DYING TO BE REBORN
RUDY AND KELLY CASTRO
To be reborn, we must be willing to die. Not necessarily a physical death, as we have died many times on our spiritual path. After all, it is not US that is dying, rather a part of us that no longer serves or that is in alignment with our truest form.
This process can feel so scary uncertain and impossible. It requires deep surrender to the unknown and a letting go of what we have attached ourselves to. One of the most important components of this process is grieving, even if these people, characteristics, behaviours are completely dysfunctional. When something dies, the natural human response is to mourn, yet we have conditioned ourselves away from this process.
Our culture has become so distracted and one of the most powerful experiences of who and what we are has been lost. Many of us are taught not to cry, that big feelings are unacceptable, that we should get over things and move on, and that there is way too much to “do” and way too little time. Well, we are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS. We are designed to feel and when we silence our pain, we accidentally silence our joy. We get so wrapped up in our daily routine that we lose sight of what has meaning and value in our relationship to ourselves and in our relationships with others.
There is a wonderful prophecy from the Hopi Elders written June 8, 2000.
“You have been telling people that this is the 11th hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. And there are things to be considered…
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside of yourself for your leader.
Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our head above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the one Wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ‘struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
This is important to read and to understand in a time such as this. Ask yourselves these questions. Look at your life. Are you fully living? Are you connected to yourself? Are you living your purpose? Are you aware of your purpose? Are there parts of you that would serve to let go of? Relationships that would serve to let go of? Are you in celebration of life? We are being asked to rise as a collective and it will require grieving that in which we have been holding onto in multiple areas.
There are parts of self to release that may feel scary because these parts have kept us “safe”, in hiding, or protected. The masks we wear, the behaviours that keep us out of our pain (food, sex, alcohol, drugs, work, etc), the beliefs and stories we have about ourselves. All of these deserve attentive awareness, love, compassion and space – to be released.
There are relationships that we hold onto long after the expiration date. Why? There could be many reasons – some we are aware of and some require deeper investigation. Does this person represent safety in some way for me? Does this person remind me of a familiar feeling that I had in my earlier years, even if it is painful? Am I afraid there won’t be anyone better than this for me? Am I so afraid of being alone? This is important work to do and will help to set us free if we can discover the attachment and release.
There are other relationships that may need time to grieve so that they themselves may be reborn. We have gone through many deaths in our own marriage. Who we were when we met is not who we are today. We have walked through grieving our past relationships with one another, sometimes facing the uncertainty of whether or not we would be together on the other side. We understand how scary this feels, and why in partnership it may feel easier to not look or try to hold on to a previous version of what the relationship has been. This holding on does not serve anyone. It keeps everyone stuck in patterns of behaviour that keep us away from everything that would allow us to experience true freedom. The saddest part is that we are conditioned to feel comfortable being enslaved. To trauma, to routine, to systems. Most of us don’t even know what could be possible if we started to take an honest look at our lives followed by rigorous action to transform and transcend who we have known ourselves to be.
We have let go of so much. We have grieved deeply. In this, we have created space for so much joy and daily living that makes us feel like we are living in a dream. We sometimes look at one another and ask “is this even real?? How can life be THIS good?!” The answers are YES it is real, and life can be this good when we take those leaps that feel impossible, and almost like we might die. Because we do die, and then, one more time – we are reborn.
