BEYOND DEATH, LIFE

Footprints lead to the shore of the sea!Beyond that point,No trace remains.-RUMII am calling to you. Can you hear me? Listen. Within your heart, there I speak; my voice rings true. You are urged beyond what has been. The time has come. Lay it to rest now. This ending comes as grace to free you from all that you have known, for what you have known is now too small for your soul. Bear your uncertainty with equanimity. I am certain enough for both of us. Allow me to show you the light that you are, that burns within you, blazing angel of heavenly purity. I will unveil you to yourself. Undressing your ego, casting aside its layers, as tender as a lover, with unwavering attention upon the sacred body of light. You shall know yourself in truth. As pure, beyond all experience, untainted, ever innocent. As a pure vessel, stripped bare, ready for the divine revelation. As light. As life. As love. The soul craves variety because it leads to wholeness, and wholeness leads to divine revelation. The purpose of the soul incarnating in this world in the first place is to realize its divinity through the sacred crucible of life. The older the soul, the closer it is to the realization of divine oneness, and the more powerful its determination to shed that which would constrain complete and conscious immersion into the divine presence.So, here you are, an old soul at the edge of something you have known; at the cusp of an ending and a beginning. Perhaps you are already in surrender and falling in, or perhaps you are fearful and resisting as you greet your own divinity. Yet this moment is happening because your own divine soul has chosen for it to be this way, so that love may grow. There is no punishment in this ending, nor is there anything to fear. There may be pain; there may be grief and loss. There may be uncertainty and even insecurity. Yet you have a heart big enough to bear such growing pains. Your heart is even big enough to receive the joy that is lying in wait for you as you stumble across her in the course of your clumsy, inspired travails into new life. You can scoop her up in your arms and spin her wildly about as she delights in your embrace, throwing her head back and laughing her vibrant, contagious laughter, filling you with exquisite ecstasy. Yes, you shall know the truth, the knowledge that the Divine is with you, guiding every unfolding moment of your life journey. No matter how dark it may first appear, the Divine is with you in unflinching generosity, with compassion, and with fierce passion for your blossoming into all you are, all that you can be.So what must you do to receive this divine grace, this new life? You must be willing to face death. It may be that death has come to you in the form of loss of a beloved one, a physical loss that takes you into the darkest despair or depths of your grieving heart. It may be death that comes to you in the ending of a financial or professional situation you once relied upon. It could also be in the sense that you don't really know who you are anymore; old identities having shown themselves to be inadequate, inaccurate, mere ego masks too small for the great being that you are starting to suspect you may be!Your death may be a choice - to let go, to take a step in a new direction, to move house, to end a relationship, to change career, or to step away from a religious or philosophical tradition, or a group or teacher. Your death may not feel as though it has come by choice at all. It may be a sickness that leaves you feeling helpless, a relationship or other life circumstance changing when you wish with all your heart that it would not. Your transition through this death may be triggered by an inner feeling that you cannot quite pin down. Nonetheless, it powerfully propels you away from what has been and towards untapped possibilities, perhaps even towards great confusion as you encounter life in a new way, feeling even somewhat unprepared and uncertain as to what may lie ahead of you now. How you deal with this grace, hidden though it may at first appear to be under the cloak of crisis, is up to you. You have enough spiritual intelligence to shift perspective and to choose, if you wish, to rest your inner gaze upon what lies beyond the death. Gaze instead upon the new life that is calling you. When you know deep within that, no matter what experiences you have had in your life, you are untainted, you will be more easily able to trust the love the Divine has for you. You won't question your worthiness and therefore you will trust in life more easily and more fully, no matter how much it asks of you at times. The Divine is a relentless lover. It wants nothing less that your total being to be held in its embrace. Sometimes that means we will have to give up lesser loves for the greater lover, the divine one that calls us to remember our true nature. You are a beautiful blazing soul having a human experience that defies explanation and opens you up to divinity. That is what is happening in your life now, whether the death is obvious and painful to you, or whether you are uncertain as to how it is as yet showing up in your life. Either way, there is an ending imminent and new life coming to you, with greater opportunity for your radiant soul to shine its beauty in the world. Grasp it eagerly, beloved. Now is not the time for fear or hesitation. Focus on what is becoming, whilst honoring what is no longer to be.