Youtube: The Adventure Begins
“Do not be deceived by dimples and curls. I tell you that babe is a thousand years old.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
We began our life on earth with an innate curiosity toward the world around us. As our senses developed, we found we had a natural attraction to colorful objects and fuzzy things that squeaked when squeezed. Later, we would gaze into the night sky and wonder where, amidst that vast expanse, we fit in. It may have been sometime later that we began to wonder how and why we came to be in this place.
In my own quest for understanding, Emilie Cady’s illustration comparing the soul to a pail of water drawn from the ocean made a lasting impression. She focused on the composition of water, using it to suggest that the soul shares the same elements as the cosmic ocean from which it is drawn. The illustration takes on an even more profound meaning when we consider the age of water. According to science, regardless of when a pail is drawn from the ocean, the age of the water remains 4.6 billion years. The water in the pail does not evolve to become as old and as wise as the water in the ocean. It has never been and will never be anything less.
The implications of this illustration present us with a spiritual model that raises significant new questions. If our soul is as complete as our spiritual source, then what is the objective of our quest? The short answer? Spiritual recovery – conscious recollection of who and what we are at the spiritual level. We are seeking a clearer understanding of how a spiritual being, equipped with a material interface in the form of a body, can best travel through this earthly experience with the deepest sense of meaning.
The best way to start this inquiry is not with an answer, but with a couple of questions. How and why did I come to be in this place? Am I here as the result of forces beyond my control, or am I here by choice? Am I here to simply collect more colorful objects and things that squeak, or did I choose to come, having a specific purpose in mind?
Search the world’s literature and you find affirmative support for both perspectives. However, it is your answer, your understanding that determines the way you approach your journey home.