Polarities on the Spiritual Journey

Polarities on the Spiritual Journey 1. CATERPILLAR,COCOON me, without sacrificing practical reality? What practice will lead me away from emptiness to a sense of fulfillment and completion? \ BUTTERFLY. Am I a caterpillar? Am I a butterfly? Is this my cocoon? What am I becoming? 2. ASLEEP, DREAMING\ 7C. SATURATED, OVER-FULL, PRESSURED\ EMPTY AWAKE Am I dreaming? Is this a nightmare or a sweet dream? To what degree am I awake within this dream? Is this the process of awakening? How can I become more empty? What can I do to let go of my inner chatter, the constant turmoil of fears dialoguing one with the other throughout my waking and sleeping hours? How can I achieve a quieter mind, a peaceful heart? 3. ILLUSION, SHADOWS \ REALITY Is this real? Is this illusion? Am I kidding myself? Am I piercing through to some authentic reality beyond dancing shadows? 8. LOST, DIVERTED\ THE PATH Where can I go to find a vision of power? What is my true path? Who will be my guide? 4. ENSLAVED \ FREED \ LIBERATION To what extent am I free? To what extent still enslaved, locked up within, with an open door before me? Do I engage in practices that will may yet lead me to the liberation I so desire? 9. EXILED \ HOME Where is my true home? When will my exile be over? My heart will know when I have come home. When will that ever be? 5. IMPURE, TAINTED \ PURE, HOLY Am I comfortable with my inner degree of felt purity? At what level do I feel "impure"? Am I becoming more emotionally and spiritually cleansed? Is my approach to life cleaning my heart and mind or do I feel stagnant and unclean? 6. CLOUDED, THE DARK\ ENLIGHTENED How can I fully let go, surrender, die with acceptance? How can I let go of the numb 'playing dead' and truly surrender? How can I really let go and die, and indeed, then, come alive? What is the way for me to feel reborn? CLEAR, 11. JADED ADULT \ INNOCENT CHILD Am I clear or am I in the dark? Am I letting in the light during my daily activities? Can I allow the light to be with me even more? 7. FRAGMENTATION\ 10. HOLDING ON \ LETTING GO \ BEING REBORN WHOLENESS How can I embrace the child within me in a more innocent and authentic way? How can I drop my sense of guilt, blame and shame? 12. DECAYING WILDERNESS \ TREE OF LIFE There are so many disconnections; will they ever become knit together? Is it already one whole but I just can't appreciate it? How can I feel more whole with so many different pulls on me? 7B. EMPTINESS \ FULFILLMENT How can I embrace fullness? How can I give up my habitual cynicism, skeptical doubting, and the defense mechanisms which protect What is my way to the Tree of Life? Where is my place on the Tree? What is the consciousness of myself as a Tree of Life? 13. LOST IN ROILING WATERS\ COASTING How can I release, swim and surf with the many currents I presently experience as buffeting me? What is my path of least resistance?