2012 , THE 2012, as the winter solstice is just around the corner...
and the end of kali yuga, the end of the dark age...
i have to think that we as yogis are responsible for a shift towards the light. the world is full of signs of the darkness. age-old glaciers the size of manhattan breaking and sinking into oblivion. young men thinking in their tortured minds that the solution is to take guns to elementary schools to viciously end the lives of young innocent bright fresh lives, to end the life of his own mother...do we need another indicator that we are confronting a dark age? no. we're here. we're in the thick of it...
and yes, so sad. so sad that we are at an age of such darkness, selfishness, twisted values, and maliciousness. but the fact that more people are on their mats now than ever, offers a glimmer...we have a responsibility to take our lights out into this darkness...to shift it.
no change can happen in this dark world of ours until we realize that it's time for change. and then to realize that this bright light lives inside of us and inside of each and every soul on the planet. it's up to us. to strap on our inside lights, to the outside of our beings, and to let it shine. to send this light to the aching hearts of the people in oregon and connecticut and to our next door neighbors. how else could it spread to other parts of the world? to war-torn parts, to rain cold depressed parts of the world?
so many of us ARE indeed wrapped around a mind and heart revolution.
and in this swirl of dark and light...letting go of unnecessary effort must be a key turning towards the light. life in these united states hasn't gotten much more enchanting or inspiring in the past decade or two or three...
but then again, hasn't it? so many of us search for spiritual enrichment, for spiritual reality in our own hearts, without looking to an institution to say how-to or how-not-to; we are turning towards our own practices. our practices which connect us to our hearts, which connect us to all other living beings.
christmas. a time where we celebrate the bright of a savior. of a man who told us over and over again in the scriptures to give to the poor, to be compassionate to sinners. remove the institution and we find that message rings clear loud and true in our own beings as the Way. the Way out of the darkness. it must begin in our own hearts. and from this place, easily spread to other hearts as well.
it's our duty as yogis. let go of unnecessary effort. let go of battling traffic, parking spots and crowds to purchase goods made in a sweatshop to bestow on our loved ones as a symbol of our caring towards our kin. and give way to ease. give way to patronizing the store just down the block from your house. run by a father or a mother, run by an immigrant or a patriot...but give towards the way that you want the world to be, and the world will be as such.
i know no other way than to begin with the breath. the thread that unites our bodies to our minds, and to our souls. the thread that connects all living beings, people with each other and with the trees and the natural beauty that surrounds us, though in a city we have to search for it.
i know no other way.
skip your obligatory holiday parties. get in your pj's and take a bath, enjoy a glass of wine with your loved one. make eye contact and small chat with your local merchant or with neighbors on the street.
and know, KNOW, connect with the bright light at the center of your heart. when you connect, when you give pause to, this light, shines more brightly. when it shines more brightly, you can spread it to the next person and the next...and maybe, just may be, that your light spreads all the way across the country to the heart of the grieving mother in connecticut...and maybe not...
but it shines inside of you, and of that much you can be certain.
dear friends, hold fast to the light inside of you, and hope, pray, cross your fingers, imagine, and manifest, that this light is universal, and will usher in the age of Light and lightness, and let's hope levity, joy, universal compassion for our friends and enemies alike.
from the light inside my heart, i bow to yours.
