Throughout Europe, especially amongst monastic orders, the honeybee has been symbolic of the soul, death and rebirth. Bees were also closely connected to the priestly functions of the Druids. Amongst the native Navajo Indians comes the sacred concept of the Pollen Path. This shamanic path is certainly mystical, yet like most all of myth is based on practical elements and possesses a sound purpose. It represents the life source, as this path is the path to the center. The Navajo would sing:
"O beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me, beauty above me, beauty below me; I am on the Pollen Path."
This speaks of a kind of journey, a journey thru bliss. It is a journey to understanding the deepest aspects of the self, and the heart. It is of being one with creation, and of movement with our minds and bodies to that chthonic oneness with the earth, the spirit, and the cosmos.
Arthur Schopenhauer in his "Transcendent Speculation upon an Apparent Intention in the fate of the Individual" (1850) points out how the unfolding of seemingly unintended events and accidents in one's life give the appearance of a carefully constructed novel - as if all that ever happened, whether intended or not, represented integral elements of a larger unfolding destiny. Schopenhauer concludes "it (life) is one great dream dreamed by a single Being, but in such a way that all the dream characters dream too. Hence, everything links and accords with everything else."
This is a wonderful idea, where everything arises in mutual relation to everything else. So you can't go and blame anybody for anything. We are all together in this sort of sacred dance, each with their own part to play. Now as for personal choice, I don't think that any one of us has lived the life that we quite intended. We continue to struggle all our lives to that extent. But there is (to my mind), a sort of life-destiny pattern. Active awareness of that pattern while being in the moment is what I call being in the river. It is a level of consciousness where one is open to those sacred happening that come your way.
"Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -marvelous error!-
That I had a beehive here inside my heart.
And the golden bees were making white combs
And sweet honey from my old failures."
- Antonio Machado
1 comment:
By the time I got to the end of this segment and read this quote I was unprepared for it. The quote I mean! It crushed and renewed my heart in one massive and amazing blow. Thank you....I must write now.
Post a Comment