Where is the line between visionary thinking and obsessing about the future, or wanting to please the ego in some way? To be a visionary, you have to see something this is not yet there, and then materialize it. For me, this can take the form of a new piece of art, a new event, a new community. Visioning involves a focus on the future, rather than the present moment. And while my life would certainly be simpler without visions, I do not want to leave this type of thinking behind as I become more centered in the present moment. And yet, there are many steps along the process from vision to reality that are unpleasant, or in service to the greater idea rather than the present moment. How do these fit in with a new type of mindful presence I am working to develop? Additionally, not all visions are inspired. Some are simply the ego striving to be seen, to be recognized. I have experienced both ego-based visions, and those that seem more divinely inspired. At the moment, I am trying to distinguish more clearly between the two. For guidance on this question, I turn to one of my favorite poets, the 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi.
Moving Water
When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
When actions come from another section, the feeling disappears.
Don't let others lead you. They may be blind or, worse, vultures.
Reach for the rope of God. And what is that? Putting aside self-will.
Because of willfulness people sit in jail, the trapped bird's wings are tied,
fish sizzle in the skillet.
...
Don't insist on going where you think you want to go. Ask the way to the spring.
Your living pieces will form a harmony...
From The Soul of Rumi. Translated by Coleman Barks.
This post still resonates so deeply. I feel better and better at discerning which visions to follow. Nowadays I think of it as picking up the baton for my leg of the relay race, in collaboration with my ancestors and descendants. Which of the things I am drawn to fulfill my multigenerational, milenia-spanning collaborations? It helps me magnify that feeling of "a river moving in you, a joy". And in this context, the "results" I see in the 3D world in my short lifetime is only one facet of the whole picture. So that joy moving in me is how I know if its aligned action, even if the other actions seem more logical and sensible. It feels like a compulsion. I *have* to respond to the call toward beauty, toward joy. And yet, it makes operating in the material realm really challenging at times. So there's also a lot of ongoing complexity there. And it feels important to be in that paradox and to grapple with it.
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