A Holy Symmetry

Many people believe I adopted the name “Lucky” because I survived my stroke and its aftermath. Certainly, I was lucky. But, that wasn’t the reason. Strangely, that entire episode, took me out of myself, and introduced me to a level of reality I probably could not have known otherwise.  I underwent an extreme form of initiation, which launched me into a connected life, one where I experience the length Life goes to grow us. I became “Lucky” when I felt the winds of evolution at my back.

 

Recently, I attended the first meeting of The Ripening Room. I could feel my resistance to being there — I gave voice to it — by saying I didn’t want to be there, because I didn’t want people to see my ugliness. After a day or two, I realized that was not completely true. At least a portion of my resistance was because I didn’t want anyone to see my beauty. I realized The Ripening Room could be a place where ripening was revealed, as much as sought. It could be a place where fullness could be as evident as shortcomings. Suddenly, the holy symmetry, the relationship between Life and we humans, could manifest.

 

I have never been prepared for the change in awareness that befell me after the stroke. As the medical people said, “I was too young to be going through it.” What they couldn’t see, what their instruments didn’t show, was that I was being re-worked. Through a medical crisis a whole lifetime disappeared, and a connected luckiness arrived. Since then, Life’s medicine has been evident in all my moments. Since then, I have known that ripening was happening all the time.

 

So, that is what I want to convey. Every step of the way, Life is preparing us for what is to come. All along, hardships or grace-related events, are happening, and shaping each of us. I am amazed, realizing that Life has been embracing me long before I began embracing Life. I became “Lucky” long before I knew it. 

 

I am not really interested in becoming an evangelist. The real work is Life’s to do. I just want to act more like ripening has already set-in. Yes, I could certainly use more. But, the truth is, that getting older has made ripening all that much clearer to me. I am the beneficiary of a Life force, that pours through this life and enriches my interactions. 

 

I need to re-visualize what I am doing. Ripening, and the holy symmetry, changes my perception of The Ripening Room from a place where one acquires ripeness, to a place where one reveals ripeness. Instead of a sense of scarcity, I envision a feeling of being endowed. Ripeness is suddenly present as potency.

 

I have come to see, that the way I think about self-confrontation, shapes how I see it. If I saw The Ripening Room as a way of showing and experiencing my pathology, it is an undesirable thing — but, if I saw it as a way of demonstrating my wholeness, it is another. I know that the opportunity to demonstrate my wholeness is also true with aging, the ultimate self-confrontation. Thinking maturity is out there waiting for me (perhaps when I die), is far different than perceiving ripening as something already growing as me. I am “Lucky” because ripening is part of who I am.

 

Ripeness has brought us here. The obstacles, and challenges, are simple initiatory ordeals arranged by Mystery to draw out from within what already exists. Ripeness brings one to a place where ripeness can exercise. I can now look forward to getting older as more than an as an ordeal. 

 

The focus upon hardship and attainment, mental, emotional, and spiritual effort, the doing of it, misdirected my thinking. I am a victim of the old way of perceiving things. Ripening is not my power — it happens despite my effort. The best use of my power is to get out of the way, and help nature do its thing. 

 

My luckiness, is what I share with all of you, the joy of knowing what really is within us, what really makes things happen. Ripeness is generating more ripeness. A holy symmetry is at work. Love is purifying Love.