The Pathless Path

Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.

Traveler, there is no road,

you make the road by walking.

                                   - Antonio Machado

There is a longing in me for a way, a home, a way home, for a container full of meaningful ritual passed down from the ancestors and the companionship of others.  And yet, every time I have come close to that, I have balked, left, rejected it or ejected myself.   This life has been one of el caminante quien sabe que no hay camino. 

Machado understood the pathless path.  He must have had similar longings. (http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/208676-sept-12--last-night-as-i-was-sleeping---antonio-machado)  He dreamed of water, beehives, fiery suns and God in his heart.  He chose to see these dreams as illusions.  But what if they aren’t and the dreams really are delivering the goods?

There is no road, no path to lead you into your heart to find these things.  And perhaps no path is needed – only an opening.  It is as though you – I - wander around looking for what we have all along.  Don’t all the mystics say that?

But we are caught in a concept of walking a path, stuck in a construct of linear time.  If only we could lay that all down at the altar of the heart.  If only we could de-throne the mind.  If only the mind itself would abdicate its rule, saying, “Here is the orb and the crown.  Heart, I bequeath them to you.  You are much more fit to rule.”

And the fountain in the heart would flow without end.  The bees would work at their honey-making.  The sun would radiate warmth and bring tears to our eyes, and God (Goddess, Source, the Mystery) would be there.  The pathless path would meander in and around the gardens of the heart, circling, spiraling, not needing to go or arrive anywhere.

And the heart would say, “Come home!  All is forgiven!”  And you would.  You would dwell there, not needing to seek anymore.  Only to lean out and look at the colors and waves and people and trees.  To know that where you are is where the worlds touch, where all is possible, and nothing needs to be done.

It may not be obvious from this post, but I am beginning to ferment ideas for this Spring's Persephone event for women.  Things are bubbling away in the dark.  We will see what emerges.