The Heroic Journey: Finding Treasure
Victory isn't found only at the top of the mountain, but also in the dark and the deep
Out of the magical (and frightening) world of childhood, into the wonderful (and frightening) world of adulthood. The quest begins. For what? The basics. A seat at the table. A place in the world. A roof over your head. Relationships. Fun. Meaning. A vocation. Discovery. So much possibility. Treasure to be found. This wonderful human appetite for growth, invention, progress. But it’s not linear. Not all up and up. Just when you think you’ve got this life stuff all handled…
Last week our song-and-delve was about going back to square one. (Or, feeling like you have.) This week our song-and-delve is about the treasure to be found back at square one.
We’re all on our journey, upward we climb
When we start falling, we grab at the sky
But sometimes the falling is it’s own kind o ground
In the depths of square one there’s treasure to be found
We think treasure is to be found at the heights. When I get the job. When I get the relationship. When I have the house. When I create the thing that wants to come through me, and get it out into the world. And that’s true. Great riches lie in those places. But that’s not the subject of this delving. This is about the treasure found in the depths. A treasure of the spirit (which in turn, can resource and sustain us in our material quests.)
In the (above) video I explore the practice of ‘Holding Space.’ This is the key to the treasure. The portal to growth. To the refinement of identity. The strengthening of self through (go figure!) the encounter with the vulnerability of square one. Vulnerability can propel us into either suppressing the felt sense of our upset, or wallowing in it. Holding space is a third option. It’s a whole-hearted contact with our felt sense (emotion and physiology). It’s not indulging in the upset, or smoothing over it, or analysing it to death, or condemning ourselves for it, or justifying it. It’s so much simpler than that. (Which is what makes it challenging to become adept at it.) Check out the video above for the deep dive delve.
Square one has a trap door, leading down to a cave You’ll fine there a dragon, in need of a name, Guarding an underground river that’ll take you where you must go Who knew that heaven could be reached from below