Hello and Happy May.
For me, this is the month when the year fills out into its shape. Spring is slipping into Summer, the preliminary goals set in January are either maturing or have fallen away entirely, giving way to the year’s true purpose. For me, surprise events are often the ones that define an era. I try to keep my eyes open for those momentary glimpses beyond the veil of expectation.
One of those moments was the mishap in the Suez Canal, where a large shipping vessel was stuck. Around Noon on the sixth day, 2021’s first supermoon elevated the water levels and gave the extra wiggle room needed for salvage crews and tugboats to wrestle the megaship into open water. With cargo tied up in the canal, global trade was disrupted by a single 400 meter ship, lodged in one of the most crucial passages on our planet. Ever since, I’ve been thinking about the relationship between Vessels, Cargo and Passages. This has led me to a personal manifesto of sorts, a reimagining of the way I exist in this time and space.
For a long while, I’ve considered myself the Vessel. I carry loads that people need carried. I transport silky threads of consciousness into the realm of conceivable language. I thought, I must be the Vessel for this Body is not The Divine, it is an Earthly Construct and The Divine lives within me. I will fall back as much as possible. If I am at all visible, I will be seen hands outstretched, supporting the energies and concepts that are my Cargo.
Yet as we live in the Earthly Construct, we must engage with it in a conceivable way. For better or for worse, we developed language in an attempt to convey our innermost spirit. Language likes to engage with imagery: The Mind holds shapes, colors, sounds and attaches words to connect with the minds of other beings. The most illustrious way to use language is Story. We find deeper connections when we hear Story and relate. These tales are a roundabout way to tell us that beyond the words and boundaries we are all the same energetic matter.
Every time I share a concept, it is delivered through my voice and the telling of my stories. Then I must acknowledge that I am both the Vessel and the Cargo. The Body is always present—solid matter. Thus I cannot walk unseen, when carrying the offering to the altar.
The Body exists and one must accept that Story is the Vessel and the Cargo for the Body to find The Divine. How silly it feels, why can’t we transcend these forces and find The Spirit in its purest form?
That is not the nature of this realm.
Forces of Nature govern this Earthy Experience.
Gravity holds our Spirits in our Bodies.
I must walk forward, aware that I am both Vessel and Cargo. Once again the overwhelming truth of nonduality reigns supreme. How can I have thought to be one thing entirely? Never has that case been true. Many who walk this Earthly Plane cannot grasp this, want to find a way to draw a boundary. I can’t blame this impulse, at first glance it would appear simpler to have one answer to a question.
But we live in the world of Nature. It knows not one thing but all things.
By aligning with that knowledge, the Passages flow freely.
The Passages are Otherworldly, yet even they take influence from our Natural World. There are Passages within and without us.
These channels carry us and carry our energies out of us.
We are the Vessel, Cargo and Passages. We are a little bit of everything—the true dance is the balance of honoring it all. Giving credence to what we are given, making more of that and then some. Thus we transcend—once again, to the place from which we came.
See you in the open water,
James