Travelling Taras
Tara on Tour
Having placed the fifth Tara last week, there is now a shift taking place in terms of how the pilgrimage will proceed. The ground for this was laid a few weeks ago when the "I am not just me" realisation opened the door for others to become an integral part of this journey. It looks as if the next few Taras will be travelling to different parts of the world - with different people, all of whom have a connection with Tara and whose reason for travelling is aligned to her essence and activity.
I am hoping that each person will also write an article about their particular journey and that this can be included in the blog.
My stepfather and mother have taken the sixth Tara to Australia.. Allan will have given his lecture by now and his intention was to leave this Tara - who represents the "increasing of activities", in particular enrichment through the increasing of eloquence, intelligence, knowledge, etc. Since the conference in Sydney is a gathering of some of the world experts involved in the study of the brain, this seems very appropriate indeed!
The seventh Tara - Tara of Indestructible Protection - has gone with Rob Parry to a new community outside Seattle in the American North-West. This Tara protects from volcanoes, meteors, hailstorms in the external world, and from desire, envy and hatred within the mind. Rob's intention was to climb a 1400 ft volcano and leave Tara at its summit, but it may be too late in the year to make that trip, so we'll see where she ends up and what particular journey they make together.
The eighth Tara - Tara protecting from Politics - is going with Sara Trevelyan to Tibet. This Tara protects from oppression and tyranny through government and leadership, from the kind of suffering many people suffer at the hands of dictators. After the terrible atrocities committed in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution when China moved in to claim the country as their own, killing, torturing, raping and maiming thousands whilst destroying monasteries, palaces, statues, scriptures - as much of the Tibetan culture and way of life as they could - it is significant that one of the Taras returns to her homeland. Sara is going on a 3-week pilgrimage and, with her own strong and active commitment to peace and to alievating suffering in the world, is very much the right person for this particular mission.
The ninth Tara - Tara protecting from Weapons - is going to Russia with my friend Natalia, when she returns home at the end of the month.
The tenth Tara - Tara protecting from Thieves - is sitting with me now; she may be going to India but at the moment this one isn't certain. So I'll say no more.
The expansion of the pilgrimage and the project in this way feels very appropriate and both liberating and joyful. More inclusive and more shared. Interestingly, the lessening of ownership, of "self", that has perhaps been forced by the recognition of limits, is a curious feeling. On the one hand, from the point of view of the project, and I think the "real me" it's joyful and heart-warming. From the point of view of the "Anna-self" it's threatening. Simply because I grabbed onto this project as some kind of salvation: from the devastating losses of the year and from the inability to gain control and restructure my life at that point. Mixing ego with spirituality is inevitable I think while the ego has such an unconscious hold still, but i can also see how ridiculous it is. Using spirituality to bolster the ego, however subtlely, is going to produce flawed actions, and a lot of confusion. The best one can hope is that consciousness gradually dawns anyway, and the ego is weakened in the process.
So, this morning, when I awoke with the familiar heart palpitations and surge of anxiety, I looked more directly at what the mind was reacting to. What I "saw" was a void, an abyss, a great chasm of nothingness. Into which I am called - and to which I am reacting. With fear. Within the Void I can sense clear light, clarity, boundlessness - which is going to obliterate all the "past" that I have been grieving the loss of whilst hanging onto at the same time. Can I let go into that? Can I really trust and surrender to it? It's a precious opportunity - to go in and experience it, knowing it is probably the only direction to go in if something new is going to emerge from the ashes of the past. Something really new. I don't think it's actually time to physically die just yet, and so form is still relevant..... and so it's better to surrender to the Void and let go rather than to hang on to the sides and be in a state of paralysed tension!
Hmmmmmmmm.... watch this space!
Having placed the fifth Tara last week, there is now a shift taking place in terms of how the pilgrimage will proceed. The ground for this was laid a few weeks ago when the "I am not just me" realisation opened the door for others to become an integral part of this journey. It looks as if the next few Taras will be travelling to different parts of the world - with different people, all of whom have a connection with Tara and whose reason for travelling is aligned to her essence and activity.
I am hoping that each person will also write an article about their particular journey and that this can be included in the blog.
My stepfather and mother have taken the sixth Tara to Australia.. Allan will have given his lecture by now and his intention was to leave this Tara - who represents the "increasing of activities", in particular enrichment through the increasing of eloquence, intelligence, knowledge, etc. Since the conference in Sydney is a gathering of some of the world experts involved in the study of the brain, this seems very appropriate indeed!
The seventh Tara - Tara of Indestructible Protection - has gone with Rob Parry to a new community outside Seattle in the American North-West. This Tara protects from volcanoes, meteors, hailstorms in the external world, and from desire, envy and hatred within the mind. Rob's intention was to climb a 1400 ft volcano and leave Tara at its summit, but it may be too late in the year to make that trip, so we'll see where she ends up and what particular journey they make together.
The eighth Tara - Tara protecting from Politics - is going with Sara Trevelyan to Tibet. This Tara protects from oppression and tyranny through government and leadership, from the kind of suffering many people suffer at the hands of dictators. After the terrible atrocities committed in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution when China moved in to claim the country as their own, killing, torturing, raping and maiming thousands whilst destroying monasteries, palaces, statues, scriptures - as much of the Tibetan culture and way of life as they could - it is significant that one of the Taras returns to her homeland. Sara is going on a 3-week pilgrimage and, with her own strong and active commitment to peace and to alievating suffering in the world, is very much the right person for this particular mission.
The ninth Tara - Tara protecting from Weapons - is going to Russia with my friend Natalia, when she returns home at the end of the month.
The tenth Tara - Tara protecting from Thieves - is sitting with me now; she may be going to India but at the moment this one isn't certain. So I'll say no more.
The expansion of the pilgrimage and the project in this way feels very appropriate and both liberating and joyful. More inclusive and more shared. Interestingly, the lessening of ownership, of "self", that has perhaps been forced by the recognition of limits, is a curious feeling. On the one hand, from the point of view of the project, and I think the "real me" it's joyful and heart-warming. From the point of view of the "Anna-self" it's threatening. Simply because I grabbed onto this project as some kind of salvation: from the devastating losses of the year and from the inability to gain control and restructure my life at that point. Mixing ego with spirituality is inevitable I think while the ego has such an unconscious hold still, but i can also see how ridiculous it is. Using spirituality to bolster the ego, however subtlely, is going to produce flawed actions, and a lot of confusion. The best one can hope is that consciousness gradually dawns anyway, and the ego is weakened in the process.
So, this morning, when I awoke with the familiar heart palpitations and surge of anxiety, I looked more directly at what the mind was reacting to. What I "saw" was a void, an abyss, a great chasm of nothingness. Into which I am called - and to which I am reacting. With fear. Within the Void I can sense clear light, clarity, boundlessness - which is going to obliterate all the "past" that I have been grieving the loss of whilst hanging onto at the same time. Can I let go into that? Can I really trust and surrender to it? It's a precious opportunity - to go in and experience it, knowing it is probably the only direction to go in if something new is going to emerge from the ashes of the past. Something really new. I don't think it's actually time to physically die just yet, and so form is still relevant..... and so it's better to surrender to the Void and let go rather than to hang on to the sides and be in a state of paralysed tension!
Hmmmmmmmm.... watch this space!
posted by Anna Howard | 9:07 AM
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