Further Becoming
The Inner Labyrinth's Final Turn Toward Courage, Compassion, and You
Transformation and Realization
Final Part of the Inner Labyrinth series
Transformation is a direct result of our explorations, based on our personal experience and understanding, and from reliance on our practices.
Transformation is not something we demand of ourselves or others. Overused in spiritual and psychological arenas, “transformation” is too often made as a promise after you put your money down. Too often, others are out to “convert” you into their religion or view.
The type of transformation we are talking about here, however, is a natural result of one’s efforts.
Transformation is experienced more as “becoming” oneself than as a “change” in oneself.
Your dynamic of fear is transformed into courage. You become courageous.
In Japanese anime or tokusatsu dramas, kenshin (transformation) occurs when a character transforms into a superheroine by speaking a catchphrase or using some transformative device or practice. Similarly, when we practice our spiritual principles, we activate our own inner powers.
Psychologically and spiritually, we experience transformation in how we relate to and experience something. This kind of transformation is deeply rooted and abiding because it comes from within and is not in any way coerced from without.
Realization
Realization will always result in some outer action that benefits us and others.
Authentic realization will never just be about you or me individually. There is always interdependence at play.
Even when we are deep into ourselves and working through something quite personal, realization includes an acknowledgment and experience of our connection to all that is and to each other.
This is as courageous as it gets—
Then, as we explore and are in conversation with our dynamic, antidotes naturally arise.
We must not abandon our awareness of our dynamic when we discover an antidote.
A continual and reliable introspection practice can tame the mind and create a manageable and even beautiful life.
We practice such active contemplation until we feel freed from a dynamic, or it no longer drives our bus.
The dynamic may be a backseat passenger, but it no longer drives our experiences. Negative states of mind may try to boss us around like a backseat driver, but they hold no real authority.
This latest exploration of grief brought me the gift of understanding—an understanding that gave rise to a practice I call Hosting the Edge, which in turn opened the door to transformation and realization. As I shared in my last post, I recently euthanized my beloved 16-year-old dog companion, Snickers. The act of exploring my grief was healing in itself. But continuing to stay with it—to meet and truly feel the layers of long-held sorrow—revealed a deeper realization. This, too, was a gift: one offered by my own efforts and by Snickers. I’ll share more about this in the next post.
Our explorations become medicine the world needs.
So with your arrival at the center of the Inner Labyrinth, the transformation that has taken root in you blossoms into more of who you are.
As you encounter the outer world, this realization is now part of your being.
An expression in Buddhism is: “further becoming”—further becoming ourselves.
This is not a one-time thing, one rebirth experience, but a continual birthing.
A Beautiful Thing
I am blessed as I explore a dynamic, facilitate a Red Thread Circle, while I write this post on the subject.
So I admit—writing these posts and holding transformational circles keeps me easily in conversation with a dynamic and other explorations!
I want to share something that may help you stay in the conversation and remain present with your dynamics and explorations.
Transformation and realization come with keeping a dynamic continually and compassionately conscious, staying curious about how this dynamic is coming up in our life.
We stay with the dynamic long enough to uproot it. Or, as I like to say, dismantle it. We stay with it until we experience transformation and realization. We stay present for our inner life, knowing that this greatly influences how we experience our life.
We want to understand how this negative dynamic can trip us up and keep us in an old story about ourselves and the world.
We become fearless when we undermine our negativity and bring an antidote, such as compassion, into the world.
And as we explore our inner life, we transform the world outside us from within—and that, Dear Reader, is a beautiful thing.
