Amongst a few species of mammals, there is a capacity to navigate by merely hearing, not seeing. It's called echolocation and it allows bats and whales to determine where they are and navigate a course by sending out sounds into their surroundings and determining where they are from the echo that comes back to them. This permits them to know where they are and continue to move forward assuredly even in complete darkness.
There is a metaphorical parallel to how I find myself and navigate my way through life. When I rely only on my physical senses and surface awareness to determine my sense of self and where I want to go I am using ego-location. I have thoughts about myself that are based on my physical attributes, my roles, my relationships, and the expectations that go with these representations of me. The reverberations of these thoughts inform my sense of self. I am a father, a teacher, or counselor, or husband, a trusted friend, a citizen, or a neighbor. Nothing wrong with ego-location in navigating our world except when it obviates a deeper inquiry and realization of our true self.
Sometimes life will hand us circumstances that strip us of one of these “representations” of self or we can, by design, choose to decommission ourselves for a time from the roles we play. In either case, we are given a perfect opportunity to reacquaint our sense of self using a “God positioning system” – intentionally seeking an internal locus of self-awareness that did not originate in the world nor derive its value from our actions or accomplishments. This is what I am seeking during every hiatus that offers itself amidst the busyness of life events and responsibilities.
When we can "go apart awhile" even for a brief mindful moment, we are invited to release the tension bound up in expectations, and temporarily extricate ourselves from our current process. In this open, unbounded space we can encourage ourselves to be radically honest and vulnerable and open to who we think we are and, more vitally, open and receptive to the truth of our Being. There is a time for egolocation and there is a time to turn a deaf ear to its assessment that would only get us lost again. It is, after all, the reverberations of Love that give us the singular true sense of what we are and position us most precisely in a state of peace and well-being.
Wherever we are, God, Love, Truth, and Wholeness exist. Just as the prodigal son realized, we too can discover that our true home and ultimate destination are within us, right here and now, even during our most difficult moments.
Namaste,
Rev. Larry
Amen, Brother!!!