The faces that we see

"Don't you know me?

Look into my eyes.

Do you not see yourself reflected there?

I am to you as you are to me.

We are One."

"Why does the wave crash upon the shore,

retreating back into its depths,

only to crash again and again and again?"

Do you feel blessed at having been immersed in a world with many differing personalities, talents, interests and expressions? Would you have preferred to pick and choose if you could, particularly in your childhood, who your guardians would be and who you would be influenced by? There are many that believe that in a state of being prior to each incarnation, we do select who we will closely interact with. It is believed that we are guided into making these choices, according to what sort of probability they will have, of contributing to a mental and emotional framework through which we will process and have particular experiences of life.

It can be easy to recognize the gifts that flow from being around people who embrace and care for us, who strengthen our self-esteem and confidence to go out into the world, to share authentically and gracefully accept whatever experiences life holds. They are most likely to be the ones who will encourage us to be fully present, active and radiant in the word.

Where it can be more challenging, is to recognize the gifts that flow from being around people who have been too preoccupied with tending to their own wounds and sense of defeat to be able to embrace and care for us. They are the ones through which as children especially, we are most likely to enter into confused relationship with, who will light the fuse for our struggles with self-acceptance, respect of the other and of being willing to take responsibility for our choices. Their presence and legacy will challenge our ability to be fully present, active and radiant in the world until the shadow that our sense of self and relationship has been founded upon has been illumined.

It might appear to us, as if one stream of energy embraces and accepts us as we are and encourages us to be authentic and to play in the light, whilst another stream leads us underground and into a darkness of not knowing. We enter in this flow and as we grow, we look about for clues as to how to navigate life, whilst experiencing tension and various degrees of resonance or dissonance with the data that is continually pouring through us.

I have occasionally wondered what it would be like, to sit in a cave, retreating from interaction with and relationship with people on the one hand, and yet dwelling in the nature of relationship itself, through meditating upon the many streams and hues of light of life. Would this deepen my communion with life, would it deepen my ability to be present and compassionate in the company of another? Would I see my own reflection in theirs? Is there a way to transcend the core of human suffering other than to journey through the experience and the very essence of not knowing and confusion that it brings?

Whether our journey begins in darkness or in light and irrespective of whether we sit in a cave or an office, it would seem as if each person eventually encounters and is provided with an opportunity to enter into a 'cloud of unknowing'. This is simply because it allows for those boundaries through which we have been experiencing ourselves as being separate from one another, to be seen for what they are and for a more expansive sense of self and of world view to emerge.

This cloud of unknowing as it has been called, is timeless and universal by its very nature. We may encounter it and see it through the eyes of the ancient Egyptian pantheon, as representative of an encounter with Ma'at or Thoth or any other symbolism of deity or aspect of righteous living. We may see it as a cross of suffering and rebirth or as a portal between dimensions.

Irrespective of what form it might take for us, is that it can serve as a fulcrum of our consciousness, an awakening into and attunement to the heartbeat of the cosmos and a deepening recognition and willingness to be able to see into and beyond ourselves. Not just through the many faces of the people that we meet, the experiences we have had and will continue to have, but through the aeons of time and complexities of form and consciousness that exist within each moment as well.

As I meet you...

Thread of light, thread of dark

both of them separate and yet,

weaving together to create

a tapestry of life and so it is

or not, as each thread knows

its place and shuns contact

with the other, dissonance

abounds and now confusion

as to form that this tapestry

should take and so

begins an opening

into purpose of the other

and a world turns inside out

and emerges newly born

from not knowing another

into omniscience 

of form