Over the past few months I have been returning to the desert in my mind. The journey of my thoughts is not a physical manifestation, rather that of my spirit. In the Bible, they speak of Moses leading the Israelites out of bondage and into the desert. For forty years they wandered in the wilderness. Some say it was due to their disbelief and disobedience. Others believe wandering in the desert was so that a new generation would have no memories of slavery. I’m sure there is a benefit to having no memory (tee hee).
Carl Jung once wrote, “My soul leads me into the desert, into the desert of my own self. How eerie is this wasteland. But I have avoided the place of my soul. I was my thoughts, after I was no longer events and other men. But I was not my self, confronted with my thoughts. I should also rise up above my thoughts to my own self.”
The desert is a metaphor for transformation, cleansing, renewal, and rebirth. In such an environment, things surface that you were previously unaware of. With great power, you are divested of empire and ego. That which you held as truth shows up in the vision quest with the false self. In the desert, I must live in a place where I practice a deeper intimacy. Things that were hidden come into view with a realization of how life has shaped my expression of life. It’s time to use that metaphor to explore the landscape beyond the gap. The gap between my mind and my spirit is the place where we will hear the whispers:
To intentionally enter the desert is to define yourself as a seeker. Somewhere between the lines of bravery and desperation, you will find the desert of the soul. The Desert Mothers (Ammas) and the Desert Fathers (Abbas) will guide you through the experience of transformation. The truth cannot hide in a barren landscape. The desert forces you to unlearn empirical spirituality. Your spirit connects to divinity without the influence of the false self. What you think you know fades under the light of truth held within your innermost space.
Senses beyond the body increase in the desert. Facing your brokenness in the way it affects others releases the ghost of the alter ego. Things held secret illuminate when there is no shadow influence. Imagination is no longer restricted by the bonds to the Lower Self. The comfort of events lost in memory gives way to the spirit that embraces reality. Undoing is the mantra of the desert.
Encountering such truth threatens any sense of identity. Living in denial is much less disruptive to life. In the desert, you are vulnerable. Those secrets held under the blanket of shame and guilt must be reframed as positive aspects of your growth. In the desert you must wander in search of hope, nourishment, and the vision of a new life. That which you desire may not fully manifest in the desert. Yet your imagination is free to find creative alternatives to an old way of thinking.
Love is what leads the seeker into the desert and beyond to find the sanctuary of the soul. Cleansing is what motivates the seeker to find what lives beyond the recesses of the mind.
Bring joy, ease suffering and create beauty, then dance like you mean it!
Blessings, Russell
“Shall I run back into the desert … and stay there until the devil has passed out of me and I am fit to meet human kind again without driving it to despair at the first look? I haven’t had enough desert yet.” Saul Bellow
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