Today, yesterday, tomorrow

They say in order to lead others one must first make the journey him/her self.

In stable times each person is lead through initiation by those elders who know the land and have been through it in their time. Today we face a different situation, our times are not stable and our elders cannot guide us. The challenges we face today are not only different and new- but are a direct result of the action of the previous generations. We are faced with uncharted territory, new problems- and so new rights of passage.   Our generation must go through these on our own strength, discovering the land as we travel, leaning from our own mistakes as well as from those made by others.

It is only as each of us paves his or her way through their own personal initiation can we return to lead others through theirs. This is why we must strive from within our society, not outside it.
Some of us  search for guidance in ‘the old ways’ and though there is much to learn from old civilizations and ancient knowledge, the application of such learnings into the new world around us must still be ours to do and discover.

Some of us try to use the tools of the past, using the means for a new end:

As we stand naked but for our own skins, our own eyes, our own perspectives, and we look upon those who proceeded us in shaping our world. We look, abashed, at their cloths, their tools, their ever so effective ways, and we conceive a thought- if only we had those tools, those cloths, those ways- we would make a better world. And so we dress ourselves with their adornments, we learn to use and apply their tools, we wear their glasses and change our ways. At first, we remember our nakedness beneath these apparatuses, we remember where we started. Though, after some time, these cloths become new skins, these glasses new eyes, and these ways our own perspectives. And so, when we are looked upon by the new generation, those naked and fresh-eyed, their judgment is harsh. For in pursuit of the future’s cause, we have used the paths of the past, so why are we surprised it has led us to the same destination?

No, our way must be different, new, original. We must break through walls by looking from above and seeing them for what they are- constructs that might have been useful once, or are useful for some, but still just walls- not unbreakable truths. We must live in the world, not in a map, be it political, ideological, social or spiritual map. We must reconsider all that has been herald as ‘the state of things’ remembering that not everything thing that is a given must also be taken in.

We must think, sense, act is new and original ways. Would you ask which ways are these? Well, if I could point you to a book, or tell you my own way- it wouldn’t be different or original.
We are now faced with a journey that will lead us to a vision of a new world. And this vision is our main guide. We are the fore-bearers now, the cutting edge in this jungle. We must make our way with little guidance, choosing another, new, direction.

Though we do it on our own we needn’t do it alone. More and more, a movement is growing, people coming together under shared vision with similar grievances. Sharing the burden of the path- finders we can achieve our dreams.