The labyrinth to our hidden inner pond

Each of us, in our lifetime, in our own way, seeks our hidden inner pond. 

We seek the place deep inside us which is Home. 

We seek the deep well of peace, beauty and love. 

We seek the Inner Pond of our selves, our Be-ing. 

Every encounter, every story, every feeling, every thought, every sensation, every experience all serve as sentinels pointing the way through thickets and fields, through forests and endless seas. 

The Way to the hidden inner pond. Have faith, dear seeker.

Every thing we experience in a day can be identified on the surface of our consciousness, or it can be seen as a deeper path leading through wild rose bushes which scratch and tear while intoxicating us with their exquisite scent.  Every action is sustenance not just for the physical body, but also for the deeper soul. 

Every day we walk a labyrinth, moving closer and closer to our hidden inner pond through all that transpires.  Sometimes we feel lost in cul-de-sacs or spirals which seem to lead nowhere.  But eventually we emerge and run like deer frolicking through tall wet field grasses laden with the dew of dawn. 

The journey, the journey!  What a gift is this journey! 

How filled with deep and heavy white snows, how shining with mist in the early morning, how heart-breakingly painful as we hover over coffins of our losses.  How frantic as we listen to the confusing thoughts and feelings which seem to tear us asunder at times.  How everything it all is.  Beautiful, ugly, sad, delightful, positive, negative, painful, ecstatic. 

Still we walk, deeper, deeper, surrendering to that which calls us from the depths of that hidden inner pond.  Still we meander, sometimes leap, sometimes crawl.  Still we descend, sometimes ascending higher than the highest cloud.  Listening deeper to that which speaks without speaking.  Still we follow, whether we know we’re following or not.  Still we proceed, the bullfrogs and herons living near the pond calling us, calling us. 

The reeds and rushes of life

How can we not answer? 

Finally, one fine summer day, we find the pond we’ve been seeking forever.  Here it is.  I’ve found you, dear love. We pause and drink deeply of its true water.  We see the parts of ourselves gained on this endless journey reflected in the mirror of the pond.  

Yet another mask we might have chosen...

There we are in our infinite masks!  There we are:  the thinker, the Cowboy, the one that agonizes!  There we are:  all of us here at the inner pond, together, not separate.  One within the many.  We see the truth of our apparent fragmentation and we laugh and laugh.  

The mask of the Thinker

We see clearly that the journey itself was the gift.  The masks themselves were gifts.  We see we gained everything as our minds and feelings and experiences wove stories to bring us to this place beyond stories which glitter like stars on the pond of our deepest selves. 

A reflection of stars?

We see that we are Everything.  We see that we were dreaming separation.  We were dreaming the journey. We were dreaming everything.  

We are Nothing and Everything.  We may even discover that the pond was never even really hidden–it revealed itself daily in the labyrinth of our full amazing lives. The pond slowly winks, the full moon reflected like a laughing Buddha in the deep peace of our simple hearts. 

Laugh, brothers and sisters. Laugh!