Raison d’être

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”
― Rumi

In the deep quiet of the mind, there is a knowing. Within the stillness, there are answers. The questions intuit themselves and peace covers all like a warm blanket. Love reigns supreme and shines brighter than the imagination can comprehend.

This world we’ve created has made it incessantly difficult to to find this space, even though it merely resides within. There is no silence, the demands on our time and resources appear never-ending, and our ego wages war tirelessly directly in the path of our enlightenment.

I traveled 4,500 miles to find the silence, from California to the heart of Taray, Sacred Valley in the Cuzco region of Peru. Surrounded by Shamans and Andean Priests, as well as a group of new friends forever deeply rooted in my heart, I found the stillness that allowed me to listen. Really listen.

It hurt.

I was slapped in the face by all the decisions I’ve made, a lifetime of egotistical selfishness fueled by nefarious actions for the common good of not even one soul. I was shown the pain I’ve inflicted without thought. I was shown the truth of the dark perceptions I’d held close and used to form my identity. In the shadows I confronted myself, ripping away the years of loathing, doubt and suffering as so much gauze stuffed deep into an old, festered wound.

It healed.

Inside the depths of truth, I saw things through new eyes. No longer was I bound by the veils that my twisted ego had shrouded me with. I saw my parents, sister, friends – each with their own veil, each with their own demons to mitigate. Our interactions were no longer bound to the senseless rules of mere interpretation. I was shown forgiveness. I was shown what I could not have seen even if reason and knowledge had presented itself, because ego would not allow it.

I was shown Love.

It was through that Love that I realized I have always carried it with me, deep within the stillness. It’s the reason I started Encounter Soul. It’s the reason I’ve reached out to you week after week, in hopes of raising some good vibes and elevating us to a higher level – one that transcends the daily bustle of life to reintroduce actual Life.

We are meant to Live, not merely survive. We are meant to find passion in helping others, however that looks to each of us. I intend to follow the path that I found in the mountains of Peru. I will no longer allow myself to be driven along with the so-called herd. I pray one day there is no longer a “herd”, but a force of awakened humanity who will reshape and redefine this world back into the beauty that we lost so long ago. I will be a part of that force.

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