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Alarm Clock Or Not? by Amanda Lyons

6/25/2013

2 Comments

 
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As a parent to a teenager I have come to accept that one of my functions in my daughter’s life is to be an alarm clock. I have also come to accept that my cheery morning call of “Good morning angel, time to rise and shine” will be consistently met with a grunt of disapproval, a few groans in classic cave-girl style followed by sharing the next few minutes up to an hour with a primeval version of Lottee until she is actually ready to wake up fully – usually mid-morning whilst at school.  I’m sure this will be a familiar picture to most parents and if we are honest, we know that we too as adults still have our cave-man-don’t-wanna-wake-up moments.

I was reading another blog the other day, it was very inspirational, about this chaps journey to finding ‘the truth’ – after a long search and exploration of many religious/spiritual paths he found the teachings of Jesus and the Cosmic Christ path was the one that finally answered his deeper questions.  I really resonated with a lot of what he said. He spoke of devotion, discipline, purity and the embracement of sacredness in everything, and ultimately of the importance of us waking up to our Divine Human selves. He ended by imparting a sense of great urgency, we have to act now or suffer the consequences of hellish pain, “…we all have to realize is that it is one minute to midnight. We don’t have time to take a less glorious adventure…”  And this is the part that took me into a deeper reflection of my own truth around waking up.

I can imagine a blog such as his speaking loud and clear to those who are already awake, who have already done much of the work we need to do (or allow to be done) and who are refreshed with bright eyes looking at the teacher ready for the next part (mid-morning phase). It’s a very motivational piece of writing for those who are already on the start line. However, many of us are only just rubbing our eyes and stretching – we are coming out of our slumber in a steady organic fashion that allows a gentle awakening into readiness for action. We are each of us on our own journey, and maybe we are all heading the same way, but I feel it is of paramount importance that we find our own way in our own time.  We can take in the road signs and follow clues and cues where appropriate, but I do get an uncomfortable feeling when someone jumps out shouting “This way! This is THE way” and even more so when there’s an added cry of “NOW! You have to do this NOW!”

There is a truth in the urgency, there is a reality in which the “one minute to midnight” analogy is accurate – we are in the midst of a shift in energy, a rise in consciousness, and there is much unrest, discomfort and challenge in the world as the changes take place. Going back to the image of midnight on a clock face, in my reality once we reach midnight, the clock strikes (silently these days) the minute hand rests momentarily, then it moves on to being a minute past midnight… And on it goes. The next cycle begins with such smoothness, no effort required it simply flows IF we allow it to. A picture of the panic of folk believing it is the end of the world just flashed to mind, all that chaos, screeching, shouting – the trauma of it all.  And then the sun rises on the next day, the world hasn’t ended, panic over, and folk are feeling a little bit silly and goofy for believing chicken-little yet again.

My personal belief is if we are forced to wake up before we are ready we will be of little use to anyone including ourselves, wandering around half asleep in a foul mood grunting and snorting at anyone who dares to waft any cheeriness in our direction. If we are led by the nose by a well-meaning enthusiast encouraging us to go the same way as they went because it worked out great for them, we may well miss the experiences that are vital for our own evolution. If we attempt to jump ahead and embrace the Divine Human before learning what it is to be a Human Human we will miss out on the building blocks that create the foundation of compassion, acceptance and empathy which are fundamental if we are ever going to truly be of service to others as they begin to wake up with bleary but willing eyes. I do believe in putting our wisdom and love into action and I see this being done every day by people at every level of life, from the mundane to the sublime, and it all counts. From the great spiritual teachers who go to great lengths in making personal sacrifices so they can impart their knowledge to us; to the grandma who holds her grandchild’s hand and keeps him safe as he crosses the road. No role in life is lesser or greater, the human-human is as needed here as the divine-human.

I am grateful to have read the blog and to have been motivated to really ponder what truth lies at my core right now. My opinion and truth is likely to change as my understanding deepens and develops, but for now I choose to keep the ‘Alarm Clock’ function for the sole use of getting Lottee to school on time; as for spiritual evolution and being in service, I prefer a natural gentle awakening which will occur as surely and organically as the sun rising in the sky. Sat nam ♥


2 Comments
Chris link
7/2/2013 02:47:20 am

Very well reasoned and intelligent article, very truthful to me. Thanks :-)

Reply
Debra
9/9/2013 09:40:58 pm

Thank you for your thoughtful reflection. I think you've captured beautifully some of the contrast of the yang/yin approach. I do hope and believe that as a race we are embracing more of the yin to balance the legacy of our yang-focussed history. I'm not sure whether in this transition period we need to be able to operate in both modes as needed, or whether that is just my conditioning finding rationale for my behaviour! Certainly this way of natural acceptance is calling for a beautifully zen effortless effort on my part. Blessings!

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