If the Buddha Got Stuck_ A Handbook for Change on a Spiritual Path - Charlotte Sophia Kasl [89]
Harold’s story follows some common threads involved in the process of getting unstuck and breaking free. Harold followed a strong impulse without questioning it, observed the results, was willing to proceed without knowing what he was doing, took no individual credit for what happened—“the powers that be get you where you need to go”—and let go of his self-image as a country redneck. He allowed himself to be astonished and changed and was willing to follow a new path.
54. Try Moving Toward a Vision Without a Map
I didn’t make any mistakes,
I just know a thousand ways not to make a light bulb.
—THOMAS EDISON
Ispoke with Piotr Blass, a mathematician, about emptiness: “Going into emptiness sometimes means you have an overall sense of something you could do, create, or understand. You see it in its entirety, maybe without words or any idea of how to get there, but you know it’s where you want to go. It may take months or even years to fill in the details and you may go down a lot of blind alleys.”
Glenn Miller, a young trombone player and arranger, had a passion for finding a certain sound that was different from anything he had ever heard in a jazz band. He had a sense of the sound but couldn’t describe it. He spent years playing in different groups, studying arranging, and getting inklings of what he wanted. He finally arrived at his “sound” after his horn player cut his lip and Miller spent all night rewriting the arrangements with a clarinet player as soloist. He didn’t realize he had found the sound until he heard the band play the next day.
Kristie, a friend and artist, also had a vision of something she wanted to see happen and went toward it without a map. Kristie had a studio overlooking the Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana, an enormous gaping wound in the earth, the result of years of open-pit mining. A green liquid, akin to battery acid, was slowly seeping into the pit. Kristie, a woman with a quiet demeanor, loves to dance the hula. One day as she was gazing out the window of her studio she had an image of a group of people dancing the hula on the ridge above the pit. It struck her that this could be a way to bring something beautiful and soft to the barren, stripped land.
Inspired by her vision she started talking with anyone who showed an interest and made connections with the Montana women’s chorus and various peace networks. Many times she was overcome by doubt, questioned herself, or wondered what she was doing. But she persevered, encouraged by the welcoming response she got from so many people: “Sure, I’ll go to the Berkeley Pit and dance the hula.” Just over a year later, on a beautiful Big Sky Montana day, 165 people dressed in bright blue skirts streamed single file onto the ridge and danced the hula to the song “Cool, Clear Water,” with the media recording the event. Kristie brought attention to an ecological disaster through beauty, dancing, and playfulness rather than the usual angry rhetoric—she followed a vision. (See the Resources for an inspiring video of the event.)
We leap into knowing and not knowing all at once. If you sense a possibility but want all the details and guarantees of “success” in place before moving forward, you may never move to action. You often have to take a first step before the next one presents itself. You break free when you take a step, any step, and see what happens.
This doesn’t mean you are passively blown around by whims or external events; rather, you listen with all of your being and follow where you are called. It’s about dedication and a deep desire to be who you truly are. Motivational