This is one of the most poignant and timely entries I’ve seen here thus far. It expresses not only the cathartic process of personal depletion, it serves as a metaphor for the convergence of crises and greater transition in which our culture finds itself today.

The passage speaks with such familiar intimacy, the soul whispering softly to us throughout the course of our lives. Within today’s culture, we find ourselves consumed--possessed--by the transitory concepts of achievement, growth, and progress. These ideals become have become like gods to us, creating self-reinforcing loops, the momentum amplifying and accelerating.

Yet all the while, we live increasingly in our heads and egos, dismissing the quiet voice of the soul and believing that “we know better.” Ironically, as our lives become increasingly unmanageable and imbalanced, we impose yet more control, which further compounds the imbalance.

Consumed by our desires, we forget our divinity and the real reason we’re here. Fortunately, the timeless wisdom of the body prevails, and we collapse into the deepest and most primal part of ourselves, literally falling into the well of soul. But this well is a conduit to our heart, and the collapse becomes our refuge, a restoration of health and balance, welcoming us home to our body and the simplicity of our senses.

Our lives are crafted from stories, and our personal stories combine to create the fabric of the greater culture in which we’re immersed. As the ecological devastation we’re witnessing attests, the limits to “growth” and “progress” have become increasingly clear to us. However, from this clarity emerges the opportunity to tell a new story, one of greater compassion, humility, and cooperation with all beings.

I am reminded of Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan:

Does this path have a heart?

All paths are the same; they lead nowhere. In my own life, I could say I traversed long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactor’s question has meaning now. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use.

Both paths lead nowhere but one has heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey, as long as you follow it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong, the other weakens you.

The trouble is nobody asks the question and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point, few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path.

A path without heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard to even take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.

For me there is only the traversing of paths that have heart, on any path that may have a heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length.

And there I travel looking... looking breathlessly.

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