Reflections on the meaning of life, life purpose, folowing a "heart path", and doing the "winter work" of going within to face the darkness of the "Shadow"

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Many people search for their life purpose, their heart path of meaning and significance. Usually we think of this in terms of a career--what we do to earn a living. But what if we've got it ass-backwards?? What if living is the given, and that our ultimate purpose and path of meaning in life is to realize our true nature, given to us by our Creator, and to "exteriorize" it into the world?

Aren't we all given seed potentials at the time of incarnation--of love, compassion, caring, kindness, courage, creativity, wisdom and inner peace? What if each of us "comes in" knowing at the deepest level of our being that we, and all of Creation, are deeply intertwined, intermeshed and interconnected with all the cosmos? Knowing that truly, what we give to another, we give to ourselves. What if we lose consciousness of this "knowing" through the trauma of birth, and then get further off track through the socialization/education process that in our culture conditions us into an identity based on separation, fear, materialism and competition?

What if our true purpose is to re-discover our original seed potentials still alive in our hearts and souls, and to learn how to cultivate them to achieve their greatest blossoming? What if we are meant to enjoy their beauty and fruitfulness, and to share their bounty with others in the sheer joy of giving from the heart?

Yes, yes, of course, there is more to it, as we all know, then "pretty thoughts" and good deeds. For in addition to the light and love at the center of our being, which is our essence, we also have our own unique expression of the Shadow within us all. The Thanatos for the Eros, the destructive for the creative, the neurotic for the healthy. But, but, but--the existence of the shadow is not anything to be ashamed of, no matter how vile, loathsome and despicable it may appear to us to be. It's existence is no more something to be ashamed of than is the night time if you love the day, or the desert if you love the sea, or the plains if you love the forest. For in Creator's design of this marvelous universe all physical reality is composed of polar opposites -- yin and yang, the proton and the electron, the light and the dark, the feminine and the masculine, etc. You can't have one with out also having its opposite. So it is with the shadow--it comes with the existence of light. Partners. Compadres.

So given this state of affairs, it is not the presence of the shadow that is most important for that is a given. What is most important is what our relationship to it is all about. Is it an adversarial one or is a partnership one based on respect, understanding and cooperation? I recently had an altercation with an airport parking policeman that brought forth the insane destroyer that lives at the bottom of the dark cave within me. The reptilian-brained crazed being who only knows how to destroy, fortunately bursts forth only on rare occasions these days, but he always lurks within just waiting for an opportunity to be turned lose out in to the world. I don't think this fellow is ever going to go away no matter what I try to do to get rid of him. I think he "comes with the territory" and it is my job to get to know him as well as I can so I can create a healthy working relationship where he is not in charge and running the show.

This incident sheds light on one aspect of my shadow and its eruption shows me the work I need to do as my next step in befriending this being and strengthening a healthy relationship between us. This is part of the Work of Winter -- going within to face the darkness -- with compassion, courage and acceptance, in order to get as much information and understanding about what lives there at the bottom of the cave. With this knowledge the doorway opens to creating right-relationship with these powerful forces that can be used constructively if we learn how to dance with them in a good way.

So Ho Relatives, I wish you buena medicina with your work of winter. May we all create good compost from what appears at first glance to be "garbage", to nurture the rebirth of new and healthier life in the magic time of spring. Happy Hunting.

Love, tomás