The idea of our lives as a journey is a very old one – Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’, for example, and our language is filled with journey metaphors. We talk about ‘reaching a crossroad’ when faced with a major decision or ‘reading the signs’ when looking for guidance. But what is this journey we call ‘life’?
A reader sent me a message some time ago and in it she wrote the following (repeated with permission, of course):
I work with Tarot. The Fool is called in older decks The Juggler and is often seen balancing on one foot while juggling. One summer, when my daughter was seven, she came up with the idea that she would like to draw her own tarot deck. I gave her some blank index cards and left her to it.
A couple of days later I asked how her project was going.
She pulled me into her room to show me. The fools card was very interesting. It showed a man dancing along a narrow path. He looked a bit like Indiana Jones. I just asked her, wasn’t that path suppose to be invisible?
“Nope,” she answered. “He knew that path wasn’t supposed to be seen, it was supposed to be felt. That’s how he is balancing.”
I had worked with the cards for years and had learned many lessons, but my daughter taught me much that day.
There was something about this story that I really liked, though at first it seemed to me contradictory. But then the wisdom of a seven year old has a certain purity and logic that is often lost on us adults. Well, this adult anyway.
Reading the story several times now, I find some wonderful imagery.
We are all dancing Jugglers
There are so many things to balance, balls to keep in the air. In many parts of the world life is really quite complex and how often do we drop the ball? It’s not always easy to know what is most important and what can be safely discarded. Juggling is frenetic, skilful and can be a beauty to behold when we find our balance and our rhythm.
We are all Indiana Jones
Life is an adventure, a journey to be travelled. It’s full of exciting places to explore and discover, experiences to savour and dilemmas to face. If we choose to take the journey, that is, rather than watch it as an observer. Indie could have stayed put and carried on lecturing at his university, but he chose to get out, solve mysteries, recover ancient wisdom and artifacts. He was also courageous, got beaten up a lot but ultimately was a hero, albeit a fictional one. Don’t we all have the hero inside us? Don’t we all have the spirit of adventure waiting to burst out?
We are all Fools
I take my life’s journey way too seriously at times. Writing about nonviolence is not always light and cheery stuff, I realise, but in the scale of the universe there’s nothing we humans have ever done, are doing or will ever do that is really so important or serious. We are just ‘dust in the wind’ to quote the song, and whenever I believe any different, then I’m a Fool.
Our paths are supposed to be invisible
We walk the path of our lives never knowing for sure what’s ahead. No matter how intelligent we think we are, we can not see the future. And if we did, then would there be a purpose to our lives? If our paths were known to us then what would our free will and our actions mean? It would be like reading the last page of a mystery novel – there’s really not much point then in going back and reading the rest. Or at least it takes a lot of the pleasure out of it.
Our paths are revealed to us
I’m a great believer in signs. As in a real trip, we often take a map and rely on the signposts to help us move forward. With life, we know our destination. In human form our end point is death. There are many theories about what might happen after that, but death is certain for all of us. The important thing (to us as individuals) is the path we take to get there. Signs, if we choose to read them, help us on our way. We can miss the signs if we’re not attentive, and we can misread the signs, but they are all around and within us to reveal parts of our journey.
Felt not seen
We know when we’re on track. We know it because we feel it and our minds can understand that. Provided we learn to listen to what our feelings are telling us. Provided we allow our minds to do what they do well and not allow them to get cluttered up with all the rubbish we feed into them.
When you look in the mirror in the morning, is the person you see smiling back at you. If so, they are probably on their path.
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Great post! I love the “We are all…” parts. Very clever and very true!
I enjoyed how you connected this with the cards. It is true when I stop and think about it. You captured it the essence of the message and wrote a beautiful inspiring article.
This resonated with me. I have so much I’m trying to accomplish personally and spiritually and have been feeling lost as to whether I’m “on the right track” or if there is something else I should be doing instead. This is an alternative perspective for me to ponder. Great post and thank you for sharing your perceptions.
I love it. Feeling a bit like Indiana Jones right now… in fact, I was LITERALLY thinking about that invisible path before I came to your blog today.
We are about to take that step away from safety and towards something completely unknown. As in… NO IDEA what is next, but we’re done with the current gig.
I guess it wouldn’t be a leap of faith if it didn’t require FAITH. No guarantees.
(I can hear the Indiana Jones theme song now!)
Interesting stuff Ian. I love reading Lisis’s comments on all these blogs about as much as the blogs themselves
Hi Ian — to be honest, I had no idea that you led workshops, and I was glad to see the link! I know that I for one would not object if you advertised them a little more on this site.
Hello Ian. We are all walking a path through life. I believe that when we walk the path that we are meant to, we will get signs from the Universe that we are on the right path. Your happiness level will increase, your means for living will increase, and people will support you in your mission (and also try to stop you).
It’s not always clear whether or not we are fulfilling our greater purpose or not, which is why life is journey, and not a destination. We must take our life one step at a time, and when the signs start to disappear, that means that we must have taken a wrong turn, and must go back to that “crossroad”. When we take small steps, not burn bridges with others, and make friends along the way, our options skyrocket, and the journey becomes more pleasant.
Ian, my friend, I would love to come, never been to Romania before and I KNOW I would enjoy your workshop. But, can you announce the date a bit more in advance next time so that I can put time aside? Otherwise my schedule gets booked up beforehand, like this time.
But, near Dracula’s castle? Any particular reason for this choice?
Hm.
Do I remember correctly that last year in Warsaw, when we went out to eat, you avoided meals with garlic. Just sheer coincidence?
[...] known and certain, and towards whatever life has in store for us. We’re stepping onto “the invisible path“. The thing about doing this is you have to have FAITH… you have to BELIEVE everything [...]
@PositivelyPresent Thanks Dani!
@Bunny And thank you too!
@Lea I’m happy to hear this might be useful for you in your ponderings!
@Lisis I can picture you now. Wearing your Indie hat and smirk, whip in hand and ready for the next big adventure!
@Stephen Not sure how to react that you enjoy Lisis’s comments as much as the blog itself! I’ll just be grateful (which I am anyway) to have Lisis as a regular visitor.
@Chris I take this as some encouragement to promote my work a bit more. So I have an idea to redesign the ‘support me’ pages and add more information in there.
@Trey I really enjoy this comment. It’s a great summary of many things I also hold true for myself about the nature of this life of ours!
@Robert Well spotted! In fact I avoid garlic, churches, sunlight, stakes in the heart (and steaks, too)! So the reason for Bran castle is now clear to all!
[...] The invisible path this is one of my recent favorite articles Ian has written. Life, powerful and fragile is anoother one – Ian has written about facing morality. It is a very powerful article. Another great read is In seach of value where Ian observes how value affects us in life. [...]