Humbled....by the great power of nature....

I like many others yesterday was humbled by the great power of nature in terms of not being able to carry out the most carefully laid plans. When we are forced by circumstances beyond our control to change what we had planned to do it can bring up lots of different feelings. It is so useful to examine what came up when we realized that we weren't going to be able to do what we wanted. What was there for you...anger, annoyance, frustration or were you able to accept the circumstances and as the famous saying goes 'turn lemons into lemonade'. I ask these questions not to make any reaction right or wrong but to get an insight into ourselves and how we react when things don't go to plan. This is the what the spiritual path is all about being steady in the face of everything that is thrown at unwavering in not making any situation or event wrong for being the way it is.

I have been incredibly fortunate in all of the weather chaos in that I managed to return from my Christmas holiday without any delays or changes to my schedule. This is just another example of how life is working for me in ways I never dreamed were possible. Another surprising turn of events is that I have always wanted to learn to cook. As I said in another post practical things like being a good housekeeper and learning how to cook were not on my priority list when I was obsessive about the spiritual path and how to make it just as real a dimension as our physical and intellectual, emotional and social dimensions. Practicalities were then to me a waste of valuable time that I could spend reading, studying, writing.

But learning to cook is something that I have committed myself to doing. Where I live at the moment is not ideal and I don't like to do it alone so I couldn't believe when a friend who is on the same training programme as me who has recently bought and moved into her new flat told me that she wanted to set up a cookery course and asked me if I would go around to her flat and we would cook together. This is just amazing. I agreed and last night we cooked a lovely butternut squash soup, scones and fairy cakes. I was so aware when we were doing the scones and fairy cakes of once again being five. But then again I suppose that when we all bake it brings back memories of licking the bowl and the spoon. But for some reason it was very poignant for me last night. I was aware that I didn't have as much interest in the butternut squash soup! even though it was delicious when it was cooked.

So early on in 2010 I am truly creating the life that I love. I have shifted in my way of being and it is so noticeable to me as well as to others. I am now convinced that the default position for human being is fear and that enlightenment is nothing more than the transformation of fear into love. What I don't have yet is the key to that transformation. I am being bold enough to state that up to my profound realization that shifted the ground of my being I was living life from an awakened state now I think that I am pretty close to enlightenment. This is a bold claim but my final thought last night was the insight 'enlightenment is realization of the fundamental fear human beings have of each other' and seeing into the ridiculousness of this. I think Leonardo Da Vinci realized this and this is why Mona Lisa has that enigmatic smile on her face.

And finally I received confirmation from my publisher of the details of the translation of my book 'JourneyToSelf' which I was delighted about. She confirmed: 'You might be interested to know that JOURNEY TO SELF is being translated into both Gujarati and Hindi for sale across India and locally within the UK. The translation is being sponsored by the High Commission of India in London, and being undertaken by Mr. Madhav Bhan at Amita Abbi Prashan'

This is fantastic news because it had all gone very quiet on the translation front. But and this is important to state but I think that readers of this blog will realize the process of getting to where I am now at is like going through the eye of the needle and it takes unwavering courage, trust and above all surrender. It is not a path for everybody but paradoxically it is everyone's path...by virtue of us all being spiritual beings with a human dimension and we think that it is that we are human beings with a spiritual dimension - no, we are spiritual beings with a human dimension and the path of the spiritual is to unconceal the human dimension so that the spiritual can emerge bright..