Deep within each of us is a calling, a yearning for the wholeness within.
The depth of this longing is familiar. It's the ache in our hearts when we connect with exquisite beauty, the intimacy of a lover, our children and the boundless essence of nature.
That longing is echoed In the rain forests of Central America where there lives a bird called the Perdi - the lost soul. From high in the mountain mists you can hear its' haunting lament as it calls out - seeking connection with its mate. It's a lament so clear it pierces the heart of all those who listen.
Instinctively, we know this lament. The call of the Perdi haunts me, bringing me to my knees with a depth of longing - a longing for the wholeness of heartfelt connection to source, for divinity, for Spirit. It is a cry for the Infinite, Yahweh, Allah, God, Source, the One.
I spent most of my life searching for that connection. Mostly, I was seeking outside myself – in relationships, careers, books, professional training programs and hobbies. It was an endless search and a great adventure, but is was a journey that took me far outside myself.
Eventually, in my late forties, feeling lost, alone and disconnected, I was too exhausted, confused and heart-sick to continue. Finally my forward movement ground to a halt and I stood silent and still.
In those first days, I felt nothing. No sound, no sensation – only the experience of a vast aching emptiness. Eventually, I became aware that in the nothingness, something was showing up, and that something was watching me.
Like a shy, wild creature awareness came forth and it watched and waited to see how I would respond. Would I sit quietly, allowing Spirit to come forth or would I go crashing about on another search, seeking, hunting and demanding that it appear?
Calling in the "lost" aspects of our souls requires a different way of being. It requires the resonance of love that speaks to us in stillness and silence. Waking us from our slumber, our wild soul invites us to listen and enter a state of receivership in order to bring back into wholeness that which was "lost."
Through the practice of silence, surrender and stillness, both individually and in community, I reclaim what I felt was lost and therefor experience more depth, more heart, and more connection to self, others and the divine.
Somehow in the silence, stillness and surrender, life expands and deepens, and I find that what I was seeking was never lost; I wake up to what has always been there, and realize we are never separate from Source.
No matter how long we have turned our faces away from the sun, it still shines on us. To experience the embrace of source, we turn our faces back toward the sun.
If you, too, seek to answer the cry of your soul, I can recommend a place to begin. Join us at WhiteWinds-FeatherStone Institute, where our programs support the unfolding wisdom found in each wild, beating heart.
And, if you, too, have found your way home, we welcome hearing about your journey.
In service,
Tammy
