Wisdom of the Windows ...

"...before we can be what we are meant to be,

we must accept what we are not."

THE BOOK OF AWAKENING

Mark Nepo

In my imagination, I see this building as being the resource of infinite wisdom, and as a seeker of truth, I am on the outside running up and down the fire escapes.  I peek inside a window and then move along if I don't like what I see.  I linger for awhile outside of other windows, pondering the meaning or intent of what I perceive. 

It doesn't seem to matter if I climb to the higher windows or remain on lower levels as there are lessons to be learned from every view.  What becomes very apparent, however, is the time I waste observing things that do not resonate with me, but appear to be attracting my ego.  Some opportunities can appear to be quite attractive dressed in worldly rewards that would make me feel important or powerful, but would only be distractions from the path that I have been called to follow. 

Mark Nepo states that "we must accept what we are not."  In order for me to know what I am not,  I must close the blinds on the windows no longer serving me.  When the windows reflect a blinding glare, I can pull the shades down to maintain clear vision.  Unfortunately, there are times when I can plainly see into an opportunity and it may be so overwhelming that I choose to flee down the escape until I grow strong enough to revisit the window.

The spiritual path frequently is based on an individual search or a personal quest requiring solitude and detachment from wordly attractions, and yet I must learn to walk my path in the midst of the world.  For me, I must interact with the world and not be cloistered away from it.

Eventually, I find myself raising the windows, finding entry into rooms with endless information, guides and teachers.   I may sit in a room for an hour or for days in suspended time.  Every piece of wisdom received, leads me back into my self where my true life path resides.  The wisdom within each of us can help transform us into the messenger we are called to be. 

We all have a message to bring into life.  All of us have a message for each other as it is part of our mission.  Once we can surrender to being authentic and know how to intuitively navigate through our daily life, faith and trust carry us deeper into the wisdom waiting behind the windows.  Sometimes we need to clean the dirt from the panes of glass in the windows before we can see what has been there all along.

"The Spirit is swifter than the mind," says Isa Upanished.  In other words, my inner spirit knows what I must do before I can congnitize my genuine life purpose.  Even when I become aware of the message I bring, I still may ignore the plan at high cost to my spiritual self.  Mark Nepo says that there is a difference between "innocent not knowing and a willful looking away."  There is risk in every challenge in life and the risk grows higher when fear is allowed to  over power faith. 

There is choice.  There is always choice as we are not victims.  But as Mark Nepo shares, "There is an inner knowing that can determine whether we will live like a dog  at the end of our leash (pulling and straining, painfully pretending we don't have answers) or whether we will run free through the grasses of life."