Places And Movements

"When I find a Place, I definitely feel the presence of God. Be it alone on a mountaintop, or surrounded by noisy tourists in the dampness of the Roslyn Chapel. It's like no other peace. No other happiness."

The above quote is paraphrased from a recent Facebook entry, and I wanted to pause to reflect on this moment of Zen. There's a certain interconnectedness that binds us all together in the 'Verse. On a molecular level, we all share the same building blocks of our existence. The chair you're seated in, the ground, the trees. We're all related to them, a part of them. They are extensions of ourselves, and we extensions of them. So when we come upon one of these external Places, we are in fact finding the calm within our soul. The eye of the storm, so to speak. With so much distraction and noise surrounding us on a daily basis, finding a Place becomes a necessity (even if we aren't consciously searching for one), so that we may rebalance the self.

However, maybe it's not so much about 'finding' as it is about 'allowing' ourselves to be in that Place. There is no external force exerting its will upon us, no revealing of a special Place for the unworthy. We are the ones who move the chess pieces of our lives. We are responsible for all that is around us. Finding a Place is simply our desire for the soul to take a deep breath and allow itself to be in the moment.

As I stood atop a mountain recently and gazed across the valley below, I allowed myself to be in a Place. I acknowledged the interconnectedness of me to the rustling trees, the warm sun, the silence of the mountaintop. 'God' was not an absentee landlord. 'He' was there as I was there. 'God' is us. We can create these 'places of zen' whenever we see fit, whenever the soul needs to breathe. We don't have to go anywhere. We only have to open ourselves to what is around us. We are not a stray piece of thread, as we often feel, but part of a rich, multicolored tapestry that binds the 'Verse together. Right now many people stand within a Place, yet they can't see it. As quoted from "The Abyss":

"You have to look with better eyes than that."

The Place stays with you when you move, and the only direction you can move in this world is forward. I've been witness to a lot of movement as of late. People have died. Some have gotten a divorce, others got engaged. Forward movement happens, and if you are standing still in your life, then you are not living. You are existing. Given the amazingly short amount of time we have on this planet, one would think we'd all be a bit more motivated in our actions. Sadly, this is not the case, as I see people standing still all the time. I was one of those people, but not anymore. I now move forward. I have wisdom to contribute to the world, stories I want to tell. To not share these ideas and concepts, this imagination, is not to be honorable.

It's not about ego, here. You have to remove that from the equation, regardless of how hard that may seem. I'm not opposed to seeing my name up in lights, or cashing the checks from my screenwriting services, but it's not the driving force. It's a responsibility to share your talents, whatever they may be. To do this unselfishly. This is what keeps you interconnected. This is what moves you forward. Once you have allowed yourself to be in a Place, there is much to hear from the 'Verse. As I moved along the path around the mountain, the trees had this to say:

Give of your time.
Give of your talents.
Give of yourself.

Things aren't really as complex as we make it out to be.

Do not be the rock in the middle of the stream. Be the stream that moves around the rock. When you get to the end of your life, even then don't look back. We can't go back. To do so would be to live in a place that no longer exists.

Keep moving forward. Into the Light. Into the Place.