The colorful toucans
squawked from within their tiny cage
The incarceration had
rendered the once vibrant birds withdrawn and lifeless captives. Their
eyes cried this piercing question just as the same bewilderment echoes
from the dull gaze of every animal in every zoo:
"Why would any
being with heart ever drive the dagger of imprisonment into the heart of
another being?"
The answer is obvious.
No being with heart would shackle another free being. No being whose
spirit still lives would ever kill the spirit of another being—by any
means.
The beseeching toucans
were on exhibit at the country inn where I stayed in Costa Rica. The
innkeeper explained he was building a huge cage around a tree so the birds
would have a whole tree around which to fly and live. But the confined
birds told me they didn’t want a larger enclosure. No cage would ever be
big enough. Their spirits needed to be free. After a few days, I could no
longer look into the toucans’ eyes. Before long, I avoided going near
their cage altogether.
Instead of focusing on
the plight of the caged toucans, I was guided by my inner coach to explore
the free and untamed treasures of the stunningly vibrant and beautiful
country of Costa Rica. During my travels, I was blessed by direct
encounters with wild animals, virgin forests, raging rivers and an
erupting volcano. In their natural state, these diverse elements of life
were undomesticated, unbridled, unfettered and unspoiled. Every cell of my
body felt the raw, free essence of each basic kingdom of nature: mammal,
reptile, bird, plant, water and mineral.
I connected with a sloth
hanging out in its jungle haunt, a tabor scouring the forest carpet for
grubs, a crocodile sunning in a sultry swamp and a very curious iguana
checking me out through the mist of a waterfall. I shuddered at the
primitive roar of jaguars too close for comfort. I witnessed reptiles
called "Jesus lizards" with so much aliveness they literally
walk on water, skimming across the surface on webbed feet.
I reveled in the
unrestrained, exuberant expression of brilliant orchids, enticing
mushrooms and outlandish fungi. The beauty and grace of exotic parrots,
wild toucans and resplendent quetzal birds awed me. I was gratefully
battered by the uncontrollable strength of ocean surf. Standing at the
edge of an exploding volcanic cauldron, I exalted in the undiluted rapture
of the fiery, flowing lava.
Soon I began to
appreciate my soul’s purpose in sending me to this lush, virgin land. My
spirit’s strategy was for me to encounter so many dynamic examples of
the exhilaration of raw nature that I would break through to the other
side of my rigid, conditioned, overly civilized state of being. And I did!
Through diverse outer
appearances of vitality, I connected with the inner source that animates
all forms of life. I danced with deer riding waves of natural electricity
over grassy hills. I soared with caracara hawks spiraling with wind
currents above luxuriant valleys. I clamored with howler monkeys playing
in the rain forest canopy. I surrendered with meandering sea turtles to
rhythmic tidal currents.
On the surface, animals,
plants, rocks and volcanoes appear to be solid forms. Through intimate
contact, I discovered firsthand that what creates these seemingly
immutable shapes is primal life force, the basic essence generating and
driving all forms of life.
A volcano in Costa Rica
was the natural element that shared this secret with me in the most
dramatic, effective and revealing way. When the molecules of mountain
granite are sped up by intense heat, the true nature of this solid form is
disclosed as being fluid, moving, alive energy. Universal life force is so
fundamental and powerful, it melts granite. It transforms the most
condensed form of matter into molten lava, liquid rock. Primordial life
force is so alive, pure, wild and basic that it’s potent enough to
liberate the most rigid crystallized matter into free-flowing life
expression.
My soul arranged for me
to "accidentally" stumble through the dense fog onto an active
lava flow for the purpose of exposing me in a very palpable, tangible way
to the true nature of all reality. Walking on this semi-solid river of
fire, I absorbed the raw, innocent, spontaneous vital energy lying at the
core of all physical manifestations of life. I merged with the alchemical
power of basic life force—uncontrollable, undiluted and pristine.
The direct transmission
I received from the volcano and all the other wild creatures of Costa Rica
is that this fundamental life force energy is as available to us humans as
it is to them! If we choose to unite with this energy and allow divine
alchemy, we also can become one with the pure, primal, passionate,
undivided, unqualified, unlimited expression of life. This underlying flow
is referred to by the Chinese as the Tao—the river of knowing, the
central stream of consciousness, the God current that is our true nature
and essence.
The harsh contrast
between the toucans in captivity and the toucans in the wild awakened me
to the magnitude of the aliveness and connection we humans lost somewhere
along the way in our collective life journey. The fact that we cage
toucans and other animals in zoos and homes around the world is a clear
indication of how far we have removed ourselves from the natural vitality
and joy of freedom—both our own and that of other inhabitants of Earth.
Our human quest for
love, security and energy cannot be achieved as long as we remain in a
state of consciousness in which we systematically seek to control the
freedom of our fellow beings—human and otherwise. In the process of
"civilizing" our species, we humans have become conditioned to
not feel deep, dynamic passion and love for life. Our collective heart,
the world’s heart, has become so crystallized and armored that it is now
as hard and cold as the granite of a mountain. Our collective heart has
turned to stone. Only a granite heart could do what we are doing to the
natural expression of life—within ourselves and on the planet.
The original Old English
meaning of the word panic was "of the nature of Pan: wild and
free-flowing." But now we humans are so shut down, controlling and
cut off from nature—and from our own vital electric nature—that we
experience "wild and free-flowing" energy as scary and
threatening. Life’s creative enthusiasm sends us into a panic in the
modern sense. Most of us are terrified of living fully alive and free.
How can we humans
reverse this process? How can we melt the granite façades of our public
institutions—and our own faces—that so starkly reflect the state of
our hardened soul? How can we re-light the pilot light and stoke the
cosmic fire within us?
As I melded with the
effusive wildness of Costa Rica, I unearthed an answer. We humans can
re-connect to our natural aliveness by opening to a force that is more
powerful than our programming, more compelling than our collective
conditioning. The force that can liberate us is universal life energy,
primal life force. This unbridled exuberance abounds everywhere around
us—and within us. Fortunately, cultural conditioning cannot control
primal life force. This raw creative energy is free and innocent of all
human concepts and beliefs. Primal life force doesn’t follow its own
drumbeat; it is the drumbeat.
Primal life force is
more fundamental, more basic, than our human psychological and cultural
creations. In reality, this power provides the lifeblood, essence and
juice that sustains and supports the entire human culture currently
existing on the planet. Primal life flow is the natural energy source that
literally runs our human creations.
Several years ago, a
wall of red-hot lava streamed down the side of a volcano on the Big Island
of Hawaii cutting right through a village located between the volcano and
the ocean. So intense was the temperature of the boiling lava, its radiant
energy vaporized the wood and cement foundations of the human structures
before the lava physically touched the foundations. All traces of the
village and human habitation were annihilated in the wake of the lava
inferno as it made its way to the sea.
Modern science doesn’t
know a way to stop the power of the Goddess Pele, the impassioned
expression of the spirit of the volcano. The human structures were not as
real, fundamental or substantial as the energy of the volcano. Human
concepts, beliefs and paradigms trying to overlay and dominate nature are
no match for the raw, creative primal power of natural vigor.
The vibration of
original vitality, passion and excitement is strong enough to melt our
collective granite heart. Just as primal life force vaporized the
not-so-solid foundations of the Hawaiian physical structures, primal life
force can dissolve the foundations of the psychological structure that
makes us think we need to control and feel separate from other life in
order to get enough energy to survive.
One key to becoming
fully revitalized is to reconnect with universal life force in such a way
that we are not only fed by it, but also transformed by it. If we resonate
with the abundant aliveness all around us, divine alchemy will transmute
us into the experience of being that eternal essence of life energy. When
we become one with universal life force, we are able to draw our very
sustenance, supply and security from our own source within. We are
sovereign, self-generating, in terms of where we get our energy. Sourcing
our own energy, we then have enough personal power to melt the
crystallized granite heart within ourselves and our culture. And until we
walk with the authentic sovereignty of natural vitality, we won’t have
the courage and strength to go out and love with true spirit and fulfill
our core purposes on Earth.
Another crucial aspect
of the message I received from the wildness of Costa Rica is that to be
successful on our quest, we humans need to open to this primordial energy
through direct, pure, spontaneous, innocent and fresh means. We cannot
approach this enterprise from an old paradigm or model. For, if we seek
natural, organic vitality in an unnatural, nonorganic way, we won’t
uncover the pure source we seek. To approach aliveness in a sequential,
methodical, linear manner prevents us from contacting its basic nature.
This natural aliveness does not exist within the framework or box in which
we currently exist as a society. Pure, free life expression lives outside
of our cultural conditioning, underneath it, behind it—beyond it.
We can reclaim our
natural power only if we approach the challenge in a manner that is new,
wild, free, unexpectant and in-the-moment. If this alive space is sought
in any way that is familiar or known, it won’t be found. Where we’re
going and what we’re looking for isn’t located on any existing
cultural map.
The way to natural
vitality is uncharted because the very finding of this energy transforms
us and our universe to such an extent that no previous map, blueprint or
paradigm is relevant. By the very nature of the goal—aliveness—the
path to the goal remains fresh and spontaneous, impossible to document or
plan.
No methodology, technique
or structured approach can ever remain valid for any period of time—or
even a second time—to assist us in reaching this vibrant state. This
space, once achieved, once embodied, once lived, is so free, transforming,
creative and constantly changing that any existing map, chart or way
won’t take us there a second time. Strategies previous to this moment
take us to old places and old experiences. Really cool, but not current.
Pleasant, but not present. Potent, but not profound.
To undertake this
odyssey in the most advantageous way, my inner coach suggests a simple,
direct, personal approach. To rekindle our fire of aliveness, we can open
to peak moments in our life when we experienced a strong connection to the
vibration of raw, creative primal life flow. Many of us can’t think
of—or remember—a time when we did merge with this basic life force.
Fortunately, it doesn’t matter that our memory of our true nature is
blocked by our mind. We can employ our intuition as a guide, instead of
the mind. Our intuition knows where and how to access this vibration of
vitality. Our intuition knows how to remove or go
around any barriers or
denial. Behind our veils of fear, dismissal, distraction, invalidation and
misinterpretation are hundreds of firsthand encounters with this universal
fire. Within each of us lies a treasure house of direct personal
experiences readily available for the enhancement and transformation of
our everyday life.
The heart of Costa Rica
radiated one primal message
"Go for the juice, the electricity. Forget the form."
If whatever is happening
in the moment looks and sounds right, but doesn’t feel intuitively right
to you, then it’s not right. It isn’t what you’re meant to be doing
at that moment—it isn’t what is spiritually appropriate or indicated
for you to be doing at that precise time.
In regard to any
situation, the key question to ask yourself is
"For me, in the
moment, is there passion, aliveness, heart?"
If there is not, then
you are not in the right place, no matter how convincing the outer
appearance might be. Let it go.
The spirit of the Earth
urges
"Move on. Stay open. Keep flowing."
In an Arizona canyon
twenty years ago, a venerable Hopi medicine man named Medicine Cloud
shared a keen observation with me:
I now know what he
meant.
