Patricia Pearce

Helping You Be the Change

Precious Limitations

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The Infinite is limited by its infinity.

Awhile back, while I was in mediation, a feeling of regret was arising in me about my limitations, limitations which, it seemed to me, impeded the Spirit Realm’s intentions for me and my life.

What I heard in response was not anything I expected: “We need your limitations.”

In that instant I could see that the Infinite is limited by Its own infinity. Being Everything, It cannot manifest in form as Its totality, because form is specific. Form is particular. While the Infinite is all Possibility, form is the expression of a possibility.

In other words, limitation is how the Infinite expresses in the dimension of time and space.

All this may seem obvious, but it was one of those paradigm shifting moments for me. I realized that the very thing I was regretting about myself and seeing as a deficiency was actually the essential contribution that I, as a limited human being, bring to the table in this divine project of creation.

Limitation as a creative catalyst

I’m reminded that artists often become more and more creative as increasingly restrictive parameters are imposed upon them, limitations that they have to work within. Rather than being a hindrance to their creativity, the limitations become a catalyst for it. In the same way, our human limitations spur Love’s creative expression.

The great experiment of planet Earth, as I see it, is that this be a place where infinite Love can take on specific, tangible expression. And that is simply not possible without the gift of limitation.

So let me ask you this: Are there limitations you experience in yourself or in your life that you see as obstacles to Spirit, obstacles to Love, obstacles to the full expression of your Self?

If so, are you willing to accept that they may be precisely the boundaries Love is using to express Itself more creatively in this world of form?

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Co-Authoring a New Story

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Through our willingness, we are co-authoring a new narrative world

I’m a sucker for a good novel. I love being transported into another world, into the lives, hearts and minds of characters who, like me, are finding their way in the world.

Recently, when I finished reading a very long and dense novel, I realized that when I enter into the narrative world of an author I am giving myself over to them in trust. I am reading the product of their imagination. It feels like a sacred act, a solemn trust.

As a reader I am picky. I want the author to take me somewhere meaningful, somewhere transcendent. I don’t want to spend my time reading a story that leaves me on the same vibrational plane that I experience in consensual reality. I want to enter into a narrative world that transports me into the New. This is why I have no time for dystopias. They are unimaginative. They merely play out a catastrophic trajectory to an epic dead end.

The Fiction We Live In

Why does any of this matter? Because fiction isn’t limited to the books we read or the movies we watch. We are living in a fiction everyday—the fiction in our own minds as well as the fiction in the collective mind. You could say that this whole world is a novel, but unlike the books we store on our shelves, we are both the characters and the authors of this novel we call the world.

And we have a choice, each of us. We can either continue spinning the same narrative thread of the past, remaining loyal to the premises of its plot, or we can be bold enough to invite a surprising narrative twist that opens up a whole new horizon for ourselves and for planet Earth.

And we all know it’s high time for a surprising narrative twist to take place on planet Earth.

Willingness Opens the Way

How do we invite that? All it really requires of us is that we be willing to relinquish our loyalty to the narrative that has been passed down to us, defect from its ground rules and its demands for enemies, divisions, struggle, winners and losers, fear.

Notice that I said it requires us only to be willing. That’s an important point, because one of the core themes of the current story humans have been authoring is based on the belief that we have to make things happen, and that even this planetary transformation and this global awakening is on us to carry out.

But it isn’t, and the first narrative twist happens when we accept that there are spiritual Beings who are in this with us, cheering us on, eager to partner with us to help bring forth what wants to happen in our lives and on this planet.

Since the spirit realm respects our free will, it will not intervene if we want to try to go it alone. This means we can decimate the ecosystems on the planet to the point of collapse if that is what we choose. And the shocking truth is that even if we do, Love would not reject us.

A New Story

So I encourage you to be picky about the stories you indulge, beginning with the stories in your own mind, because a New Story is ready to emerge on this planet. It isn’t based on the fallacy of separateness and division and judgment, but expresses the Reality of Love and the truth of our inter-existence.

This New Story is a partnership between the spirit realm and we embodied ones who are willing to release our allegiance to the narrative world of the past and become co-authors of  what is to come.

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Reaching for Stars

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The star you are reaching for will always elude you

One day, several years ago, I was thinking about a print I remembered seeing on a friend’s living room wall. I have no recollection of what brought it to mind, but the print was an illustration of a man standing tiptoe on a mountaintop reaching for a star, stretching so earnestly that he was on the verge of falling.

My friend was a very ambitious person, and I could see why she would have this on her wall; she seemed like someone who was reaching for the stars. And while I think it’s great to want to excel and be all we can be, as I remembered the print all these years later, what I remembered most was how off balance that poor fellow was, how obviously out of reach the star was, how utterly futile his effort was.

Later that same day I was taking a walk in our neighborhood and I passed by a used bookstore not far from our house. And, wouldn’t you know it, on display in the front window was a book with that very print on the cover. So I went inside and took the book from the window to take a picture of it, thinking I might want to use it in a blog someday.

The Folly of Looking Outside Ourselves

This past year, as we have been weathering this odd reclusive time of COVID, I have experienced a lot of inner shifts and insights. One of them is that I have seen at a much deeper level than ever before what folly it is to look outside of ourselves for our fulfillment.

To be reaching for a “star,” whatever that star might be for each of us, means that we believe there is something we are missing, that there is some way in which we are incomplete or inadequate, some void that can only be filled by something outside of ourselves.

But, as A Course of Love points out, we are already the Accomplished. We are already whole in ourselves. There is nothing lacking or inadequate about us.

And yet, we are so conditioned to reach for things outside of ourselves and to believe that only they can bring us ultimate fulfillment and happiness. In fact, billions and billions of dollars are spent each year trying to persuade us to look outside of ourselves for happiness and completeness.

The irony is that it is the reaching itself that keeps us in a state of dissatisfaction. It is the seeking that keeps us separated from that which we seek. It is the belief that our destiny is beyond us that prevents us from opening to the destiny that is already within us, the destiny that we already are.

So what about you? Is there a star you are reaching for, something you believe is lacking in your life or inadequate about you—something that you believe can only be fulfilled by something outside of you?

If so, take a moment now and just let yourself notice what it feels like to be constantly reaching for that star. Let yourself feel how the reaching leaves you off balance, dissatisfied, perhaps at times even despondent.

Here is what I would like you to understand: that star you are reaching for will always elude you because it is a mirage. It doesn’t exist outside of you. It is your projection onto the “external” world of the light which is already within you.

When you really dig down, what you discover is that what you have been seeking is nothing other than your Original Self, who has always been present within you, and whose brilliance can never be dimmed.

Can you let yourself accept this truth? Can you let yourself accept that you are the star you have been reaching for?

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Dismantling: An Act of Creation

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The new world simply can’t be built upon our past beliefs.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend my husband, Kip, and I pulled out our Bananagrams game and started playing. If you aren’t familiar with Bananagrams, it’s sort of like Scrabble in that it has little tiles with letters on them, but it has no board. You use the tiles to build your own grid of interlocking words based on the letters you’ve drawn, like a crossword puzzle.

But the other thing about Bananagrams that’s different is that you can rearrange your words at any time. If you draw a letter that you can’t fit into your existing grid, you can tear apart any or all parts of your puzzle and start over.

Kip and I played collaboratively rather than competitively, because it’s just more fun that way. We would draw the next letter and then we would both look at how it could be incorporated into the grid we had built together.

What I learned in the process is that Kip is totally fine with tearing things apart. He has no compunction about dismantling entire regions of the grid if there’s a word he sees could be built with the latest letter, and he always trusts that it will all turn out okay, that there’s a way all the letters can be reconfigured into something new.Continue Reading

The Quiet Coup

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The coup that will change the world is already well underway.

For as long as I can remember, the ritual in our national political theater that has always moved me to tears is the moment after a presidential inauguration when the outgoing president boards the helicopter and flies away. It is an enactment of what is perhaps the most extraordinary characteristic of democracy: the peaceful transition of power.

It brings me to tears because I am aware of how precious it is, how novel it is, in a world that has for so long been governed by egoic drives for power and control, and it exemplifies the fundamental break with the past that the founders of our country made when they decided the United States would not be a monarchy.

Knowing that Donald Trump is completely beholden to the ego-mind, I have always had a hard time envisioning him peaceably getting on that helicopter and flying away, honoring the will of the people and the democratic process. This is not a condemnation of him. It is simply an observation of him. It is not in his constitution to yield power and control.Continue Reading

The Power of Joy

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Joy is the most transformative power we can imagine.

This past week a message came across my path by White Eagle, a Hopi Elder, who was offering counsel on how to be in these times. She talked about the potential of this time as being a portal for us, and she emphasized the importance of taking care of ourselves, because when we take care of ourselves we are taking care of the whole.

She also talked about the importance of joy, and about joy as an act of resistance in the face of oppression. Here are some of her words:

. . . if you take this opportunity to look at yourself, rethink life and death, take care of yourself and others, you will cross the portal. . .

When you are taking care of yourselves, you are taking care of everything else. Do not lose the spiritual dimension of this crisis; have the eagle aspect from above and see the whole; see more broadly.

There is a social demand in this crisis, but there is also a spiritual demand — the two go hand in hand. . .

Learn about resistance of the indigenous and African peoples; we have always been, and continue to be, exterminated. But we still haven’t stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire, and having fun. Don’t feel guilty about being happy during this difficult time.

You do not help at all being sad and without energy. You help if good things emanate from the Universe now. It is through joy that one resists. Also, when the storm passes, each of you will be very important in the reconstruction of this new world.

You need to be well and strong. And for that, there is no other way than to maintain a beautiful, happy, and bright vibration. . .

What world do you want to build for you? For now, this is what you can do — serenity in the storm. Calm down, pray every day. Establish a routine to meet the sacred every day.

Good things emanate; what you emanate now is the most important thing. And sing, dance, resist through art, joy, faith, and love.

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Are You Looking for a Good Resource on Mindfulness?

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Rather than posting a blog of my own writing this week, I’d like to share with you a wonderful resource I recently came upon through Shambala Sun‘s website. In case you aren’t familiar with it, Shambala Sun is a magazine that features teachings from the Buddhist and other contemplative traditions.

This free eBook (PDF), The Mindfulness Sampler, contains chapters by some of the pre-eminent teachers of mindfulness in our day, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, Jack Kornfield, and many more, all writing about the power of awareness in daily life.

You can access the PDF here: The Mindfulness Sampler.

Peace,

Patricia

Facing Diverging Paths

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Is there a path beckoning you?
Is there a path beckoning you?

In one of my morning meditation times this week, an image from a famous poem by Robert Frost came to my mind.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

I knew why this image of diverging paths had come to me at this particular time, since I am facing some important decisions, so I took the image as an invitation to do as Frost did, to take time to pause and consider.

I imagined myself sitting down in the woods at a place where two paths part to see what I could see, knowing as Frost did that by choosing one I was saying no to the other, leaving it untraveled, a life I might have lived and chose not to.

Choices can be difficult because we know we will forever wonder about the paths we chose not to take, all those roads that we have left unexplored. We must accept this particular kind of loss so inherent to life — the loss of what might have been. Frost alludes to this in the title of his poem. Rather than calling it “The Road Taken,” he titled it, “The Road Not Taken.”

Choices can also be difficult because when we face diverging paths we can only see so far. We may be able to see what might lie ahead in the near future, but beyond that the path bends out of sight, into the undergrowth of uncertainty. This means we must always make our choices in the absence of full knowledge. We must make them guided by a deeper wisdom instead, one that we can only access within ourselves. Rather than merely deciding, we must discern which way to go.

In my meditation, letting any sense of urgency recede, I invited that deeper wisdom to come forth and show me what these diverging paths were representing.

As I gazed at them in my mind’s eye, what I saw was that one of the paths, the one slightly more traveled, was the path I would choose if I allowed fear to govern my choices. It was the safer path in so far as it was the way of conformity, the way of blending in with cultural norms and abiding by other people’s expectations.

The other path, the one less traveled, followed a different course. It followed the contours of the Self (not to be confused with self, or ego) rather than the contours of external expectations, and because it wasn’t beholden to accepted norms it was the path that could also lead to controversy.

Controversy literally means turning against. Ideas are controversial when they turn against established norms, challenging viewpoints or worldviews that have become accepted as reality.

Taking time in meditation to listen to my inner wisdom helped me see the choices before me more clearly and understand the dynamics at play in my ambivalence. I could recognize how fear had been whispering to me to take the “safer” road.

While some people thrive on controversy, I am not one of them. Nonetheless I know, and can sense that I have always known, which path I will choose, and that, for me, will make all the difference.