Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
    like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
    with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

A Donkey Wearing Lion Skin

A donkey dressed in a lion's skin roamed about amusing himself by frightening all the animals he encountered.

Upon meeting a fox, the donkey tried to scare him as well, but the fox heard the donkey's voice, and said, "You would've scared me too, but your braying gave you away."

A parable

Some journeys route from city to city at the speed of a concord. Some enjoy the pleasured breaths of a catamaran cruise. Some snail toot-toot along curvaceous landscapes and some float wind-blown above evergreens. Some take the trail of tears, some the middle passage, some the Jordan River, some the valley of the shadow of death. Whatever their intent, wherever they must go, some are challenged to make a vital difference, to create the new, to resolve a dilemma, to shine a light. Such is their journey.

A massive shift comes when a traveler realizes that the journey is his or her story, and that he himself, she herself, whoever one is, is the story. You are a story. We are stories being played - victors or villains - each portion re-enforced, being retold and replayed before a mirror. You are the story of your world. Our world is a story. It is a story of the universe. Our universe is a story. In part a mystery. A mystery pressing to be solved. To our universe, it is as a story beyond human comprehension and the thrill is on to be comprehended. In the moment of such a massive shift of perspective, that traveler has arrived at a new horizon. Everything changes. Here comes a new creation. [{Take advantage of a MasterClass }]

On my bed, night after night, I sought him whom my soul loves.
I sought him and found him not.

We've seen the circle from the side of wonder, and been through it from there, where its emblems of totality and wholeness and timelessness and perfection and eternity remain unchanged. Many enter the circle from the other side, and find it to be an enclosure, an echo chamber, a trap tricked into endless revolving, a black hole through to never-ending turning, a suffocating churn of inescapable unchangeableness. Within there too is a yin and a yang. Comfortable isolation. Crammed seclusion. A Quiet Place - disconnected. A Restless Mind - assimilated. A space where metaphorical truths are literal lies. The wilderness! Obscurity. Embers where stars once flickered. Chilling. How many sides does a circle have? How deep is its enclave, and how wide? The circle is a remarkable space, peculair from the outside looking in. Having entered, let's dive deeper. But who will make it through? Breathe.

Awareness - Resilience - Growth - Wisdom

Living - from the get go - is strewn with challenges, learnings, setbacks, and victories. Some more pleasant than others, for sure. Along the way we develop patterns. We develop patterns to navigate or deal more readily with variations. Ultimately, some patterns serve better than others. Nevertheless, along the way our patterns become us. Inseparable.

While some patterns or sections of a pattern may have been copied, not all grafted good patterns serve their new hosts smartly. And life continues. We press on. Then one arrives much farther from where one started, perhaps and quite likely right on course along what one dreams for, what one hopes for, what one always wanted, what one is called to, then here comes a moment. Boom. Here, the pattern is not working: your pattern is played out - done-done. Powerless.

Those patterns served us brilliantly time and again. Victory upon victory, perhaps. Climb upon climb. No more. Not here. Those patterns are played out. They don't work here. Perfect them all you might, they no longer serve. Not here. Not there. Not anywhere. They've become a ghost. Haunting. Played out. You are in the wilderness. And must needs go through. This is a peculiar place. You are vulnerable. Stand stil, and you are grounded. So what do you do?

Without awareness, without knowing your patterns are played out, you'll be unaware your journey must needs be through this wilderness. Without that awareness, you are done for. Stuck. There is no going back. Not from here. New skills of resilience are required here. And you are built for it. If you weren't you would never have reached here. Take a deep breath.

This is a peculiar challenge. Embrace it. Here requires new learning: how to thrive through your wilderness. Some suffer in it. The deceiver will haggle and hustle you. The tempter will trouble you. Those outside your wilderness, even in their goodness, will suffer you more, hinder you more, unless you remain focused on what's at hand. These do not know your wilderness. They may quite likely beckon you back to the patterns they are comfortable with, for to them that package of patterns is you, or beckon you into their patterns for to them that package of patterns is awesome, but they are aback of your wilderness, far behind, far back along their journey, and not on the same road as you, and can't see what you see, and not enroute to this glory. You must need thrive on your own for a while. The greatest of the greatest have been through the wilderness - their wilderness - which is this wilderness. And some speak of attending angels. But this is not their story; this is your story. Do you know why? You need to know why. You must needs affirm to yourself why.

You were super back behind the wilderness, before you entered it. That's good news. Don't sit here and wait for a rescue. Many do. And suffer. Here, you are human again. Embrace it. You are meant for this. You've earned this moment. Embrace it. If you weren't meant for this moment, you wouldn't be in this wilderness. No one belongs here more than you. Prepare for progress. It's a new test - a preparation-field REFINED precisely for you alone, enframed to your step up - your next step - a step that requires creativity, for it is to that you are born. Creation is in your DNA. This is your story.

Knowledge vs Wisdom vs Perception

Perception is awareness of your environment and its elements through the senses, an intuitive recognition, insight. It is your power to see what may not be readily evident to some other mind. Your perception is personal to you. It is yours. Another person's perception is personal to that person - not to you. How a person perceives what happened interprets what is. Perception is vital to living life.

Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, not as they are perceived or imagined. Perception is a self-evidence which of necessity some equate to reality. You may have heard it said, perception is reality. For many it is. Their actions reveal so. Can any one progress disregarding perception? In truth, perception is perception and reality is reality. The twain are not equal. Isn't life fascinating?

So there is knowledge. And there is wisdom.

Knowlege is, by definition, facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. It is the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Ignorance constrains. Ignorance is not faith. Faith is not ignorance. Ignorance is handy to the villain. Ignorance is a handicap to the victim. Knowledge is the eye of desire and can become the pilot of the soul. Knowledge is gained by learning.

Wisdom is the quality of having experience + knowledge + good judgment ('good judgment' being "considered decisions', 'sensible conclusions'). Wisdom embodies creativity, curiosity, sensible decision-making, love of learning, and perspective. Wisdom is a gift obtained by diligent searching. Earned.

Perhaps you've heard it said or you've experienced this: "people only see what they are prepared to see." A reality of life is that perceptions - right or wrong - influence everything else one does. Life is an ongoing experience. Things happen. "Without providing for a time of healing and discernment, there will be no hope of living this present moment without a shattering of our common life." Breathe.

Creativity - the ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form. - Britannica

a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship.

tour de force

ILICET - A Time To Begin Again

Don't give a lecture to the one who came for a hug.

* * *

You are

What POWER!

WISDOM

Experience + Knowledge + Good judgment