“The wound is the place where Light enters you…”

–Jalaluddin Rumi

If we or someone we love becomes seriously ill, it takes great courage to step off the trodden path, when all of life seems to fall away and there seems to be nowhere to turn. When we feel lost, all too often we seek the comfort of following in another’s footsteps, especially those whose profession is authoritative and supposed to light our way. We follow the guidance of our societies’ “experts,” hoping they know where they, and therefore we, are headed… but these fellow humans can often be just as lost in the jungle of life, bombarded with information overload and often lacking the living experience to validify the efficacy of choices deemed “scientifically sound.”

As a practitioner of subtle energy and healing arts for 27 years–ignited by a near death experience in 1992– as I began my journey of “waking up,” at first I had to find my way through the labyrinth of seemingly unsolvable health challenges, with little truly helpful guidance. Faced with increasing exposure to toxicities in the air we breathe and the foods we eat, chemicals in the water we drink, nuclear and electromagnetic radiation, and most of all, constant stress from our the news, work, relationships… staying healthy has become challenging for many of us. Even with a biological lifespan of 120 years, it is a rarity for any of us to live to be 90 or 100. And I am told that mine is the first generation statistically unlikely to outlive our parents. Clearly humanity is in need of some behavioral modification. But underlying this behavior change seems to be a need for a spiritual revival of sorts…we face a metaphysical crisis that could impel us towards potentially new octaves of evolution. It is interesting to note that the ancient Chinese word for “crisis” is a composition of the two characters “danger” and “opportunity.”

We each have an under-used and extremely advanced system built inside of the temple of our bodies– the “inner-net.” Within us lies a mostly dormant faculty of knowing ourselves intimately– the intricately unique biology that is our body and it’s needs, and the belief systems and thoughts that run though our often automatic-pilot wiring. We are told in the “new age” that there is a mind-body connection that we have to cultivate– but in actuality the mind (which can loosely be defined as thoughts and emotions) is not separate from the body. Similarly, white light can be separated into the rainbow spectrum, but the colors we see only appear separate to our 3D consciousness– they are actually all the one white light. Therefore it is inevitable that not only do our thoughts and emotions affect our physiology– they are truly not apart from it.

It is natural to understand that if we activate our whole mind-body system rather than isolated parts of it at one time (which is how the majority of humans currently operate), we form a coherence with all of the various aspects of ourselves, and from that perspective we can “see” the whole picture and therefore know what needs changing, attention, or revision in our lives. There is nothing like creativity to ignite this level of expanded awareness. The act of creation–engaging the mind in novelty, listening to or creating music or other unique experiences–lights up not only the entire brain, but enlivens the Spirit and brings depth to the soul.

We are undergoing a revolution on planet earth, nothing less than a complete rewiring of everything that has seemed to hold our world together–from economics to societal structure, health care, education, ecological perspectives– right to the core of the very belief systems that have held sway for generations.

It is a time of radical transformation, and potentially the crisis is instigating the time of the great push– birthing humanity to a new level of symbiosis within the ecosystem of our bodies, and without– the ecosystem of our societies and planet Earth.

Perhaps you’ve heard the quote “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” In this ever-changing river we call life on planet Earth, mental, emotional, and physical pains accompany us at various stages of the path. But to view these challenges as inherent, natural, and even purposeful for soul growth is the realization of the alchemical dream of turning lead into gold…

And as we see the rewards from looking within and creating the stillness to hear the quiet inner voice of wisdom, our confidence grows. In a world of immediate gratification and instant results, we can become discouraged if things don’t seem to change or improve at the rate we have grown to expect. But a little quiet time observing nature and it’s cycles will show us that patience, perseverance, and a mustard grain of Faith pays off– in often unimaginably rewarding ways. The symbol of the lotus is a wonderful example of this– a pure, untarnished flower symbolizing beauty, truth, purity… and the soul’s growth out of the murky compost of the challenges in life toward the sun of radiant self-realization.

And as you light your candle of inner truth, may you also be as a beacon to illuminate and inspire others. And together, may we collectively midwife each other into the birth of a new humanity, and create a new world of beauty and peace for our children, our children’s children, and all of life.

Blessed be.

Kimba Arem