RETURN

“Having lost hope of ever returning to the source of everything, the average man seeks solace in his selfishness.”

-Carlos Castaneda.

The ‘place of no pity’ is lauded as the spiritual destination of the Shamans of ancient New Mexico in Castaneda’s, The Power of Silence. There appears a great general truth in this.

Think of this place. The place of the mind where there is no self-centredness, only time, effort, space and cognition for the things external, or for those truly empowering, internally.

This can only ever be as a result of returning.

We return to where we came from initially. We return home. Home is with God.

The common human being, however, has lost most hope of returning and is hence apathetic to life—at least the difficulties of life. This can be most discouraging for those who’ve already received the light from their own returning. They cannot rationalise that people could not return. For the better part, they cannot rationalise apathy. Apathy seems rooted in self-centredness.

Why would one not love? Yet, to love requires thought and effort external to the self. Only those who make the temporary trip of returning can truly love, and for that moment they see light.

But, the purpose of life is making a permanent return, such that we can always speak of home. Home is most relevant. Our standpoint is home. We’re hence not in the least bit “average.” Yet, this sets us apart and sets us up to be cut down tall poppies in the view of others, as we spruik our truth.

The Shamans, through Castaneda, also say that “self-importance” must be de-throned. It masquerades as a different form of self-pity. Self-importance is a view that we’re better than we are. Self-pity is complaint surrounding the thought that we’re not being treated as importantly as we deserve. Both are rooted deeply in sinful pride.

We debunk these if we have any spiritual return in us. The return harkens us to something entirely better. It takes us beyond our apathy to the very reason we have air in our lungs.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.