Awakening Destiny in Aloneness

The question of destiny still lives with me. Melissa and I went to the
theater today to watch "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a movie
which focused on the experience of aging in reverse--younging, I
suppose. What struck me was the heart of the film, the intensity of its
empathy and warmth and, most importantly, its provocative questions. It
struggled with the question of knowing one's destiny and of knowing how
very clear and also how very vague it can be. Part of what makes
destiny at times a struggle are the unknown components which come along
the way, and the reality that we are alone in our destiny. We can have
partners and companions but our destiny is our own. It is tied in to
the world picture, yes, and it relates to the karmic experience of the
entire community but only I can manifest my own destiny.

When
Benjamin Button muses in the film, "I will go out of this world the
same way I came in, alone and with nothing," it struck me not how
unique this statement was but how true it was. I've heard it before but
today, it made sense in a new way. Being alone is an experience which
is necessitated by our impulse to connect. In our moment of birth and
our moment of death--these transitory phases--we experience a silent
moment, a profound moment, of our own solitude and the possibilities
which exist in that instance. And then, in a snap of the fingers, the
moment is gone and we are connected to everyone, every life before us,
every life after us, around us and through us. But that moment of
aloneness is critical to our destiny. It is in this moment that we
initiate and the process of initiation is intriguing because it implies
a wisdom, a "knowledgeability...as evidenced by the possession of
knowledge" that begins something.

We initiate our life's
destiny and we begin in the wisdom of what we are to do, we forget it,
must remember and must work towards it. So destiny, the process of
developing and growing in our selves out of this moment of aloneness
which clears the roads for our very existences is powerful. Where else
are instances which mimic these transitory moments and what happens in
those? How do those reflect on our destiny? I do not know, but what I
know is that to initiate is to follow a wisdom, an inner knowing, of
something perhaps inexplicable and complex, or simple and powerful.
Either way, that moment is incredible and is one for us to reconnect
with in the moments of our darkest hours, when we feel all alone, to
see what happens in the space of possibility.