North Pole Journey - Day Three, Part One

Day Three: Saturday September 25, 2010

Part One

The Thread of Pure Consciousness

I wake up to my second morning in Resolute Bay. It is the day before I leave for the North Pole. I feel inwardly warmed by the memory of meeting the Inuit healers Lisa and Louisa last night. What grace to have such palpable, human confirmation that a subtle thread of healing interconnects us all. How else could these women have known before meeting me that I was coming to the North Pole to do healing work for the Earth? It seems the same energy that sparks their inner healing journey also inspires mine. I feel carried by an invisible force, which affirms the rightness of my decision to follow the intuitive guidance, put my musical tour on hold and come to this icy land.

A subtle thread connects us all. I have heard some people compare that force to a river. To me it is the flow of pure love, a continuum of pure consciousness that is in everything. When we are open, ready and willing to listen and release our ego and become receptive to what truly is, we find that thread and it guides us. I have felt its presence often. Following it, life unfolds effortlessly, when faced either with adversity or with pleasurable experiences. At times, my own willfulness gets in the way because I am attached to seeing reality the way I want it to be. I can feel disconnected, alone and attached to feeling like life is against me, happening ‘to me’. I have found it takes both the smallness of humility and the bigness of courage, a kind of spiritual ferocity, to be willing to lay down one’s ego and swallow the pill of sobriety in all situations.

I meet up with Rishi and Sunanda. Hungry, we head downstairs for breakfast. There we find Satish and join him. We also see Steve, the gifted healer/yogi I mentioned in my previous blog entry, who is quietly focused on eating. He greets us with some trepidation. He is clearly still attached to the idea of going on the North Pole journey with us and has not yet understood our choice to go on our own. I can feel that his heart is in the right place, but it seems his ego is in the way of seeing what really is. He seems to feel that our choice to go solo eclipses our ability to see him in all his mastery, rather than us doing what feels balanced and correct for us at this time. Our choice is not about him, yet he is taking it personally.

He quietly eats his cereal without saying much. As I watch him eat, while waiting for my warm breakfast, I think of how our own reactivity is a clever ego decoy from experiencing the fullness of life. Through the drama of it all, we momentarily feel proud, strong and justified based on feeling separate and hard done by. I wonder if he really can taste his cereal, or if his senses are numbed by repeated thoughts so that all he tastes is the bitterness of misunderstanding.

He does not look up at us much. I suppose it is best to let him be. I know from having been around challenging people that only when one is truly receptive to another can one have a sincere conversation. At this time, it seems Steve is more interested in judging us for what he feels is us being small minded, rather than opening to learn more about our process and our intuitive guidance, and being happy for our trip.

The Power of the Sangha (Spiritual Community)

My breakfast comes and the steam from the hot oats rises to touch my face. I think of how the vapour from the hot food bridges solid matter and the air unseen. I think of the many times I have judged, closed myself off, become reactive and thought myself better than. It is easy to go there. I feel grateful for the kind-hearted friends who are around me.

My friends and I are a reality check for each other along our evolutionary path. By being receptive to feedback, we help each other avoid the pitfalls that are simply part of the spiritual path and the trickiness of the ego. Buddhists have a lovely tradition in which aspirants are taught to find refuge in the three jewels: the Buddha (embodied by the Buddha himself and seen as pure consciousness and one’s true nature), Dharma (the path of righteousness, specifically the teachings on the Buddha) and the Sangha (the community of those dedicated to enlightenment). My sangha helps me see my blind spots and help me live dharmically or righteously.

Together we learn the humility to evolve as we uphold each other to our highest potential. Faced with trickiness along the path, I know it is not easy. We each die in the evolutionary process, the death of the ego that wants life to suit the ease of our own perception. We are reborn stronger beings of pure consciousness. To them I give thanks for their fierce courage to look at life straight on and say: "I AM!"