Growing up in Western society is a bit challenging to say the least.

Based on my experience, I have witnessed cruelty and abuse on so many different levels. There seems to be an extreme deficiency in community and an ever growing diminishing of core values. The culture we have today is lacking authentic connection and the feeling of togetherness, which is so extremely important for humans to experience in our day-to-day lives.

I have been led astray from what is truly important and essential for me to really feel alive and vibrant. The societal system was designed in such a way that it wounds the core of its participants and leaves them constantly seeking something outside of themselves to fill the hole that was bored into them. Thus consumerism is born.

Everything has become a commodity to buy and sell. We create a market for everything, in order to grasp at something that seems far beyond our reach when really all that we need is actually right here inside of us. Right here within our hearts is an eternal spring of inspiration, joy and love, yet we scramble around each day seeking someone else to validate our experience. This creates an uneasy feeling deep inside of us that manifests within our being as depression, anxiety and a general, overall discomfort.

When one suppresses the heart and soul it formulates a series of signals that pepper us every day as if calling us back to something much more real. As the years pass, this discomfort grows ever more unbearable and a midlife crisis may ensue. Here we break down, bereft of hope and completely unsatisfied with our current stance in life. All that we worked for seems empty and tasteless. We walk around in a state of constant blahness. This is an initiation, a gift from Spirit to push us to seek a deeper knowledge of who we are and the deeper meaning of life.

So we go to the water’s edge with a quiet mind and an open heart. Wisdom seeps in as we truly sit with our pain and suffering. From that point on, we follow the path less traveled and thus we dig deeper into our own being. Realizations awaken us from our sleepy slumber as the spark of genius inside begins to blaze. We remember things that were long forgotten in order to reconcile the plethora of opposites that plague us and leave us confused and exhausted. And so we step off the hamster wheel of corporate/societal dictated life to find a new pace that is more aligned with our essence.

It’s time to put into perspective what it truly means to be human and get down to the fundamentals. Memories of the lake house when you were a child flash through your mind. The peace you felt, the peace of being at home within yourself. The comfort of solitude and a silence that emanates from the forest. The feeling that we must make our way back home overwhelms us. We long for some distant, sacred place, for truth and for love. So we take the first step into the great mystery, the journey always begins with a single step.

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Author: Gabriel Curell

Image: Flickr/Dianne Lacourciere

Editor: Travis May