Stepping Into The Abyss

Often we cling to what we know, as desperately as any cliffhanger might portray, the feeble wretch who faces certain death if he were to lose his grip. It makes for good drama, however, realization of new perspectives that come from jumping into the abyss, the liberation that one feels upon letting go and the rewards of opening up to new possibilities frequently pays enormous dividends. Rather than being smashed into craggy outcrops or the chasm floor below, we often step out into new ways of being. It seems that humans are hard wired to hold tight to the very things that limit their experience. We often hold on tight to the pathologies and limitations of old way thinking, negative self interest and dramas that no longer serve (or perhaps ones that never did.) Self-censorship in the realm of ideas is one of the worst characteristics of provincialism. By protracting the ways in which we think, our mental maps of the world get more and more generalized. They may even circumscribe our imagination and intellect. In many real ways we forget to even pull our heads out from between the crags to which we cling. Every rock climber knows that you have to pull yourself in toward the rock face as much as you have to push yourself away. To make even the slightest motion along the edge of the abyss requires interaction with the void.

I will not be able to explain this to every reader, but for those of you who have come back repeatedly to read this blog, you will know that there are some things that defy description with language. I try to pin these down by parable, by association and by tightening the head of drums which resonate with their essence. The abyss is well known and understood by the shaman, by the artist, by the good teachers and healers of the world as simply, the unknown. It may sound less frightening described this way, but it is more often because we develop relationship with it over time that tames this wild void. Of course, there lies potential destruction, but when we realize that every thing we see, perceive and speak of is illusory anyway, then why do we fear another form of transformation that lies outside our experience? Transforming reality to suit a desired future state may require letting go of what we have been told represents security, economic self interest or perhaps even education itself. If given the choice, I would take a million people who admit that they do not know than a single person who is convinced that they know it all. I am sure that you have suffered many a fool who is convinced of their righteousness. What I have had to learn the hard way is that the things worth knowing are rarely put into college curricula, rarely spoken of and hardly recognized when they take place in our lives.

Millions of songs, poems and books have been written on the subject of love for instance, but yet our understanding of and practice of this essential act of compassion is more constrained than ever. We delve into it's opposite as if we are justified in our hatred. I have become enamored with the term agape love, the sort you would have for a deity, on a good day. Not the sort that expects a prayer to be heard, not the sort that requires something or you would not worship, a true and abiding grace, relinquishing self for a moment in their presence. This is the sort of love that I wish to cultivate amongst all my fellow humans. As scary as that sounds, it is a way to characterize the abyss. Letting go on all levels is hard to accomplish. The rocks in the stream create eddy currents as kayakers and canoeists appreciate most exquisitely. Without something substantial to break the river's current there can be no rest amongst the white water. Many of our beliefs, knowledge, skills and attitudes are just this, refuges from turbulence. Although we frequently "need" a big something to hide behind from time to time, stepping into the abyss can be as simple as sticking a paddle out into the flow and seeing what the next leg of our journey will bring.