January 18, 2022
The Gift of Alert Awareness
By Amba Gale
We are all human. Very human.
And we are all imperfect, very imperfect. In fact, perfectly imperfect.
Our very humanity, our very imperfections, our very wounds and vulnerabilities, flailings and failings, crashing on the rocks, and recovering our well – being, thriving through the storm – all are the Great Learnings of our Lifetime. Living through this pandemic consciously, and all that is being wrought, brings us to great trials, Great Sleep-fulness, Great Wake-fulness.
If you have been reading Blog postings for a while, or worked with me, you know how serious I am, how committed I am, what a Stand I am, for being in development, for contributing to the consciousness of the people on earth. My life has been devoted to developing my own, you could say, “spiritual maturity.” I have schooled myself to “catch myself” when my own triggered reactions are at play.
And yet, like all of us, I still “lose it” from time to time.
One night, in December, I did just that. And the anger that overtook me, swallowed up my mind, my heart, and my soul. It was as though my very Being had gone to sleep.
Later, in reviewing what had happened, and asking myself what was missing that my actions were taken so out of reaction, I saw that what was missing was the Alertness that is only given by Presence. And that that is my work: to be Present.
If you are a joy a Joy of Being graduate, you might be interested in a loving and profound retreat by that name, The Art of Living Wakefully.
The morning after my evening episode of “crashing on the rocks,” this fierce poem came through me and I wrote.
When it had completed itself, I found myself gifted with the present of Presence.
The Present of Presence
By Amba Gale
You have learned
your lesson
in the last while,
a December like no other,
when, like an Irish curragh
on a rough sea
as you left one pilgrim island
and rowed to the next,
the boat capsized
and there you were
in the ten – foot waves
and the rough seas,
fighting for your soul.
Yes.
You Saw
what you needed to see:
the power and necessity of Alertness,
of Presence,
without which
you are asleep,
without which
you will flail in the water,
and could, perhaps, even, crash on the rocks underneath you,
and drown forever
in a bad dream of your own making.
Never forget
the sharp and jagged
rocks are always there, underneath
the surface of the sea,
and the sea is waiting
to swallow you up
wholeheartedly
in its cold and frightening water.
Only
With Presence
and Alertness, the bride of Presence,
can you row your little sturdy, wooden boat
to your far shores.
Imagine
that the madness comes upon you once again,
followed by Fear and Desperation.
Only, this time,
Presence arrives
at your door, knocking,
asking to be let in,
like a great gift,
a constant guest,
a Teacher, a Spirit,
out of time for all time.
Accept
this gift gladly.
Presence is your Path to Peace.
