Journey to Ixtlan

The following is a portion of one of my first blog posts back in 2006.  I post it to both share and ask myself how far I've come with this!  I still pretend too much as I resist shifts.  Sigh... such a journey!

(an excerpt from 2006...)

How does a person escape from their dramas and embrace integrity through balance? The first step sounds very easy but can be quite difficult. There is help here, but often it is not appreciated. The second step used balance, and the third step takes a lifetime. I will examine the steps one by one.

The first step asks a person to recognize their own dramas. It asks them to be aware of how the world is interacting with them. This is not easy. Dramas can take on a life of their own. The clues to seeing the painted backdrops and worthless props of the drama lay in where we suffer. Being out of sync with reality will lead to suffering. Clothing that is too small for a person will rub and chafe. A car that is underpowered for a steep hill will move slowly and overheat. Life should be examined to see where suffering exists. What makes you feel bad? How do you compensate through the personal dramas to attempt to feel better. The stage of drama seems empty and hollow compared to the richness of reality. The points where the two touch, and are in conflict, are where we will hurt. The suffering will become a companion as the journey to integrity is taken. Here the dramas of life are revealed.

The second step is to achieve balance with people and events in life. Balance places a person in harmonious placement with the environment. The path of balance can be very long or very short. We all pretend to differentiating amounts, and the distance we are from integrated living will determine the suffering experienced as balance is achieved. Awareness of the surroundings is essential to achieving balance. Where is the balancing point? Communication with the self and those around the self are mandatory. The true surroundings of life will be revealed with suffering as the guide. The suffering decreases as balance is achieved. Within the center point of balance is the integrity with life. The journey is not easy. A life very much out of balance will take time to correct. Small steps are made and balance is reestablished each time. Surroundings that are themselves dramatic will be abandoned for the sake of personal growth. Likewise, those who feed our past dramas are left behind. The relation to all the people and events must be examined.

The final step to an integrated life is an ongoing one. The world is an every changing place, and to maintain integrity we must change to stay in balance with the world. Ever vigilant of drama, using suffering as an alarm, the integrated life is aware when pretending seeks to gain a foothold. The world will shift. We will shift, with our center maintained in balance. People will come and people will go. Places will come into our lives and move away. Pretending could be used to hold them there. It will not, as we know the price that is truly paid. The price is a disconnection from those things that are real, and hence a disconnection with the realization of divinity present in ourselves and the world.