Saturday 23 May 2009

Knowing the Unknowable...

The planets seem to be having an unusually big effect on many of us at the moment. There is a sense that something big is stirring; yet it is hard to pinpoint exactly what this is. It is just a feeling, an inkling that change is coming.

Now that Saturn has moved direct, there is a strong sense that each of us have become more grounded and more aware of the truth of our lives. Yet when we look at this from a more esoteric perspective, everything still seems shrouded in mist.

Maybe we are seeking clarity where there is none? There are some things in life, which remain unknown – they have always been unknowable, and that is why we try to seek enlightenment or knowing. Of course, when we reach this stage, the unknowable does become knowable, but we are not likely to be earthbound or in human form at the time.

So, the challenge lies in trying to make sense of the things that just don’t make sense. Maybe it’s not a challenge though, maybe it’s just part of the human condition. For if it made sense, we would only be trying to understand something else that doesn’t.

This may sound like I am talking in riddles, and in many ways I am, yet at the same time don’t we all spend our lifetimes living out the riddles we have created around us? We create the reality we want to create: we can see riddles or solutions, we can feel confused or contented. At the end of the day it comes down to choice: making a choice about constantly seeking the unknowable and feeling confused, or knowing that the unknowable is an ultimate goal, but at the same time grabbing life with both hands and living it to the full.

Many of us reach crossroads in our lives, and at these crossroads we need to make a choice about which path to follow. The difficulty for many of us is connected with not only making the initial decision about which path to take, but also to let go of the inevitable ‘what if’s’. Life doesn’t always work out as we plan, yet it is by making mistakes and accepting the responsibility for these choices that make us the people we are today.

Life isn’t always a bed of roses. We can focus on creating our own little Utopian scene of abundance and joy, but sometimes it doesn’t work out this way. We then have to choose how we are going to deal with the failure: despair and give in, or stand, fight and rise up again.

Eileen Caddy once wrote ‘Stop looking for a scapegoat in your life and be willing to face the truth within yourself and to right your own wrongs’.

So I guess it does ultimately come down to accountability. Many of us find it hard to accept responsibility for the choices we make in life, yet the only true way to learn is to embrace that burden and to learn from it.

We can spend our lives dipping our toes into the sea of life, yet never actually taking a risk, never making a decision, never jumping in. Is that a life well lived, acting sensibly, living in fear or is it a waste of a perfect opportunity to find that strength from within to not only jump into the water, but to dive in deeply, to rush through the waves like the dolphins and to explore every bit you can?

We can never be sure about what lies ahead, but we can be sure that there will always be the unknowable, but that’s life. It is up to each of us how we choose to live with this…