Anam Cara - Going Beyond The Good

In Corrogue I receive a gift of love.

I awake to find a gift in my email inbox this morning. It is a quote from part of a poem. This is a poem by Mary Oliver entitled "Wild Geese." Let me share this extract with you. I find it simply beautiful.

"You do not have to be good
You do not have to walk on your knees
or a hundred miles through
the dessert repenting.
You only have to let the
soft animal of your body love
what it does."

I am learning to allow the soft animal of this body to love what it does.

This means entering into deeper and deeper trusting. It is a return to allowing the wisdom in the body to be conscious and to play. This is the way that children live. As Divine beings they do not have to be good but only let the soft animal of their bodies do what they do. This is their dance of life. It is their dance before they learn to stumble into the life of the ego.

There is a joy in such allowing. It allows the well spring of your being to surface. This is a form of magic. It is a form of unity. It is good only because "it is". It is not judged or labelled but simply allowed to flow and do what it does.

You do not have to be good.

Here the poet goes beyond judgement. She is telling you that you only need "to be." Nothing more is required of you. You are, she says, "OK." Here is a poet who knows. Here is a poet who graces you her knowing. She is telling you that you only need allow love to do what it does. This is wisdom. It is wisdom that comes from a trusting heart.

In this rush into the noise and haste of the 21st Century many of us are on our knees. We are walking but each of us carries a limp. Many of us are more than one hundred miles into the dessert. This is the desert of our unknowing. This is walking in the desert of separateness from "all that is."

We walk blindly when we do not know who we are and why we are. We can live all our lives asleep in armoured bodies that defend us against our true reality. If we lose contact with our soul work we are already lost in the desert. This is primarily the desert of social consciousness. Too many travel this dessert without ever getting a glimpse of the beauty they are.

Yet there is freedom.

We can, as the title of the poem suggests, be "Wild Geese." We can take wing. We can be warriors and take flight from the limitation of our social consciousness. To do so we need to enter our wildness. This is the wildness of our hearts imagination. This wildness is different from the wilderness of "never enough." This is the wilderness we lock ourselves into each day. We need to be wild and authorise our life and destiny. We need to quest and ask our own questions.

It seems, according to the latest health forecasts, that more and more of us are headed for a life of emptiness.

Forecasts conducted in the UK suggest that by 2015 the main disease afflicting the population will be depression. In my opinion this is an epidemic due to the loss of soul. It is the loss of feeling for life. This happens when there is felt little or no purpose in even living the limitation we call "our life." This suggests to me that we know there is something not quite right. We know in our heart of hearts that there is something missing.

You have been betrayed.

The title of this poem by Mary Oliver is "Wild Geese." In Ireland the term "Wild Geese" is a symbol of betrayal. "The Flight of the Wild Geese" refers to the time when the Chieftains of Ireland fled the land to go to other shores. We too are left. We too have been betrayed. We have been taught to betray "our being enough." Each of us needs to reclaim our birthright of joy and step into that other room that is our essential self.

A step on the way to this essential self is to allow the soft animal of your body to do what it does. It has its own "inner telling sense." It is amazing. It knows in ways the ego has forgotten. It moves us beyond what we term commonsense. Allow some softness in the body. Allow yourself to trust more the movement of the energy through your body. Learn to become the dance of this soft animal of your body.

Each morning when you wake up become aware of this soft animal of your body.

Just lie in bed. Learn to scan your body consciously without judgment. Feel each muscle nerve and sinew. Breathe deeply and slowly and when you are finished say, "Thank you." For the first ten minutes of the day be in love with this soft animal of your body. If you do not love it then it is more difficult to love totally. It is more difficult to be the dance of Eros.

This exercise goes along way to helping prevent dis-ease and despondency. It raises the vibratory rate of this soft animal of your body. You can begin to feel those good vibrations. You begin to feel fine and refined. This is a simple exercise in allowing your body "to be" and for you "to be" in this body that your soul has gifted to you.

Remember you do not have to be good. You only have to wake to the wondrous being your already are. This includes being aware of your body and allow it to be the holy instrument it is. Remember that the best you can do is let go and Let God. Just let it be.

Tony Cuckson is an Anam Cara. This Celtic term means "Soul Friend." He specializes in providing insight for the spiritual journey, Blessings for YOU, words of wisdom and finding inner peace. Visitors to Irish Blessings Matter website and Tony's Blog get the opportunity to develop a purpose driven life through articles, newsletters and other programs.

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