In the Eyes of the Storm
An Ascension of Soul
Listen Here- Podcast Style
Fate whispers to the warrior, “You cannot withstand the storm”
The warrior whispers back, “I am the storm”Unknown
The warrior represents ego. I am the storm he shouts in a defiant revelry of individual identity. Living only for the outcomes of doing. We are not here to conquer monsters and enemies; we are here to conquer ourselves. This life is definitely full of storms. Some storms teach us powerful lessons and some storms wash us clean. We are on spiritual journey that begets being aware of Being. A journey to the awareness of Being. In the end it's an inside job. An ego and soul conversation.
This odyssey we are on is a soul journey of shedding and befriending our own ego to take the inner path back to soul. On this path we become “twice born”. Homer wrote to this soul journey in the allegory of Odysseus and The Odyssey. I spoke of this homecoming, this nostos, in Beyond Ithaca found here. It might be argued that all spiritual traditions speak to a similar journey. The transformation to a spirit of oneness.
If life is a maze, we can get lost trying to find our way out. However, inside a labyrinth we will find our own centre. At the centre of the spiralling storm is where we will meet our authentic self. The eyes of our storm is that calm awareness and clarity of our soul. It is said that our eyes are the window to our soul. Our soul knows who we must become. The path is always unfolding all around us like a blossoming flower. A river flowing into the sea. The path is not passive. Being on a spiritual path does not prevent us from facing times of darkness. It teaches us how to use the darkness as a path to growth and authenticity. We must still take action to make positive changes in our own life. We still walk the path.
No one saves us but ourselves.
No one can or no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path.
The Buddha
It is a journey from the ego of our head to the heart and self-love of soul. Self-awareness and self-acceptance are a path to self-love. Forgiveness is an act of self-love. Forgiveness is an act of letting go. Healing is a release of the chains of our past. A shedding of ego. Our life does not move on if we have not moved on and stripped off all the layers we collected on the way. If we do not forgive, we keep giving our future to the past and we are not living in the present. We can’t change our past, but we can change the story we give to it. Are we telling our story or is it telling us? If we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. We have to come down off of the ego our own cross. It can be a bumpy, stormy ride.
We are all called to the greatness of our authentic being. The door to our soul opens from the inside. Our soul waits for us. Ironically it is our ego that has to open the door. This speaks to our own need to die to our small selves, our ego, so that we can be born again to our spiritual selves, our soul. In this ascension of shedding our ego and opening the door to soul we become twice born. The door can be covered in weeds and rusted shut. In an act of surrender it may take a few pulls, but that door will open into a beautiful garden. It is a place of familiar wonder nourished by the spiritual seeds of source. When we gaze into the face that greets us there, we will be met with the deep loving kiss of our very own eyes.
Saviour
Its a different kind of cold
Deeper than bones
Beyond the mere magnitude
of this body
Woken from sleep
Freezing grasping numb
Covered in heavy blankets
that suffocate your chest
Smothering the intimation
summoning breath
The peristaltic waves of your invocation
rhythmically swallow you
Held captive
in a shivering elicitation of chills
Tethered to the thrashing tempest
in the extinction burst
of a storm
In the unravelling collapse
of surrender
A ghost cuts you down
from your cross
Offers you a hand to arise
Mustering every ounce of essence
you flail out to grab a hold
Born again
Gasping to breathe
Heaving
everything upwards
In an annunciation of resurrection
Ascending
to stare into the face
of your saviour
Staggering back in surprise
As you are met
by the loving gaze
of your very own
eyes
© Jamie Millard
I believe that poetry is meant to be read out loud. Reading, writing and listening to a poem is meditative and the words create an intimate encounter with the heartfulness of presence. We enter into the presence of a poem. Poetry is a wonderful addition to a spiritual practice as it connects us to ourselves, to others, to this world and to our spirit.
Please reach out to me if I can be of any assistance to you on your journey from ego to soul as you step into the greatness of your own authentic Being.
Please enjoy the audio shared at the top of this article.
Lots of Love,
Jamie
Thank you Veronika. I love that story you shared. It’s definitely a soul Journey. Something tells me you’ve been writing the right book all along. We are the dark “knight” of the soul. I’ve never burned a book but often I burn some words as a ritual to set them free in a form of gratitude. There’s definitely some kind of healing in that process it seems too. An awareness that in those flames and it that ash, a transformation arrives. Thank you so much for your support! Bless you.
Thanks Jo! The picture was definitely me having a little fun. Thanks for seeing me. In the end, I believe it all comes down to that inside journey of soul. We all get there eventually, and there’s no way to bypass the experiences on the way it seems. Thanks so much for reading and reaching out. Bless you 🙏❤️