The Wizard of Us by Jean Houston

Author:Jean Houston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books / Beyond Words

7

FALLING ASLEEP IN Fields of Poppies

From a high tower in her dark stone castle, the Wicked Witch observes the progress of Dorothy and her friends through the magic of her crystal ball. She sees how close they are to reaching their objective and decides to cast a spell over the group so they can never make it. With mortar and pestle and a wave of her bony green hands, she conjures up a nasty potion: “Something with poison in it, but attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell”—lush fields of poppies that stretch out in all directions as far as the eye can see. The beautiful flowers appear directly in front of the travelers and are so thick that they cover the Yellow Brick Road. The witch knows that the poppies will put them to sleep and their journey will end. As the unsuspecting companions race across the field, Dorothy, Toto, and the Cowardly Lion, who are all made of flesh and blood, suddenly become exhausted. They advance more and more slowly until they cannot take a single step more. Overcome, they tumble down amid the flowers to sleep.

This is the danger zone. How many projects have foundered at the threshold of accomplishment because people got lax and lost vigilance? Human beings tend to get sleepy or fall into apathy when they get close to their goals. Why does this happen? What are the things that block us?

It takes a lot of energy to stay on the path, and the diversions of this world are strong. We may feel alone or physically exhausted. It may seem as though we are not making progress fast enough, or we may feel that there’s too much to do. When we feel helpless or hopeless, it is so easy to switch on the television and let the flickering screen take us away. We may immerse ourselves in computer games, rush to the mall to buy something we don’t need, or turn to food or drugs or alcohol for comfort. We slip into our old ways of being because forward motion simply takes too much effort. Our paths are covered with seductive poppies that seem like quick fixes, but in reality are working to neutralize our senses, numb our creativity, and dull our drive.

Many people have woken up, have heard the call to expand internally, and wish to create positive shifts to help the earth and humanity, but they frequently find resistance from others who want their friend, spouse, or coworker to simply go back to sleep and maintain the status quo. When one person changes, the others in relationship with that person must change also, and that can be a problem. The energized person who has outgrown his or her old life template may find that the struggle with others who are not ready to grow in that way is so challenging that it is simply easier to slide back into old patterns rather than continue on the new path. Is there

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.