This is the story of enlightenment. There are different versions of the story, but the underlying process is the same.
The Soul
There is a world that lies beneath darkness and pain, a world untouched by fear. It is a world of immense beauty, one that offers a different kind of knowledge from that of the rational mind. It is a gentle, peaceful world, powerful beyond measure.
Most of us have experienced this world without realising it: in the light of the setting sun; when peace comes without warning; feeling at one with the mountains and trees. We experience this world not because it exists outside, but because it is within us. It is the world of the soul. Soul is our essence, our real self. It is what we are.
The Mind
We come into the world as soul within a physical body, but during the process of socialisation we move away from our essence as soul and take up residence in the mind. There´s nothing wrong with the mind, it serves many purposes, but when we live from the perspective of the mind we become shut off from the soul. To be shut off from the soul is unnatural for us. It´s painful. We try different ways of coping, but the solution to our pain is not found in the mind. To be free, we have to return to the soul.
Returning to the Soul
Returning to the soul starts with a heartfelt wish, a wish to be our self – to be what we really are – free of all the things that keep us restricted and bound. We have to want it so much that it becomes our highest wish.
When we are ready, something suddenly happens. Often, it´s something dramatic: an accident, an illness, a divorce, something that breaks us down and turns our life upside down; where everything we thought we knew about ourselves is shattered into a thousand pieces; where we wander, lost, in darkness and pain until, one day, out of the blue, we discover that we have returned to the light, the light that is our essence, our real self, soul.
From Return to My Soul, and my upcoming book, The Magnificent Soul.
Copyright 2022 Gabrielle Bergan