Pitfalls, Problems, Wrong Turns, Bad Advice, Ego Laden Gurus/Therapists/Teachers, Nonsense Psycho Babble, Dangling Carrots, Backstabbing Bitches and the Road to Hell.
It seems so easy, doesn't it? Meditate and become enlightened. Read the right books and get the answers. Tune in to the Higher Self, Higher Spheres, Angels, Masters and Disciples, analyse it all and find the * PATH* (I have to laugh)
(You WISH!)
If only it was that simple! No, no, truth seekers, first you must prove that you are worthy. This means that you will be tested, the very essence of your souls shaken, your heart will break again and again, you will think you have gone mad, you will be brought down to your knees asking yourself or *GOD* or anyone and anything out there that you hope is listening this one question, "Why ME???" and maybe, just maybe, you might, if you are lucky, find some hope to keep going. Notice I did not say, "the answer". No, that comes much, much, much later when you have sought the truth in such earnest, left behind all you held dear, been ridiculed, fired from your jobs, had long standing best friends tell you that they do not want to know you any more, lovers betray you and leave and soul mates die, and of course, had your very own family disown you! YES. That is what I am talking about. STILL want to know more? Got the balls for this? Think you are brave, conscious, aware, awake, uplifting, a Light Worker, person of integrity, a healer , a person of service who came to make the world a better place??? Think AGAIN. You are under the illusion you are special. No, you are not. Human, fallible, ignorant, scared, curious and naive, more likely.
Too harsh for you? I am being cruel to be kind, my friends, for the Road of Good intentions is Paved with Hell! It is sad but true and if you are not willing, honestly, don't bother! If being a sheep; sleep walking through life, is fine by you, then by all means, stay that way. Some of us rare souls, who come here to the planet asking more of life, who actually want to know more, become more, achieve more on a Spiritual Dimension/Understanding and are willing to put our money, time, all we hold dear where our hearts and mouth are...then this is the truth seeker on the true path. In essence, it is NOT for the faint hearted. Have I scared you off of it yet? No, good, yes, good-bye, then! Have a "nice" life!
How can I tell you, who wants to know, what it is like to have your best friend say, "You want to learn Metaphysics?? That is just too weird! I can't be friends with you then!" Like a slap in the face, it was....but I kept my goals and chose the Metaphysics. How can I tell you that the Dean of my own Metaphysics school forced me (with blackmail) to take her Nursing program because she needed more students (and my money!) by saying to me, "Shawn, you will never make any money being a Metaphysician, so I want you to go to my Nursing school." I was shocked as this was what I loved and longed to do and was in the final year of my BSc. in Metaphysics. I argued that I would make it my career and it would be fine. She argued back that unless I did sign up for the Nursing Program ( a whole year long, full time intensive course and the cost was over $3,500. back in 1982, which sounds not a lot when you think of today but back then, it was a lot.) I would not be allowed to finish my degree! This was really blackmail. I told her that my waitressing work did not pay enough for me to pay for this course. She said she would finance it for me...her rate of interest? A huge, whopping...26%! Yep, even the so called good go bad along this road! Not wanting to have left without my degree and wasted 3 years already of my life, I signed up, actually crying when I signed on the dotted line, to take the Nursing course. There were times I had such little money, friends were sharing their lunches with me and I even slept in my car in between apartments just so I could carry on paying her. That is blind faith and it was also blind naivety. I was using my psychic gifts with my years of waitressing so I knew how to "serve" the public and that part of me which wanted to learn how to eradicate pain, give comfort and healing so I became good at Nursing. My patients, unbeknownst to me, wrote to the school and told the Dean about how wonderful I was. I was shocked when my Dean called me into her office. I thought maybe I had killed someone at the hospital, by accident! She poured out a huge amount of letters onto her desk from a post bag. They were all from my patients I had attended to in the hospital, she told me, who had taken the time to write a letter to her, expressing their gratitude and how great I was as a student nurse and their thanks for me. I was really awe struck!
And so, as graduation from both Nursing school and the Metaphysics school loomed near, I ended up being honoured for being the best student nurse for my "clinical rotations". I was so excited to be getting this. It was such an achievement for me. The poverty and hardship I endured just to get through this, to finish, finally, all my education was now beginning to pay off. I attended my ceremony without any of my family or friends there. Most of which had long ago decided what I was doing was "crazy" or did not think it (I) was important enough to be there. Alone but proud and in a crisp, white Nurse's uniform, I sat with my classmates at my graduation. She, the Dean, pulled me aside before the ceremony of graduation began, to inform me that she had decided to give my "recognition award for achievement" to an older student nurse who had a husband that was an alcoholic and problem to her, stating to me this; "She is older and needs this more than you, after all you are only 28 and will probably win lots of awards in your career." Crushed and so disappointed, I went up when they called my name, took my Nursing Certificate and sat back down. They called Mary Pat and gave her the award that was suppose to be mine. I congratulated her when it was over, for what more could I do? I was young, true and it was not her fault that she got what should have been mine and what I worked so hard for. Did I ever receive any real award for my work.? No, actually, there is no award for best psychic, medium, Metaphysician, Past Life Regressionist, Astrologer... so No, that did not happen. I have had in my 30 year career, much press, TV my own radio show and so on but no, not an official award. But then I also know, the results are in my clients and the work I do with them..this is the true reward. But if I was looking for some sort of formal acknowledgement...I would be one sad bunny, my ego all inflamed with that need! That is the road to hell. Back then, though, I was tormented and clearly thrown, once again, back on the road to hell. Why did it happen like this, you may ask? Well, there is a reason but you've got to know the ins and outs of that road first to educate you, cause it is also ends up being the road to Heaven.
See what I mean, crazy huh? The road to Heaven is achieved by first going down the road to hell??? Oh the stories I could write...the ways and means of what I learned on the road to hell. I know hell inside out and back to front. I know it so well that it is the reason I can do what I can with my clients, who are coming to me to help them..some are on that road, some about to step or fall into it and some have made it their second home! If I did not walk it myself, live it, breathe it, make all the mistakes, partake in the heartbreaks, the insults and injuries along this path, the wayward turns and tricks of the ego, the mountainous climbs only to be shoved back to the bottom again and again how would I ever know and I mean know how to help another to find the way up and out?
There is so much time, time to be distracted, time to make huge mistakes, time to endlessly search for the answers but it all adds up to this: Know Yourself. Disappointment is a given, seeing your little dreams fall apart at the seems also expected, making more affirmations and visualization than any Life Coach, Guru or New Age Teacher and still not seeing the desired result "manifested"! That is the road to hell, too....but along it, without you even realizing it, without you even suspecting it, comes a form of enlightenment so subtle you could even miss it if you did not awaken to it and that is "discernment".
Oh how I love that word, discernment. It is like the Holy Grail of words! It taught me to see where I was blind. It taught me to hear that still small voice inside, some would call "intuition" and some would call, "the voice of your soul". It kicked me in the butt so many times when I got it wrong. Especially hard lessons were in my love life, so many upsets, heartbreaks and men masquerading as holding love for me when all it really turned out to be was either lust, illusion or projection. It was a cruel task master along the path but, I must admit, a worthy one. And 3 decades later, I can honestly say, it is still one of my greatest teachers.
Friends, family, lovers, pets, even God (or what you deem to be God) can not give it to you...only the pain of making the mistakes when you do not use it and then, at last, the freedom and truth which happens when you finally do learn how to use it. It is the greatest lesson on the path and you will find it being taught all along the road to hell. Is there a Hell? No, this has been made up by religion to scare and control people. Most know this by now but the hell I am speaking about is always from your own making and it is one heck of a teacher! Look back in your own life and see if that road you took, that wayward turn, that heartbreak and serious disappointment didn't eventually lead you to something better, even if it was to know what NOT to do again. This is enlightenment, too.
See you next time, when I hope to talk about my other favourite buddy along the path, distractions! Till then, may you find a light upon that road and may it lead you to the inner sanctuary of illumination.
Shawn M. Cohen
BSc. Metaphysics, L.V.N.
London, U.K.
(c) 2012
No copyright infringement meant on any artist's songs which I use from You Tube. "The Road to Hell" (c) Chris Rhea all rights reserved. No copyright infringement intended. Nor on the You Tube video creator.
my website:http://www.tarotbyshawncohen.weebly.com
