Once, while on a walk in the woods, long before I attempted to sidestep my work with fear, I came upon a lovely boulder beside a mountain stream. The guides instructed me to sit and meditate, and so I did. They proceeded to tell me that life and the Way, our path, is comparable to this river. They said that there is one path, large, steady, and full and that there are diversions, side routes that can be traveled that branch off of the main path.
When we travel a side path and are looking only at the way beneath our feet it appears that we have veered off and abandoned the main path. However, they went on to say, if we apply expanded perception we can see that up ahead the side path flows along side, and then into, the main path. What had seemed an abandonment of our path was in fact a side trip into an experience of specialized discovery and learning, and we had remained connected with the main path during the journey.
“When we travel a side path and are looking only at the way beneath our feet it appears that we have veered off and abandoned the main path. However, they went on to say, if we apply expanded perception we can see that up ahead the side path flows along side, and then into, the main path."
The guides then told me to open my eyes and to walk alongside the river. I did as instructed and as I approached the flowing water I saw that what had seemed to be the riverbank of the opposite side was actually a small island, with the river splitting on either side. As I followed the water I reached the end of the island and there, rejoining the mighty flow, was the side stream reuniting with the main waters.
It was many years before I experienced the full impact of why the guides had shared this information with me. At the time, I had no idea that I would venture from the route that I had been traveling, or that this example was their reassuring response to a future prayer, a response that I would so desperately need to hear so many years later.
The side path that I ended up taking in life, was both joy and misery. I spent fifteen years on it and because of it I experienced and learned new skills and enhanced others that I otherwise might not have. The side path that I traveled was an experience in struggle. It led me through depression, anxiety, fear, judgement, despair, and anger. I continued to experience insights and bring through messages when the guides instructed, however it was different from experiencing the Divine in the ways that I had prior. I often felt disconnected, reaching, and not finding something solid to grasp onto.
Disconnection from the Divine is an illusion caused by our perception. During the years of struggle, I had often avoided or merely dabbled in what was necessary to free myself from it. What we each need differs, however we find our freedom through similar methods; intention, self-reflection and observation, working through judgements and replacing them with acceptance, opening to receive guidance and listening as it is given, and by taking the step directly before us. As we take one step the next one appears and onward we travel, merging with the main path.