The ever-endearing story of The Wizard of Oz has been a life long friend and teacher for me. I learned years ago in my clinical training that if there is a fairy tale, story, book, or movie that has particularly captured and sustained your attention, it is because it points to an archetypal pattern that is important to the emergence of your Soul. I have at various times identified with the different individual characters, and the myth as a whole is as powerful a metaphysical lesson as anything termed a scripture.
At this time in my Soulful evolution, I am feeling into the comical yet empowering image of the so-called cowardly lion. Through all of his tears and fearful meanderings, the lion’s innate courage is integral to the unfolding of the story, and also to the saving of Dorothy in a dire and doom-filled situation. His love for her and for his fellow Oz-sojourners is what compelled him to move through his fear and take courageous action.
It reminds me that courage isn’t about not feeling fear. Courage is about feeling and embracing the fear and taking inspired actions anyway. When we have the spiritual musculature to be able to accept, love, and embrace ourselves in our fearfulness, that love propels us through the fear and into eventual transcendence. Fear is never an enemy. Fear is actually often a sign that we are moving out of the familiar and into the unknown of a broader possibility. If we always stay with what feels safe we never really grow. If we always cling to the status quo, we withhold ourselves from evolving and expanding. The fear may well be offering caution, but it also is urging us to proceed beyond the perceptual boundaries that are energetically and soulfully being pushed. Comfort is not a reliable barometer for sacred maturation. We can be so addicted to feeling good that we miss the wisdom that is hiding in the suppressed emotional discomfort.
The English word courage is actually derived from the Latin word for heart. The heart is the seat of courage, and it is in listening to the heart that courage is activated and utilized. It is when we embrace our fears that we courageously free our love. This indeed is the path of courage. We may like the lion pursue our path with fearful tears and quaking diminutive advances. But proceed we must. Our Soul is calling us out of the limited past. It is longing to show us that the power we are seeking has been within us all along. We have always had the wisdom, the heart, and the courage needed to move along our perfect path of unfoldment. Sure it can be scary. It is bound to be messy at times. There will be tears- that is a sign that our heart is activated and healing is occurring. We will at times inch forward nervously holding our tail within our trembling hands. That is the time to go deeply within to the home of the heart, and to allow the courage of our Sourced Self to lead the way. Step by step we move forward. We never know what truly lies ahead. There will be munchkin thoughts and wicked witch fears. The world can be a scary place indeed. But though we are in this world we are not of it. We have never left the Beloved embrace of our Source. Our fearfulness is contained within that embrace. And from that countenance our courage comes.
So take heart my friends. Literally be in your heart. Cry when you need to cry, and feel into the fearfulness so that you finally may be free. Be the lion-hearted journeyer you are in this wondrous dream of time and space. The wizard is always there inside. Allow your love of life to truly save the day. You have always had all of the courage you need. It is right within your sacred heart. Let your heart indeed be your home. And remember; there is no place like home.
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