Back in the good ‘ole days when I had just discovered the Pathwork and signed up for a local group, I found myself a part of a community of seekers who were delving into the courageous work of facing themselves on a level that I had never previously experienced.
It was scary, it was exciting, it was amazing and IT WAS ALIVE!
I remember the Helpers often would ask us what our cutting edge was. I had never heard of that expression, and didn’t fully understand it at the time. They were asking if we knew what it was for us that took us to the edge of our comfort level — the boundary of what we thought we could tolerate. And then, were we willing to dip our big toe into what lay just a little bit beyond that?
And while I didn’t consciously have an answer at the time, I can look back and see that I was pretty much consistently living on my cutting edge in those days. I was discovering new vistas each time I attended those groups. And in-between groups, several of the members would get together for coffee or some other gathering, and when we were together life just had this magical quality to it. It was a little like being a wanderer in a new land, or an astronaut in space, exploring the terrain without a map or compass — everything was experienced anew, as if for the first time. Everything was magnificent and amazing, if not always cozy and comfortable.
We were truly spiritual revolutionaries, we knew it, and we reveled in it!
After awhile I was ready for an even deeper immersion to a new cutting edge, and the Pathwork Transformation Program helped stretch my understanding and my experience of the world that lay beyond the limited prison that I had constructed for myself. The boundaries of my life and how I understood myself and God expanded each time I moved just a bit out of what I had become comfortable with.
Stepping into Pathwork Helpership, however, stretched me like nothing I had encountered before. I found fear and Negative Intention I would never have dreamed lived inside me. With each step into that not so comfortable zone, that circle of what defines me has grown wider, and much of what used to limit me has become a distant memory.
Each cutting edge looked different. And each was appropriately challenging for me at the time. I couldn’t run before I had learned to crawl.
A lot of what I hear and see in the world today is geared toward providing safe containers, safe people, and safe practices that will provide a comfortable environment for healing. And certainly we want to be exquisitely careful to not push ourselves past a level that is constructive. It is neither advisable nor productive to push ourselves to the point of extreme overwhelm, re-traumatization, or dissociation. But neither do we want to make the mistake of distorting this profoundly revolutionary spiritual path into a Neverland where our Inner Children are encouraged and enabled to stay children, to never grow up and explore and expand beyond the boundaries of home.
When we back off of our cutting edge, the vibrancy and vitality of our life dims, the flame of our light smolders, and we end up discouraged and disappointed and despairing — not such a comfortable place after all!
Challenge and adventure is a good thing. Stepping out of our comfort zone, appropriately and with support and loving self-care is a delicate balance.
It is a revolutionary act to live on the edge of where Spirit is calling us. To courageously step more fully into the unknown and experience the deepest truth and the unending beauty of who we really are. To consciously and with intention venture into the sweet spot that lies at the intersection of our humanity and our divinity.
This world is calling for those who are willing to live revolutionary lives. To live fully alive, whatever that cutting edge looks like for us today, we must learn to balance our need for self-care with our need for expansion, growth, and adventure. We must learn to strengthen our muscle to be able to constructively tolerate all our feelings — pain, fear and negativity as well as pleasure, intimacy, and bliss.
And, we must be willing to let go of everything we know when we once again hear that call from beyond, beckoning us to a new cutting edge. All life is change, and surrender is an integral part of the process.
Won’t you join me?
I’d love to hear what your cutting edge looks like today.
How are you living a spiritually revolutionary life?
