Excerpt from a talk given at Rochester Unity on April 10, 2022
In the movie, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy had to take a journey and her first step was to embrace her fear, so she could discover her wisdom, her courage, and her purpose. It was only after this journey of self-discovery and identifying all of these aspects of herself did she realize that what she was seeking was always there, within. So, she clicked her Ruby Red Slippers and she was home: connecting to God Within and connecting to her true self and then able to see those around her from the Vantage point of love. Dorothy’s journey is like ours. All Spiritual leaders speak of this epic Soul Journey that we all must take. Joseph Campbell talks about this journey as ~listening for our call to adventure~ The key is to listen to our deepest knowing so we can hear the call This courageous journey enables us to discover and be be the best version of ourselves. When we hear our call to adventure and become willing to put even one toe on our authentic path, our soul illuminates our path. Dorothy’s path was known as the YELLOW BRICK ROAD. We all have our own YELLOW BRICK ROAD AND NO ONE ELSE CAN TAKE OUR ROAD AND WE CANNOT TAKE ANYONE ELSES Each person’s path is different. Once when I was sensing that my path was going to take a new turn, THAT is, I was hearing that CALL TO ADVENTURE, I said to the universe: “this year, I’m going to get a Horse so I can do Equine Assisted Therapy, or I’m going to get my PhD. Two days After I said that I received a notice from an organization that I was CERTIFIED with, that they were sending free horses to therapists so we could do equine assisted psychotherapy. My horse Harmony was in my arms within 3 months!
This choice did not make sense to anyone but me. Many people were telling me that horses are hard to have, they cause problems, are expensive and on the other hand: getting a Ph.D. would be great for my future. Problems arise when we let others tell us what our path is. My life completely expanded to new levels of wonder when my horse came to me, and I became a horse mother. She made me more of who I am. I listened and took action: This was my latest call to adventure. Another example of a Call to adventure that was not taken: I knew a young man once who so wanted to be a policeman. He knew this from the time he was 10 years old, and this knowing never left him. His parents selected a college that did not offer law enforcement because they wanted him to go into Business so he could make a lot of money. He went to that school but still kept his dream intact. When he graduated he still planned to be a policeman.. His parents still would not let up so now he has a very expensive business degree, and he does very little for work. He leads a forlorn life. When we take steps on our path, we are engaging in a very courageous act, we are loving ourselves in a way that many people will not understand. When we do take this step, many good things happen that would never have happened before. This quote from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe says it all Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. A meditation teacher that I know, Lou Redmond, tells us that if we are not being who we are we are lying, and lying to ourselves leads to a very sad and lonely life This sadness and loneliness come from not honoring who we are. A really fun way to discover our one true path is to tap into our creativity. Most of the time, people think that unless they are an artist that does painting, or sculpting or other typical ways of creating, then we are not creative This is so not true. Your wonderful church, Rochester Unity, has so many people expressing their love and creativity and their gifts. I have seen so many of you expressing who you are and using your gifts; you are indeed a radiant community filled with people who feel safe to be who they are. There are some really simple ways that people express their love and true self and their creativity. ~ someone who holds the door for someone who can’t walk very well is expressing courage and love; and wow, have I needed a lot of that these last 2 months Someone who plants flowers for the world to see is using their time and talent to fill our world with beauty. The prayer chaplains here volunteer to help the community to know they are enfolded in prayer. I could go on and on Oh, one more story, our son, Christopher, though he has a degree in Sociology and psychology blesses the world with music and being the leader of the band. One way he nurtures his creativity is by Rock Balancing. I have no idea how he creates these rock sculptures, but it is a centering activity, and this activity keeps him on his path. I am mentioning him right now because we must be willing to create balance in our lives. As we’re on our call to adventure we need to have a balance of following our own path and not getting sidetracked by what others demand of us. If we choose to follow our own path then things fall into place very easily .
Finally, I pose this question: What makes us afraid to express ourselves creatively. What makes us afraid to be who we are? First of all, Our creative nature is entwined with our true self so when we are rejected for what we create, we often feel we are less than. Here is what Jesus said to do: in Mt 10-14 “When you enter a city or home, If the home or town is worthy, let your peace rest on it; but if it is not, let your peace return to you.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, as ye go forth out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet.” So many times, when we have been rejected, we come to believe that this rejection is about our inherent worth. When we have received rejection, Jesus tells us to shake the dust off our feet because when we don’t shake the dust off our feet, we allow the dust to remain and become a magnet to attract other dust. And what is the dust? It is a sense that we are unworthy; that we are less than. and we allow our value to plummet in our minds and believing we are unworthy, we then forget this truth; WE ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD, AND WE ARE HEIR TO THE KINGDOM OF ALL GOOD And why did Jesus say feet? Feet represents our understanding of who we are. Let our understanding be cleansed by the inner love that flows within. OUR MEDITATION HYMN TODAY IS I AM AS GOD CREATED ME Let us close our outer eyes, And I invite you to allow the focus of your attention to go deep within to a holy center of love that is within, deep within As we breathe into this place, I invite you to imagine a very safe and sacred gathering place to be revealed in your Mind’s eye. Imagine taking a seat in this holy place, and as you sit, allow the awareness of a spiritual presence to join you. It could be a spiritual leader, an angel, or your higher self. They come to you and sit beside you; They look into your eyes and you feel the love that they have for you. They take your hand and let you know that you are on your authentic path when you feel this perfect love Allow to come to mind, one thought about yourself that has made you feel unworthy This thought was erroneously taken in a long time ago. Allow your spiritual teacher to simply remove this thought from your mind and therefore your feet, which the understanding you carry about yourself. And your spiritual teacher Says to you YOU ARE AS GOD CREATED YOU, IN THE LIGHT, IN THE LOVE, IN THE GLORY. AND IN a moment of perfect silence. Allow this truth to become part of you, in the silence, AS WE RETURN TO THIS NOW MOMENT, LET US SEE IF THERE IS A CALL TO DO SOMETHING THAT IS UNIQUELY OURS TO DO BUT FOR NOW, let us bring to mind a loved one and lets join with them in this holy awareness and know their yellow brick road is appearing for them. Let us join with them and give thanks that any thoughts of unworthiness are also being dissolved…….. And in this, let us begin to deepen our breathing and be here in this moment of togetherness in the light, in the love, in the glory……… *********************************************************