There are people all around us who think that what they see is what is real, who forget that they are beings of light, embodiments of divine energy. Forgetting is easy, it seems, but it hurts so much that once the truth comes to your attention, it becomes harder to ignore. At least, it does for me.

I have long been struggling with what I can only describe as a resistance to accepting this incarnation. For a long time, for example, I had no interest in food. I'd wait until the body started complaining, then eat whatever was closest, easiest, to quiet it, and then move on. That didn't result in a very health-promoting diet, I'll tell you.

I want to float effortlessly through the spirit world, listen for the voice of god, meditate. But I am taking a new approach these days.

I am a householder. I am incarnate, and that is a gift, an experience I chose, and can enjoy. I choose to experience life, grow food, dig in the earth. I choose to engage with other incarnate beings and talk politics, to carve a piece of wood into a tool I can use, to build fire and to extinguish it. I choose to earn money and spend it.

As I study, I see that there have been many seekers and masters who have suggested that the path is only open to those who renounce their home, family, business and other concerns. A householder is seen (with a few exceptions) as someone who chooses earthly experience over spiritual work.

For me, though, I know that it would be easy to walk away, to begin walking and not stop. I have chosen to embrace being a householder, and embrace the path at the same time. I will blend the two, and learn something I can't gain from any book or guru.

Here I go.

I picked up an audio book at the library, Love Is a Fire and I Am Wood: The Sufi's Mystical Journey Home, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, mostly because Sufi teachings have been fitting well for me lately, and audio books fill my hunger at times when I... should... oh, probably be meditating rather than keeping my mind full of... oh nevermind!

A n y w a y , here's what this teacher had to say to me, this morning:

"In order to fly a kite high, you have to have both feet on the ground. This is the tension that allows the kite to fly high. And I knew that that was something I would have to learn, because then my feet were definitely not on the ground. It's something I learned through family life, through having children, through all the difficulties of everyday life."

Apparently I didn't invent the idea of walking this path while grounded. Who'da thought? :-)

Thought for the day: Meditating for ten minutes only takes ten minutes. Meditating for a half-hour only takes thirty. You deserve this gift. (Yes, you. And we are one.)