If there is nowhere safe, how do we live with the terror of the sense of being annihilated at any moment? When we have been taught safety comes from something outside our own power, we get used to looking outward to ensure our safety. What happens, when one begins to understand that our lives and deaths are of our own design at an unconscious level, is that the issue of safety is one of the first challenges to be faced. Especially if one has been subject to heinous and brutal acts in their lives, it is hard to believe we can be involved in such a design - let alone be in charge of our own safety. Besides that, there are thousands of years of this framing of human existence as being an origin outside of ourselves that has been contrary to such an idea. Even if you don't believe in reincarnation, there is the genetic fingerprint to consider. We have baggage.
One of the first things one learns when trying this idea of personal autonomy on for size is that there is a very deep investment in being rescued. It was promised to us for over 2000 years. It has deep roots into romantic thinking. Anyone that gets to live into an old age realizes the weakness of romance, however, when it is compared to a lifetime of loving. Romance and pretty stories are obviously not the center of what holds healthy relationships together, for instance. Outing what is in our hearts does and it is often dark.
When using the lens of autonomy, one can use the archetype of the hero to apply it to the self. We can be our own heroes. If you look at the modern hero stories that are so popular, there is one type of format that seems to surface. The hero takes responsibility for something they must face and then they step into a role as required and become powerful in someway. They don a costume and with their great and awesome powers to fight evil or some nefarious monster that threatens the innocent. Consider all of these characters are parts within each of us. How does one use those heroic powers internally to create an external sense of safety?
What I have found is that there is not ONE answer for this. My experience has been in waves of taking a greater responsibility in understanding my personal intimate thinking. It was not only isolating the patterns in using this model but also accepting that there are some beliefs that actually dictate how every moment I live happens when I deny I have a say in what happens. Rewiring this belief system was but the first monster. There is no cookie cutter journeying with this part of the self because it is a process of individuation and it must be discovered as one goes. It is a choose your own adventure platform. It will be different for everyone how these issues of safety and autonomy are achieved but they are achievable. It is just not to be believed and ham strung by a part within us that doesn't believe that it is possible.
Once a person understands that there is no fear in death and suffering - or in other words,
a need to ensure ones safety - one, ironically, automatically becomes a dog whistle and is over the radar of random trouble. The vibration of a person can dictate a person's safety. The vibration is attained and maintained by a commitment to the value of the self in understanding that life can end at any moment and being okay with that. Most people do not experience these kinds of heroic resonances but the ones who do - for instance those who have been in battle or emergency situations - know what I'm speaking about. What I'm saying about safety here is keeping grounded and maintaining a higher vibration than the action around a person creates safety but it comes from within. This doesn't mean no one's going to die or have accidents or be taken advantage of. It means that a person will not abandon their sovereignty under duress, which is an important goal in living a life of quality on earth as a human. This allows for the lesson (of courage or cowardice, etc.) to manifest. This is not something that can be stolen or burgled.
I assume that Hafiz speaks here about how a thief or a lower vibratory being cannot touch what is sacred because of this dynamic. It doesn't exist in the violator's reality. There are only barking dogs. Yes...that old Jedi trick is employed energetically. What is of value to us is what is cultivated by us and is always within our power. Our lives are a sacred sanctuary. Nothing that is essential of our lives can be taken unless we give it away or abandon it.
Music: Of course...that enlightened being and conduit for brilliant art, David Bowie, must be represented here in this song, Heroes. This charming performance was done in 2002, twenty five years after its debut. Like scripture, it lives on as a classic song in our hearts.
We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer just for one day
Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, just for one day
The original post in this series of poems by Hafiz (including an addendum regarding the authenticity of these poems) can be found here.
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz and translated by Daniel Ladinsky can be purchased here.