Transcendence - A Journey To Your Soul
To transcend is to travel beyond the ordinary; to surpass the expected; or to be limitless. Come with me as I take you on a journey to your soul.
I was born seeking. I found tradition, convention, and norms boring. I knew there was something more. But what was it? And where was it?
The seed of enlightenment sparked my soul one day in high school as an urge to move to California. Aside from my first love of horses, which found me, this longing was the first palpable recognition of my soul's calling.
Sometimes our soul calls us to seek, and other times we are sought. This is the yin and yang of the Soul and of all creation.
The journey to California was a rugged and winding path. My parents didn't want me to attend college so far away, so first I went south to Nashville. Then back to Philly, until the call to San Diego quickly resurged and I followed, then San Francisco, Bali, Australia, back to Philly again, San Diego again, Sydney, and then back to San Diego another time.
After all those travels - hellos, goodbyes, beginnings, endings, discoveries, and reconciliations, I still hadn't found exactly what I was looking for. I had picked up many treasures along the way, but was I missing something obvious? And when the urge came up again to pick a new place on the map to find out, instead, for the first time, I decided to stay.
Transcendence begins in that moment you stop seeking without and start seeking within. You choose to explore beyond your usual boundaries of comfort, routine, tendency, and habit. You let go of reason, practicality, and logic and choose guidance by feeling emotion and listening to your heart. And part of learning to feel and listen is to face, mourn, grieve, and heal all that you were unconsciously avoiding along the way.
Transcendence leads you from pain or suffering to beauty, vulnerability, and satisfaction - not based on outcome, but based on the truth that you live and choose by. In day to day life, transcendence bypasses the ego in decision making - for example, from I am a good person or I am a bad person to I am me. Transcendence eliminates judgement - for example, from I should or I shouldn't to this is what I desire. And transcendence necessitates commitment - for example, from I love you if you do, think, or believe like me (conditional love) to this is how I feel regardless of your reciprocity (unconditional love).
In order to transcend into the extraordinary you must reconnect with your raw wild nature. You must lessen the grip of the ego and harness the mind to befriend your heart. You must choose not from fear, but from love. And you must practice truth. There, you will meet your soul.