--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ************************************************** > > Your stallion trots on the sllppery ice, > over deep-frozen and nearly-frozen water. > > When you move toward the beauty of a new lover, > be careful that your secret legs > don't scatter and fall! > > **************************************************
Coleman chose a line from this one as the title of his book of translations of the Turquoise Bee's songs. Good choice, IMO. It captures the precarious nature of the path of the spiritual seeker who chooses to seek outside of a lineage. Lineages are comforting. You're surrounded by all these folks who believe that the lineage holders had a clue, and that as a result some cluefulness has been bestowed on them. To stray outside the boundaries of a spiritual lineage is...uh...a little less comforting. Take a theoretical situation; you've been in a spiritual lineage for decades, and now the lineage holder is gone. What's a seeker to do? Do they continue in the lineage, even if they don't have the same degree of respect for the new lineage holders as they did for the previous ones? Or do they do the cosmic two-step and shift their alleg- iance to a whole new lineage? Or, far less comfort- ing, do they strike off lineage-less, in search of their OWN path? I guess I'm fascinated this week by Door Number 3. And I'm suggesting that it isn't really as scary as some have been led to believe. There are a few examples of former lineagists here on FFL who, for one reason or another, have struck off on their own, and who no longer rely on someone else to show them the way. Instead they're finding their own Way. I'm not advocating any of the three doors. They lead wherever they lead, and each seeker is free to choose which of them appeals most to him or her. I'm just suggesting that Door Number Three isn't nearly as scary as some would have you believe. And, based on the example of the folks here who have chosen to walk through it, there may be some benefits to forging your own path, rather than following the well-worn path of another. Just keep your secret legs beneath you, and you'll be fine.
