The Call of the Mermaid
"It is very important to go out alone, to sit under
a tree, not with a book, not with a companion, but by yourself and observe the
falling of a leaf, hear the lapping of the water, the fishermen’s song, watch
the flight of a bird, and of your own thoughts as they chase each other across
the space of your mind. If you are able to be alone and watch these things,
then you will discover extraordinary riches which can never be destroyed."
~Jiddu Krishnamurti
Legends say
sailors heard haunting singing from mermaids echoing across the seas, calling
them to the unknown. Some say it was a seductive force that meant danger, uncharted
waters that could swallow them into the vast seas. It touched a longing
deep in their souls.
The mermaid's call symbolizes a longing impossible to ignore; we often define it as our wish for happiness. Could it really be something much deeper and more profound, like a call to go deep within our inner self to find the mystic, our connection to the divine?
Are our
fears like the sailors of being swallowed up by a vast sea of the unknow? The mermaid
is a metaphor for the longing of something we don’t fully understand and
something dangerously mystical. It is the call to explore something beyond the
ordinary, dangerous and yet very enticing.
In psychology, water represents the subconscious mind. It is a place of nightmares and fantasies. A place we store hidden thoughts, intuition, and instinctual knowledge. It is the scary part hidden from awareness. Where mermaids live can be very dangerous and frightening. We experience a magnetic force pulling us toward the possibilities of what is beyond our everyday ordinary routines. A path into the darkness.
Some
describe life as being born like a block of marble with layers of defenses we
accumulate to survive. Inside the marble is a beautiful soul hidden. Spending time alone in
meditation, in the forest, or by the river, begins the process of removing all
the excess rock, piece by piece. The world of cultural expectations, rules, and borrowed
beliefs is stripped as we go deeper into self. Sometimes we meet scary
memories, nightmares, past mistakes, and the truth about our delusions. Thankfully,
these things are revealed when we are ready to see them in the light of
self-love. The Universe uses gentle nods and subtle whispers to light our path. Love never judges and we learn to do the same.
Sometimes truth cannot be measured and logically explained, it must be experienced. Magic doesn’t come from our rational mind. A great example is an experience psychology calls a peak experience. It happens when you are completely overpowered by your senses. Maslow defined it as, “unusual moments of heightened joy, serenity, beauty, or wonder.” He reports that these experiences have happened across time, culture, religion, and are indescribable. Sometimes they can change a person’s perspective on life. If you have had one, you know it and you know when somebody else starts to describe theirs. During a peak experience, you feel an overwhelming sense of being one with the world. There is a heightened sense of wonder, awe, and ecstasy. There is a sense of losing track of time. It is difficult to describe. It can lead to significant changes and serve as a turning point to living a deeper or more meaningful life. It is usually a fleeting experience. You can’t make it happen again even though you wish you could. It creates a yearning for a feeling of oneness and love like you experienced.
How do we find the mystic within? How do you satisfy longing?
Begin with self-love
The path to our soul is through our senses.
The mystical path. The truth of our hearts reflected in our eyes.
Self-love
"Remember self-love is also revolutionary and world-changing. We cannot fight for others when we are fighting a war inside ourselves. Compassion is reflexive, a power that we first bestow on ourselves and then give away through our actions-to people, to pour planet. When we recognize that truth, that is when we let love become our legacy." -Amanda Gorman
The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. Loving ourselves is the opening to loving the world and feeling connected to all living things. It is one of the most powerful tools we give to ourselves. Self-love makes it easier to be honest and to trust our intuition. We strive for a healthy mind, body, and spirit. We understand pain is not a punishment. We feel joyful and have confident thoughts. In essence, we become our highest self, free to go beyond our logical mind into the vast universe of our imagination. In our imagination all things are possible. We can be friends with trees, butterflies, spiders, and Bluebirds. We can share stories with crows and dragonflies.
Connect to your true essence by developing self-love.
Trust your inner guidance system, intuition.
Embrace pain as a path to growth and wisdom. Resting in unknowing and uncomfortable.
When we love ourselves and feel connected to all, we realize that pain is not a punishment. It can be a message telling us something is out of balance. Our bodies speak to us through pain; too much exercise or not enough, not enough sleep, too many desserts. Our hearts feel the pain of loss, telling us how much we love. The pain of compassion is a reminder of our oneness and connection
And yet that emptiness, that waiting, that liminal space is sacred. It’s what distinguishes a prophet-mystic from a self-righteous activist or a spiritual narcissist. It is in the interior desert, where the landscape appears barren, that patience reveals the miracle of life teeming just below the surface. The more we mindfully observe what is, the more beauty comes into focus. There is nothing broken here, nothing to fix. Rather, the prophet-mystic practices sitting with reality as it is. From that space of quiet listening, we may perceive what is ours to do and tap into the vitality we need to do it. We take up our birthright of belonging and, in the spirit of the mystical Jewish teaching of tikkun olam, we mend the broken world and restore wholeness to the web of interbeing.
Ideas:
Savoring:
Defined by the psychologists Fred Bryant and Joseph Veroff as “the capacity to attend to, appreciate, and enhance the positive experiences in one’s life.” This can mean focusing on a current, future, or past experience with particular attention to the positive parts: being fully present and attentive to a gorgeous sunset or a fascinating conversation.
Activity:
1. Before starting an experience such as a hike into the forest, think of two events you expect to experience.
2. Imagine each event vividly with all five senses.
3. When an event occurs, be fully present and aware with senses, not thinking.
4. Remember your experience with gratitude and express it to somebody.
Researchers point us toward making a habit of savoring. You can repeat the following activity daily with experiences like your morning routine of making and drinking coffee, or your routine trip to the grocery store.
Waking up through our senses:
Sight:
People rarely actually look carefully at anything; they glance at it and then rely on their brain to fill in the details.
