Intro
Just like when I wrote my first book, Journey Into the Soul, I didn’t start this second one with a clear outline, but I have learned from experience that journeys that are perfectly mapped out seldom teach us anything. Nor do they ever turn out as expected. So my approach was to jump in and see where the experience would lead me.
Again I found a book speaking to me, as insights and feelings hidden in the deep chambers of my heart announced readiness to see the daylight. Listen I did. Working for days and sometimes nights, I felt alive with an energy and passion so powerful, I never tired of writing, loving every keystroke and step, no matter how much commitment and patience it required. Clear to me was that I was honoring my gifts and that my heart was ready to share many of its stories, each one opening it up a little bit more.
I could only hope and trust that if I was willing to surrender, to lend all my heart and soul to my hands, then these pages would come alive with a world of words connecting me to you. For that is my task, dear reader, to struggle with the cocooned caterpillar, so that you can join the butterfly as it rises to its fullest flight, on a quest for truth that never ends. In my view, that is the essence and magic of life; that we transform to our most beautiful true self, and thereby express our greatest potential. Such was the experience I had with a dear old man who shared with me more than words could ever capture.
I remember it all so well. The day was November 12, 2015. Through a mysterious envelope, I was beckoned to a nearby park, where I met him on a lonely bench. Our initial conversation about life’s unexpected twists and turns was odd, intense, and deeply moving. The man, who had introduced himself simply as D, spoke with a mysterious blend of tenderness and power that forged an instant heart connection between us. Throughout our encounters that followed, our bond became so strong and familiar that many times I was content to just sit in silence with him and see what unfolded. In fact, it was these moments I have come to cherish the most.
He revealed to me a timeless understanding, and in doing so brought me back to what I had lost: a clear sense of my own heart. D was peaceful, compassionate, and he inspired me to attain a mastery of life he had long since achieved. He was a bright light of love, peace, and humor, and his wisdom went far beyond the borders of conventional understanding and reason. During our times together, he shook the walls I had rebuilt so diligently across the path to my essence. He encouraged me to keep an open mind and never stop questioning my convictions and beliefs, to remain curious about life’s mysteries, and to involve my heart and soul completely in whatever I was doing, yet attach to nothing. There was so much to explore, to learn and, maybe most of all, to unlearn. Looking back now, I can see all this was necessary to help me tear down old mental structures and build a new foundation on the pillars of the heart.
Dear reader, as you know best yourself, words have no meaning until they become alive through personal experience and understanding. Each of us is unique, and everything we see, think, and feel depends on our awareness and perspective; there is no right and wrong here. True wisdom arises in a mind not mired in foggy conclusions, but open, spacious, and willing to fly to unknown heights and reach ever higher levels of clarity. However, the path of self-enquiry is not always an easy one. It is much easier to cling to what we think we know than it is to open ourselves to the possibility that we are only living an illusion we have chosen to believe.
While the mind may lead us along a seemingly safe road, the heart often urges us to take the road less traveled. And it is on this path from the head to the heart where the magic unfolds. There is nothing to lose, for what we leave behind is who we are not, and what is left is the essence of who we truly are — an untarnished jewel of love and light shining in its pure magnificence.
I trust that by going on a journey through this book with me, you will come face to face with your innermost being, and that this experience will continue to live within you long after you have finished the last sentence. Not so much because of the intellectual understanding of what is written, but because the energy contained in the words has fallen into your heart-space, where it casts a light on your own truth and awakens the wisdom of your soul. Embrace the silence and listen to the fierce whisper of your heart. In this sacred stillness, the answers you hear will not be mine, nor anyone else’s, but yours only. So keep your mind and heart wide open, and turn the next page. Come with me. The quest is about to begin.