A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine. May's Theme: "Balance"
Volume 4 Issue 4 ISSN# 1708-3265

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Illuminations Aleesha Stephenson About the Cover Jennifer Danner Striking a Balance Local Actions Have Global Consequences David Suzuki PhD Financial Alchemy: Changing Your Relationship with Money Morgana Rae, CPCC, MRC, MPNLP A Balance between the Material and Spiritual Worlds Douglas De Long Awake, Aware, and Weddy Rev. Cheryl Jewett Four-fold Balance Toria Betson Magic Hour Dj Brown Overcoming Our Blockages to Healing Aleesha Stephenson Tarot Visualization Emma Sunerton-Burl Being Mindful Janet Alston Jackson Technically Tarot Jeannette Roth Pet-sense Jean Hofve DVM Walk Your Talk Aleesha Stephenson Wyrd Lynx John Sacelli Lifetalks Dawn Baumann Brunke Meditate a Moment Featuring: Aleesha Stephenson Beyond the Indigo Children The New Children and the Coming of the Fifth World P.M.H. ATAWATER, L.H.D The Myths and Gods of India Allain Danielou Chi Self-Massage The Taoist Way of Rejuvenation Mantak Chia The Egyptian Oracle Maya Heath

"Here and now, boys," chanted the bird. "Here and now… "

Aldous Huxley, 'Island'

I have often found the concept of the "middle road" to be very helpful in life. Although entire books have been written about this Buddhist and Taoist philosophy (sometimes called the Middle Path), the general gist of the view is about finding balance within oneself - right here, right now.

Some think following the Middle Path means never straying to any one extreme. How boring! We are here to experience the fullness of life, after all. And what fun is life without some juicy diversions to an extreme or two?

My take on walking the middle road is that it helps remind us of the underlying balance within the ups and downs, highs and lows, and shaky turnarounds of our life. This balance is not so much about outward appearances as where we are inside ourselves. In this sense, the middle road is like a compass bearing - a point of reference which allows us to re-member who we really are inside. Call it an instant tap into that expansive Buddha-field within.

We all know it's a wise thing to flow with the cycles and currents of life. And, it is easy to feel a loving connection with all beings when we are in the groove of a flow that we enjoy. When we move in balanced accord with life, everything is great.

But what happens when things are not going our way? What happens when we lose our balance and the currents of life seem to dash us on the rocks? How do we stay centred in being when there are so many things to divert us, so many ways to lose our centre? How can we find balance when all we seem to be doing is running into walls and obstacles?

"Slow down," advised my old canine buddy Zak, when he first heard me thinking such questions. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts - that is what I hear when I tune into humanity at large. Even to those whose thoughts are directed toward working on higher aspects of oneself, I say: thoughts, thoughts, thoughts!  

Your thoughts build the very walls you ask about. The problem is not the walls, because the walls do not exist; the problem is the thoughts of "walls" and "running into walls."

When you are quiet and centred all is well. Is this not true? How can anything not be well when you are quiet and connected to All That Is? What I hear you asking, at a deeper level, is how to "be" in this place of centredness throughout one's day?

One answer is found in continually moving back to that space of quiet and centredness. In truth, you never left, though you often get caught up within the illusion that you have. What we are really talking about is what you call 'enlightenment,' and much of what I have to say is no different from what many human masters of enlightenment have said.

On practical levels, the best suggestion I have is to consciously return your thoughts to the place of quiet centredness. It will become habit after some time. And soon you will begin to operate from a much larger field of feeling, thought, and emotional creativity. It is all about opening to the fullness of who you are.  

The most important thing I can tell you is to trust yourself more. To walk your 'middle road' with courage and an open heart. Become the wide-eyed child, but grasp firmly the hand of the wise and ancient one. Join the inner child with the wise shaman, the rascal urchin who knows the way of the streets with the old woman who feeds the birds and speaks their language, and so on… the artist with the scholar, the scientist with the magician. As you join and integrate these selves, you open to a clearer consciousness of the fullness of your multidimensional self.  

And how do you do that? By coming back to the place of quiet; the space of calm being and centredness. By returning to the flow. That place is the open heart, the centre of the diamond, the core of the sun, the eye in the sky, the tail that wags the dog! It is the flow through which all selves spring. Becoming conscious of this is coming home to spirit in the flesh, and operating from and with all levels on this earth.

In many ways, finding a home in quiet centredness is the same as attuning ourselves to that state of inner calm in which we are able to communicate with animals, nature, and all the world. It is awakening to the balance which is always present - even when surface appearances seem otherwise.

Deep inside ourselves, we all remember how to balance. It is about letting go of assumptions, letting go of trying to do, or even trying to be. It is about opening to the sacred space of allowing life - with all her wondrous surprises - to live through us.

When we feel that flow of balanced connection within our heart and mind and bones and soul, we are aligned with Centre Being. We are not only walking the middle road, we are the Middle Road: everything right here, right now. In balance.

Dawn Baumann Brunke is the author of Animal Voices: Telepathic Communication in the Web of Life and Awakening to Animal Voices: A Teen Guide to Telepathic Communication with All Life. Both books explore the deeper nature of our relationship with animals, nature, each other and ourselves. For more, see Dawn's website.

Be sure to read the reviews of her books in our May 2005 Issue and our January 2006 Issue.

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