I’m a big advocate for finding the happy middle. The extremes help us find our boundaries, define ourselves, create the edge at which we know we are embarking on something new and expanding our horizons, etc., etc., etc…. But the middle is where we find the intricate beauty of all the shades of grey, where life actually happens, where love and happiness abide. So I’m all for the extraordinary in the everyday. I’m all about co-creating a life made of magic and mundane, full of healthy exuberance and deep mindfulness. The thing is, to reach that middle requires more than half measures. As Joseph Campbell discussed often in his writing and his lectures, the hero’s journey is about going out into the world to reach the goal and then coming back again. We have to figure out our edges, find out what we don’t know that we don’t know about ourselves, before we can start creating the life we want to have.
Sometimes those things are synonymous, but many times the journey outwards is actually inwards. That’s what the moral to all the great hero journeys end up being, because what you’re looking for is already in your own backyard. Or to be more classical about it, Know Thyself. Why is why I cringe when a client tells me, “I’ve already done that.” or “I know that already.” Because their soul book wouldn’t be bringing up the issue if they really understood what is going on. If they had actually learned the lesson, truly understood the message, had incorporated the wisdom, then they wouldn’t be having the problem and the message wouldn’t be repeating.
Many times those who know what they know and have already done that have done a little bit but not committed fully to the action. Others know intellectually but haven’t committed at all to the practice or implemented the lesson in their lives. Knowledge doesn’t mean much if it isn’t acted on. And sometimes the doing of something part way is a means of avoidance. Doing a little gets the person off the hook. They can say they’ve done it, but nothing has actually changed. They can say they know something or can do something, but they have the barest fraction of an understanding no means of practicing this knowledge.
Being over competent in knowing things and the seeming of things doesn’t help us in reaching that middle ground. Doing things part way doesn’t aid and support our becoming. To follow our path means striking out to discover what we don’t know, it means following through even though we may not succeed. Know Thyself isn’t about being successful or proficient or famous, it’s about discovering who you are like the blind person discovering the elephant piece by piece. Let go of what you know, take a step further than you’ve ever gone before, and discover what’s in your own backyard.