Walking your Talk - An Introduction

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

I am still at loss for words after the what I experienced the last few weeks. It is as if I was thrown into a different world, where crisis seems to be be the only constant. A couple of hours sleep a night, but still you have to do what you have to do. When at last it was all over, all I wanted to do was sleep. Someone said to me that after experiencing what I did, one tends to withdraw within the reptilion brain. I can believe that. I sat down to write but I could hardly spell even basic words, let alone string together a sentence. Anyway, I feel better now, I feel more like myself now, now that I am back home.

So many people when in search of spiritual meaning for life, want to withdraw from normal life, go to faraway places and seek enlightenment in isolated environments. Many years ago now, I found myself at that point. I wanted go and live in complete isolation, not even with the convenience of electricity. But as I stood at the verge of waving civilization goodbye, I realised that was the old way, it would simply be an escape. I learnt a lot about lost crafts and living without modern conveniences in the process but I know, to truly test your spiritial mettle, you have to live in the real world. Since then it has felt as if I had been "wandering for 40 years in the desert."

Rudolf Steiner speaks of the "homeless man."

"...at a certain stage of mystic or occult development one is called a 'homeless man.' This designation is a technical one, ...a man is called 'homeless' when, in his knowledge and grasp of the great laws of humanity, he cannot be influenced by all that usually arises in a person through living in his native country. A 'homeless man', we might also say, is one who is able to identify himself with the great mission of humanity as a whole, without the various shades of the particular feelings belonging to this or the other homeland playing any particular part. Now the 'homeless men' of all times, from primeval ages down to our own day, have always known, that if they were to characterise in all its fulness that which is described as the character of homelessness, they would meet with very, very little understanding. In the first place a certain prejudice would be brought against these homeless men, which would be voiced in the reproach: "You have lost all connection with the nation from which you have sprung; you have no understanding for that which is usually most dear to man.'

Homelessness is in reality a detour or roundabout way, so that after this sanctuary of homelessness has been attained, the way may be found back to the folk, in order to be in harmony with what is permanent in the evolution of mankind...But the individuals belonging to the several peoples will only be able to bring their free, concrete contributions to this joint mission, if they have, first of all, an understanding of the folk to which they belong, an understanding of what we might call 'The Self-knowledge of the Folk.' In ancient Greece, in Apollonic Mysteries the sentence 'Know Thyself' played a great role; in a not far -distant future this sentence will be addressed to the Folk-souls; 'Know yourselves as Folk-souls'. .. It is true that man is in the first place a human individual, the expression of an ego, but he also belongs to a certain people, i.e., something over which as a human individual he has at first no control."

Basically what Steiner speaks about is that Nations consists out of individuals, and that throughout time our evolutionary course has been determined by the rise and fall of certain Tribes, or Nations, each appropriate to the 'Zeitgeist' or 'Time Spirit' or 'Spirit of the Age'. What aspect of us as the human race needed development.

 From this you may begin to see the importance of each individual to be true to themselves. "To know thyself", for in being true to yourself you will be unwittingly helping the evolutionary course of humanity as a whole. When you start to realise this, your life cannot and never will be the same.

"Our valuation of things is a matter of indifference; the necessary course of events leads humanity forward, although this might later be considered as a decline. Necessity leads humanity forward. '

So it is in our individual lives too. More often than not it is necessity that drives us forward, leads us to often painful "soul encounters", which in turn helps us to discover the true song of our souls, our true place in life, our individual paths through self-evolution. Through this process we begin to realise that what we thought was important when we began our journey, was just a whiff of a scent of our true purpose, our unique place in life. Make no mistake this is not for the fainthearted.

Ernest Shackleton placed an ad in a London newspaper, to assemble a crew for his journey to the South Pole in 1914:

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."

Five hundred men applied for twenty-eight crew positions, in response to the ad! Deep within ourselves we know that our journey through life is a hazardous journey, safe return more often than not doubtful, but if we are to honour our souls, and receive recognition for our uniqueness, it is a journey that we have to undertake, and if we survive we will know the sweetness of our individual songs.

My own individual journey has been hazardous, with bitter cold, dark nights, and at times I doubted my safe return, but at long last, through most unexpected circumstances, I have returned home, to my place of birth. After so many years of wandering in the wilderness, I can at last put down my roots again. Now the "homeless woman", who found sanctuary only in herself can return to her folk with her own individual song. I have experienced soul initiation and I know my song. Yet, I could never have got here without those whom I met upon my journey.