Walking in beauty

Our suffering and judgments not only keep us from the grace of beauty, but they keep us locked in time. When we are locked in linear time, we cannot experience our divinity.

by John English — 

What does it mean to walk in beauty? There is a native saying: “Beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty beside me, beauty below me, beauty above me — I walk in beauty.” This is what walking in beauty looks like. Joy, bliss and safety are what it feels like, and it permeates our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies.

In Incan shamanism, the South direction of the Medicine Wheel contains four practices. These are non-attachment, non-suffering, non-judgment and beauty. Pondering this for a moment, any of us can see that if we practice non-attachment, non-suffering and non-judgment, we will arrive at a space where we can walk in beauty.

However, walking in beauty is much more than a feeling or emotion. It is a state of being that can best be described as grace. In this state of grace called beauty, we accept that everything is as it should be, and we live in a benign universe that conspires on our behalf.

Let us examine the other three practices of the South. If we examine our lives honestly, we realize that our attachments often lead to a great deal of unhappiness. There are many such attachments — attachments to people, careers, money, romantic love, outcomes, spiritual practices — the list is virtually endless.

All attachments, at some point, inevitably lead us to a place where we refuse or are unable to accept what is. Non-acceptance eventually leads to pain and suffering, and we fall from grace and forget we are surrounded by beauty. By practicing non-attachment, we eliminate the source of the majority of our suffering. In this life, pain is inevitable — suffering, however, is completely optional. The key to practicing non-suffering is to stay in the moment.

While the majority of our suffering comes from regret, remorse and guilt about the past or fear of possible future pain, judgement also plays a role. It is amazing how much time and energy we waste on judging. Not just judging others, but judging what is good and bad about our own lives, from our limited perspectives. Our judgments are all based on comparisons made with past pain or pleasure.

Our suffering and judgments not only keep us from the grace of beauty, but they keep us locked in time. When we are locked in linear time, we cannot experience our divinity. One of the greatest joys of walking in beauty is the consistent experience of our own divinity.

John English is a shamanic healer and author of The Shift: An Awakening. He conducts private sessions and workshops about destiny and the dreamtime, shamanic healing, and journeying and the medicine wheel. He can be contacted through Dreamtime Publications, Inc. at www.dreamtimeonline.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 24, Number 4, August/September 2005.