I read that statement somewhere and decided to write it down and think about it.
Life is a journey, for everyone, and journeys are taken on paths. But the "every path comes with a price" statement sounds a bit intimidating or threatening.
So, what 'price' are we talking about here? When we grow up under the 'eternal damnation if you do it wrong' threat, we can get a little wary or even fearful of taking the wrong path.
Let's start out by eliminating the threatening feeling of the word 'price'.
If by price we mean effort, well of course… every
single life requires effort. If the price we're talking about is
karma, that could be experienced as enjoyable or difficult.
When considering my own life, that does have the ring
of truth. We need to be willing to give something up, and if you let
your imagination loose as to what people give up in order to get
something, it can make you shudder on one hand… or bow your head in
gratitude on the other.
What matters is that we pause to notice if we are dissatisfied enough to change, reflect and evaluate, ask for wisdom, and come a little closer each time to answering in a way that satisfies our spirit:
For some it is a position:
For others the path seems to be a 'situation':
And then we have those who wish to go a little farther:
Paths can be taken in the direction of restriction or in the direction of liberation and creation.
Knowing that consciousness or spirit is the 'Life' in
this life, one would think that the intent of incarnating is to
further Life, and our spirit will say 'yes' when the path is right.
We can be taken off course by brutality, fear,
neglect, laziness, indulgence, almighty ego, inheritance… and it's
altogether possible to end up on a path that not only does not serve
Life, but actually serves degeneration and death.
Among the things we are realizing is:
We have to turn within, as that is where we find Spirit… the I Am that is one with All That Is.
So, to me, the meaningful path is 'know thyself', and
the price to pay is the exemption from responsibility. If we wish to
awaken to or remember ourselves, we have to take responsibility.
I really don't know if that's what the Dogon people say, but it makes sense to me.
What has this matrix of control done but facilitate
separation… us from All That Is, us from nature, from each other,
and from our own True Self.
Although, from what I see, people are getting fired
up enough to try some of these things. So who knows? Maybe we can.
Some will go out and contend with the world in order to act, and some will simply carry on a work that began with the thought:
We might think we're only facing ourselves, but in
truth, what we really are doing is coming into our fullness as human
beings and that changes everything.
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