Stepping Stones

Behind the Curtain - Consciousness v. Escapism

This stage of the spiritual journey is represented by the sixth chakra. The sixth chakra is located in the center of the forehead, is indigo in color and is symbolically represented by the “third eye”—the eye of the soul. The third eye represents the marriage of the right and left brain, the intuition and the intellect, the masculine and feminine ways of knowing and experiencing the world. The power of the sixth chakra is consciousness, and its shadow is escapism. The sixth chakra allows us to see the whole of things, bringing together our inner world of intuitive knowing with our outer world of logic and reason. The sixth chakra asks us to trust our inner wisdom together with the outer knowledge we have gained in life, and not to escape into illusions and fantasies that disempower us in our spiritual journey.

At this stage in the journey we are called to see all of life with the eye of the soul. The eye of the soul allows us to see beyond the people and the events in our life and to harvest the spiritual truths that are the fruit of our life experiences. When we watch our life with the inner wisdom of the sixth chakra, we see the events of our life as opportunities to come into greater consciousness and to withdraw from the external battles that represent our internal struggles. When we hit this stage of our spiritual life we use our intuition to draw back the curtain as we look more deeply at our life experiences, and we begin to ask these questions: What is the spiritual lesson in this experience? What hidden part of myself needs to come into greater awareness? What old wounds of my life are asking for time, attention and healing? How can I act from my deeper more authentic Self as I make choices to move through this experience as an opportunity to grow and evolve?

If we forget that life is a series of spiritual lessons and take the illusions too literally and concretely, the wizards and witches of our fantasies will steal away all the power we were meant to incarnate. If we begin watching our life through the eyes of our soul and trusting our inner wizard, we will become more of who we are truly meant to be and will find that life becomes a more gracious and joyful experience.

Weekly Stepping Stones

Think of a challenging experience you are working through in your life and journal about these questions: What is the spiritual lesson in this experience? What hidden part of myself needs to come into greater awareness? What old wounds of my life are asking for time, attention and healing? How can I act from my deeper more authentic Self as I make choices to move through this experience as an opportunity to grow and evolve?