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What Is My Part?
C. Allie Knowlton, MSW, LCSW, DCSW
Deep within a cave in the Mountains of Tibet, the spirit of a venerable monk met with me in a shamanic journey. With great dignity and gravity, he carefully unrolled an ancient scroll from a battered trunk and began speaking to me. He spoke in an ancient language, and yet in the world of spirit I could understand each word. He did not so much as read from the scroll as tell the story that was written there. It was as if it was etched within his own heart. It was a story of the creation - the beginning of the beginning.
I was mesmerized by the quiet passion with which he spoke. He shared that at one time all that existed was woven together in the frequency of Oneness. “Everything had a name. Everything had an essence. Everything had an energy. All the energies were relating to one another. Everything knew of its connection with everything else. And there was a sense of wholeness and order. There was harmony between all forms of life.”
He went on to tell me that the frequency of Oneness and harmony continued for a long span of time. I asked him what happened to change the frequency which then interrupted the harmonious interrelationships and interconnections? He looked at me to see if I really wanted to know the answer. I assured him with a look, that I did. “You already know that acknowledging the fact that you are divine and connected to everything and everyone is what brings harmony to your planet. It is not necessary to know what disrupted this original harmony. What is important is to look at how to return to it,” he replied.
“If you experienced it once you can experience it again,” he continued. “This is the task of your time period on the planet-- to begin to understand, with both from the scientific and spiritual perspective, how to live from the frequency of harmony.”
In my journey, I asked this venerable Teacher “What is my part in restoring harmony and balance to the Earth I so dearly love? I have chosen to return over and over again, obviously in the hope of making some difference.” “The more you order your own life, the more you bring your life into harmony with the frequency of the One, the Source of All that Is, you restore that frequency around you. When Oneness is returned there is no need for differences to be perceived as threats. These differences will be perceived as part of the richness of the Whole. Your part is knowing that this is possible. It is possible to be whole. There is always interconnectedness, there is always harmony. It is not necessary for discordance to be among the diversities of frequencies. That is what must be repaired. How you do it on a day by day basis is up to you.” And with that, he carefully rolled up the scroll and gently placed it back in the trunk.
Greg Mortenson, a nurse and mountain climber from Minnesota who spent much of his early life with his family in Tasmania, found his part in the heart of the terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. In 1993 he became lost returning from a failed journey to climb K2. He wandered into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants kindness who supported his return to health, he promised to return and build a school in this village. Over the next decade Mortenson built not one but fifty-five schools, especially for girls. Our dear shaman friend, Bhola Banstola and his Italian wife are supporting a school in Katmandu, Nepal where some students are now going on to nursing school. This school originally began as a place for street kids in Katmandu to live and learn.
How do we discover what our part is in reclaiming Oneness? Mortenson choose to attempt to climb K2 to leave a necklace from his sister who had died. He wanted to honor the gifts her spirit had given to him. He interrupted this climb to rescue a fellow climber and in so doing used up his inner resources. Others on the same expedition came home as celebrated heroes. Mortenson’s “getting lost” changed the direction of his life and life purpose.*
Our friend Bhola, leads treks to Mt. Everest and several Himalayan countries. He believes the earth has much to teach us about the harmony and connectedness of all species. He follows this belief even though he, too, lives in a politically volatile landscape in Nepal. Through experiences with the spirits and the mountains, he gently guides people to remember that they are part of the larger word. Like Mortenson, he finds his way to invite a peaceful Wholeness to manifest on this planet through his life choices.
Many of us may be wondering “what is my part?” in our own lives. In our lives and through our healing practice, we hear the stories of many people. They share their pains with us - breast cancer, a relationship that is no longer sustaining, a once secure job that vanishes in a day, a young child with as yet undiagnosed disease, a mortgage payment due with no money to send, a deep soul fatigue from childhood abuses, a parent moving to the end of life, a restlessness that cannot yet be given a name - and these are only a very few. What creates and maintains harmony in our life even with all these human life situations? The answer my Tibetan Spirit Teacher suggests is to compassionately hold the perspective of wholeness and Oneness in ourselves. He reminds me that this contributes to the harmony on this planet and in that this harmony benefits all.
What a challenge! How do we find the place of harmony in our present life and sustain it in these tumultuous situations? In their new book, Seeing in the Dark, Colleen Deatsman and Paul Bowersox concrete suggestions. One they call the “truth spot” which they describe it like this, “The truth-spot sensation is used in many disciplines and cultures; when people use phrases like ‘sit with’, ‘let simmer’. ‘let cook’, ‘go within’, and ‘gut feelings’ , they are often accessing the truth-spot sensation. When you quiet your mind, focus on a situation or issue, and become aware of how this situation or issue makes you feel, you are accessing your inner guidance, through physical sensation, to discern your truth and healthiest course of action” What follows is a suggested exercise to access one's inner "truth spot."
“Begin this exercise by sitting quietly and clearing your mind and center. Close your eyes... inhale slowly and deeply, and as you exhale, allow all of your worries, stresses, and thoughts to exit with your breath. Inhale again, even more slowly and deeply than before, and as you exhale, allow all the stress and tension in your muscles to exit your body. Feel yourself become relaxed. Inhale deeply and slowly once more, allowing all of your emotions to exit with your exhalation. Now just become quiet , allow yourself to be still, and just be.”
“As you sit quietly, bring your awareness to your center. Allow yourself to experience relaxation and inner calm. Now make a statement to yourself you know to be true. Note the feeling that you have in your body when you do this. Note the exact spot(s) within you that resonates with the truth of this statement, and make a mental note of that feeling. Now make an untrue statement. Note the exact spot(s) within you that resonates with the truth of this statement, and make a mental note of the tone that spot may have.... Make a mental note of the place(s) in your body where this untruth spot exists, along with the spot’s characteristic tone.”
“Many people report feeling warmth or a tingling sensation throughout their body that seems to be more concentrated in their solar plexus or heart when they speak the truth. When they speak an untruth, they report feeling constriction in the heart or pit of their stomach. Others feel a full-body natural energetic repulsion to the statement that signals a felt sense red flag. Because each person is unique, individual responses may vary. We encourage you to practice and cultivate your awareness of truth and untruth until you are comfortable trusting your internal discernment skills.”
This is a practical skill to increase an awareness of what is and is not truth for us in any given situation. Next in line appears to be the question “How do we find the courage to follow-through with our truth?" Our Spirit Teachers have been telling us for quite a few years that the resources are and will be made available for each of us to receive the support we require and need. And it is so. Through Spirit, there are amazing possibilities for healing and stretching our capacities than we can possibly imagine. But we must do the asking, and we must do the discerning about what is and is not the right resource for us. While we may use resources from the “truth-spot”, to Spirit Teachers or from messages from the natural world, to dear trusted friends. We are never asked to give our power away to any being. We hold the reins of our lives and our souls know our connectedness with the divine even if our personality forgets! The ultimate trust is always with our own soul self!
I'd like to end this month with a poem from one of my favorite poets, Trudy Sloan.
Watchers in the Wild Wood
Step off the path, walk into the woods
'Til the trees close dim behind.
Eyes upon you, the Watchers
Will be there. Only wondering,
Thoughts as quiet as the moss,
Who are you?
And here is the question we can address to ourselves: “What is my part in returning harmony to myself and planet?”
- Allie Knowlton
*More of Mortenson’s story is found in the New York Times Bestseller, Three Cups of Tea.
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C. Allie Knowlton, MSW, LCSW, DCSW is a psychotherapist, shamanic teacher and healer in practice with her partner Evelyn C. Rysdyk. Included in the book Traveling Between the Worlds, Allie and Evelyn are among the world’s most influential writers and teachers of shamanism.
Allie brings a lifetime of connection to Spirit to her work with individuals and groups. Originally trained as a minister, she presents eco-spiritually focused training programs--which include advanced shamanism and shamanic healing -- across the USA and Canada. In addition, as a founding member of True North, a unique, integrated medical center in Falmouth, Maine --she collaborates with physicians, nurses, a psychiatrist, a naturopath and several other complementary healthcare practitioners to provide a new model of health care that includes Spirit.
www.spiritpassages.org
www.spiritliving.org
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