. The place doesn't matter. What matters is the spaciousness of your earnest and innocent exploration.

I would bet that the more intelligent you were/ are, the sooner you discovered a reciprocal reaction to your abounding curiosity and random explorations. The anti-life enemy force reared its ugly head and sent you to your room, silenced your ardent protests, cut off your supply of your favorite food, all in an effort to stop/silence you. For what? You still aren't really sure.

So, while you're alone up in your attic or in your room, looking longingly out at the wide expanse of snow covering the lawns, street and railroad tracks stretching out before you from your window watch, you begin to strategize a new way to get out there and resume your great adventure.

Eventually mercy overpowers the monster, and you're set free to roam again. And, again, you find yourself being silenced for just being you, only you don't realize that's what's happening. You're sure that you must have done something wrong to be getting in all this trouble, so you begin to stop all adventure-seeking. This doesn't happen all at once. It kind of happens slowly, insidiously, eroding your interest in life itself and replacing it with something they say you should be interested in. Eventually, you begin to realize that it's happening on all kinds of different levels which is even more confusing.

Over the next five years, you become well acquainted with the enemy's main henchman - "other people's opinion." You are taunted with that big mysterious nameless, faceless man "out there" (not God, but rather that vague societal "they" or "them,"  as in "what would they think?") who now controls you along with the mean monster who shows up unexplained and leaves just as mysteriously. You can't understand what's happening and you feel sad a lot more than you used to. You play alone a lot and start to feel that no one else can possibly be going through this because no one else is as "bad" as you to be so punished. Only, you don't know that's what you think. It's a kind of blind subconsciousness that's seeping into your young mind. You just think it and so the first of many layers begin the first "great cover up" of your life.

Now, it's many years later and you've learned several things over these years. You've learned to not ever say completely and totally what you feel or think because you've learned that the enemy's henchman still lives out there. And yet on some other dream level, you're never fully satisfied with how your life turned out because that little explorer is still at the window trying to figure out how to get out and pound those old fields in search of all things wonderful.

I know what it might have been like for you.

Today, we call what happened to many, many of us in those days "abuse." We also know that abuse has a stunting affect on a child's emotional and psychological development. They learn to lie or not say what they need which is a kind of lie. I lied when I said "no raise" was ok, when I needed a raise very much. I lied when I implied it didn't matter to me that my needs weren't being met so that the other person wouldn't be put out by them.

I didn't lie when I left though. So, I learned to leave and leave and leave. Then, one day, I realized that I hadn't left at all. I lived my life as if a pack of wolves were always at my heels. Now, being tired of running, I had to turn around and face them. All of them! I had to tell them my truth if I cared and I did!

Today, thankfully, I can tell a mean person who's been really harassing to just "buzz off" - something I could never have done years ago. Rather, I'd ignore them and go about my business telling myself that I was the bigger person because I didn't speak up when in reality I was the coward for not speaking up. Today, I speak up. I don't believe in violence, but I don't believe in ever being silenced again. Someone else's opinion of me does not matter as much as my integrity, my courage to speak my truth and for what I want and for what is right for me. I cannot live my life for other people, pleasing them because they usually don't really care.

Most of all, I want to invite all those other children, wonderfully creative, fun, explorers out there, who are still afraid of the evil henchman, "Whatwouldtheythink," to come back out and play. I know how you have suffered. I know what you went through. I know your fear, that still stalks you sometimes. Most of all, I know how talented you are and we need you - the world needs you - you need your full spiritual stature, more than ever.

Now, you who are now free but were once an underground shoot, living your life under a rock, would you go back under ground and put the rock back over you, if you knew that you had a voice all along? Would you lie and cheat yourself out of your truth and your life because you're afraid of "whatwouldtheythink?"
 

Of course not! Now, you know that never again will you let anyone silence you or frustrate you again. It is important that you defend your right to have that voice, to explore the world with all that rich, creative curiosity you had as a child.

In fact, you might have an advantage over all the other ones because you still have all that life force curiosity and creativity still unrealized and there's nothing holding you back now. The world is your oyster, my friend, and you can speak and move and have your brave being without apology ever again.