Seek that which you may find, but not to find it. Embrace that which you hold dear, but not to grasp it. Be burned, be lost, be afraid. It’s all going to be fine.
The Universe often speaks to me in riddles, on what appears to be riddles anyway. I will be honest with you, I have no idea what I am doing. I am a lost man with a found soul who simply just is looking for his way. I often fumble in the dark, banging my head and heart on walls hidden by the darkness, just looking for the way to something.
So the riddles do not surprise me. In fact, nothing less would seem to do.
To those who know me and have for some time, that statement of being lost may be surprising. I am usually the “put together” one, the stoic version of emotional and spiritual strength, the man who can take everything in stride. Yet what most of those friends do not know is what went into that version of me they’ve always known.
What they also do not know is that the version of me they’ve known simply does not serve me now. Parts of that man do, but parts of me need to be shed and replaced with new growth that serves me in my intention. If I wish to grow, I need to be burned, afraid and lost if just for a little while.
Life seems to be, true to form, challenging me to make a choice. Behind one curtain is the me I’ve grown to be, an honest, loving, caring man who loves aloneness, loving the serenity of needing no one, loving the harmony of self-reliance without excuse or retreat. Behind the other curtain is the me I wish to meet. Still honest, loving and caring, I want to enjoy companionship, find serenity of depending on someone, and giving up bits of self-reliance to let someone in my heart. That takes trust, courage and determination.
Scary stuff, but things I’ve learned I can count on. I choose curtain number two.
There is nothing wrong with these changes. I can be true to myself and vulnerable. I can be fine with aloneness while I lay cuddled up on a sofa with my partner. I can experience love of her without ever giving up love of myself. None of these need be mutually exclusive, and can be incorporated in a loving, caring, and conscious relationship. In fact, they can often feed off each other in the best symbiotic way imaginable.
The first step, I’ve found, is for me to allow of the vulnerability of being. We are all human beings with a story; one that includes fear, uncertainty and anxious moments all bundled up in our desire to love and function. Conscious relationships understand that, and loving relationships allow those human frailties to be exposed in the open. What is not permitted is to allow these moments to define the relationship (dysfunction). We can approach each other’s humanness in a way that not only shows the love shared, but exposes those fears for the bastard liars they usually are.
Soon, those fears will vanish in the face of a loving truth.
It’s is not only acceptable, but very necessary, to be very human in a conscious relationship. Spirituality, and the practice of spirituality, certainly has its place in my relationships but it is equally important to me to be absolutely human there too. I want to be afraid and lost sometimes. Those moments, while certainly not pleasant for me while in them, serve to remind me of my heart, my soul and the fact that today I have a partner I can share all of me with. Not just the stoic parts. Not just the conscious parts. I can share even the parts that aren’t so bright and glamorous.
Things I never thought I could share with anyone. Imagine that (growth).
She in turn, can choose to share those parts with me. I don’t expect, or want, her to be perfectly put together like some neatly packaged deity. What is wonderful is when I can return the gift she is to me, to her.
We are all works in progress, beautiful and amazing even in our dark moments. Accept those moments as fervently as you accept those moments of being your being so amazingly put together and you will find some peace in them. Better yet (particularly for those of us used to going it alone), lay your head on your partner’s shoulder, cry it out (let it go) and learn that doing so is perfectly spiritual, too. Functioning alone is no better a spiritual practice than functioning with someone who loves you is. Both are equally amazing.