Neti, Neti

"Changing Lead into Gold"

Perhaps it is time for an update lest anyone think that we have sunk in the quagmire of change! Well we have not sunk, but we have changed! The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of reorganizing our lives. With the loss of one of our major accounts we were thrown into what I would call a crisis of re-orientation. It has been a time to re-evaluate and make adjustments. It has been an alchemical fire.

Alchemy is about changing one substance into another. It is a process of transformation. Unfortunately, or so it seems, alchemy involves fire and heat. In order to change the substance of dross into gold, it is necessary to subject it to the element of fire. I can’t say that this is a process that I find comfortable or fun. Indeed, it is painful at times.

It seems that on the spiritual path we are all attracted to the beautiful parts. At times we soar with the Spirit, we hear the gentle voice of God speak to our hearts, we marvel at the wonderful gifts and we delight in the many beauties that mark the path. But so much of the path involves a process of subtraction. I call it making room for Spirit.

It is this particular part of growth that tests, tempers, and tries us. I have not met anyone who enjoys it. But it is necessary in order to remove all that no longer serves us. Through the process of subtraction we are left with only those things that will support us in our return trip to Source. It is neti, neti or nothing, nothing. “I am not this. Nor am I this”.

We so easily identify ourselves as a personality, or a title, or job, or a station in life. We are, in reality, none of these things. What we have forgotten is that we are a spark off the Divine and that our lives are intended to become a reflection of that Divine spark. We lose our way in the quagmire of the material plane and it is only through the alchemical fires of purification that we are able to see more clearly who we are and why we are here.

When we remember that this is what the trials are here to teach us, we can then truly rejoice for we can know that they are working to transform our lead into gold. In the alchemical fire our dross is being turned to gold and we begin to sense more of the spark that is our Divine inheritance. May we each one embrace the nothingness that leads to everything of importance.