Eid Al Adha and Trusting the Voice of Your HigherSelf, Like Abraham
I have always LOVED learning about the traditions of other cultures and religions. For me, it helps me to see how we are all ONE. I have this belief, that if I can show the world what is important to different religions and cultures through their holy days, celebrations, and traditions that they will see that we are more the same than we are different. I often find that there is a reason the tradition is still around and that there is something beautiful to be learned if one digs a little deeper. Such was the case with Eid Al Adha.
I encountered this Muslim holy-day, just by accident. I learned that it commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son to God. It is called the Feast of Sacrifice. As you know in the Bible story, God commanded Abraham to offer his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. After Isaac is bound to an alter, and Abraham is about to slay him, a messenger of God stops Abraham at the last minute, saying, ”… don’t harm the boy. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your only son.” The point was that he was willing to obey the voice of his god. I always like to turn these stories around as to what they may mean for me, and if there is something here for you, too, well—bonus!!
Let’s break it down. Abraham represents us—you and me. God, for me, in this story, represents my HigherSelf. My HigherSelf represents the eternal/god-like aspect of mySelf. My HigherSelf represents my truth, my heart and my essence. My HigherSelf is all about the evolution of my soul and if it is not Source, it is my direct connection to Source. (Insert your own beliefs here.)
After decades of personal reflection and tuning in, I know the voice of my HigherSelf well, as Abraham knew his Lords’. I can distinguish between it and the voice of my ego. Isaac represents all that we hold dear—whatever it is that you value above all else. For some it may be your wealth and career, for others, your relationships, and/or your things. For Abraham, it was Isaac.
I believe there is a Universal lesson/test to be learned and overcome/conquered in this beautiful story. I fully understand why it is celebrated, for I celebrate the conquering of this lesson within mySelf, for it is no small accomplishment.
Let me tell you what it’s like to pass this test. For me, it’s been just like it was for Abraham with countless blessings that continue to unfold as a result. When Abraham passed the test, all of a sudden, he found a ram stuck in a thicket that provided him with his sacrifice and burnt offering. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. When he did that, the angel showed up again speaking for the Lord and said, “… because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky… because you have obeyed me." When I listen to that voice, I never cease to be blessed and am always provided for when I do.
In my life, there were times where I felt that everything I held dear was being taken from me and I was not a willing participant. It was devastating and completely crushing to me at the time. I fought it with all my might, felt victimized, done wrong and was full of anger, rage, grief and sorrow. Nothing seems to work out in that space and the journey feels all uphill and frought with angst.
As I have grown and become more aware, I’ve learned to willing surrender and give up everything I have, know and love, to answer the call of my HigherSelf. That willingness has allowed me to pass this universal test of Abraham over and over. It has made my life much more effortless and I am always blessed beyond measure when I stay true to the voice of my Soul.
Two of my more recent examples of heeding that call and sacrificing all, were for love and another was to be a humanitarian. Both situations I felt were the highest and best thing I could imagine to do with my existence, at the time. I felt completely compelled by my HigherSelf. Both times I was in ecstatic places in my life. First was at the Enchanted Cottage, doing the Moon Show, youth group, and teaching, coaching and speaking all over the place. Life was sooo good. I thought if I ever left that cottage, it would be kicking and screaming when I was dead. That place was like my Soul-mate. I was extremely attached and I knew it. When I was presented the opportunity to move to Detroit to be with a man I loved, which would require giving all of that up, I knew I would have to be super clear about it. When I had clarity, and knew that it was the right choice for me, there was no doubt about my answer. I said yes, willingly and joyfully with no looking back. Unequivocally—just like Abraham did. (If you are having a hard time with me comparing myself to Abraham, get over it, please. It’s a metaphor…and—I’ve had to give up my children at times too, not just a home and career).
The second time, I’d spent a winter in ice-olation , on Solitude Mountain, and I could not have been more in love with that place, or my time there, when I felt called to leave it all once again to be of service in the world. When I agreed, immediately, an opportunity arose to go help build a school in Romania and another opportunity in Nepal. I willingly went overseas and gave it all away— again. Funny. I didn’t spend more than one month in either place, before I got the message it was time to go home. The second time, the message was to go home and write my book. I didn’t listen, and got to experience near death. I’m working on that book, now :)
Abraham had no doubt the voice he heard was that of his HigherSelf. As a result, he did not question or hesitate. He knew what I knew. When you feel the voice of your spirit calling you to do something and you feel no doubt about it, know this: It doesn’t always mean that it is leading you to some blissful experience or even the Promised Land. That thing you feel called to do, may be leading you to a devastating, life-altering, or heart-wrenching experience. But guess what? It is always leading you to an evolutionary experience and that is why you are here: To grow your soul, stretch beyond your current capacity and experience the full range of humanity. So like Abraham, I willingly submit with a ‘sign me up!!’
There were people in my life that felt I shouldn’t be going to Detroit or to Romania. I knew exactly what they knew, and that was that it may not go according to plan. What I knew that they didn’t, was, that whatever happened, was EXACTLY what my Soul needed to grow. I was at peace with that—whatever the outcome.
All I needed was the clarity from my HigherSelf that I was on purpose and that my heart and HighestSelf were leading my choices not my logic or ego. Just the act of giving up everything I knew and loved— from people I adored, to a career that I was in love with, to places that lit my soul on fire, was in and of itself, an amazing feat that most humans would find difficult.
I wanted to know myself as a human that was not trapped by my attachment to people, places and things. I left it all willingly, it wasn’t taken from me. There is a big difference between learning to be ok with what is, once it's been taken, and willingly giving up what you love and are attached to. I joyfully submitted to the flow of my life. I knew without any doubt, I was exactly where I needed to be.
Do you understand the courage it takes to do such a thing? Can you even comprehend the kind of confidence and character those choices might forge within you? Do you know what it’s like to trust yourSelf and that Higher Voice within you so much, that you would step into the unknown, knowing full well it may lead you to your demise or ultimate death? I do. It is nothing you will ever know, until you experience it for yourSelf. It’s priceless.
Learning the law of detachment and how to let go of all that is precious to me has been a theme in my life. Detachment has been such a great teacher for me. It’s taught me to give up the need I may have had to control any outcome and to trust what is organically unfolding.
Through detachment I’ve learned the impermanence of all things and that it’s because everything is so temporary and potentially short-lived that it’s all so beautiful. That alone has deepened my sense of gratitude, such that it has become a way of being for me. I know one of the reasons the things I loved became so easy for me to let go of, was because I appreciated them so much every day and never took them for granted.
There was rarely a deer that entered my yard, that I didn’t stop for a moment to acknowledge, feed, or commune with. Rarely a client session or class I finished, that I wasn’t grateful for the opportunity to do what I do and have it bring me such joy. Nobody important in my life that I hadn’t expressed how big for them was my love. Because of the depth of appreciation, I felt no regrets.
I am grateful for all of the experiences, circumstances and events of my life—the heart-breaking to the blissful, the near-death to vitality, the scarcity to the abundance. I know that it will all pass. I am so clear that it is all for my benefit and can recognize it as such in the very moment, not just in hind-sight.
What I have learned is total trust. Trust in mySelf, to recognize the voice of Spirit and what’s up next for me. Trust and courage to follow through with what I hear and know. Trust and knowing that all is working out in my favor for the evolution of my Soul. Knowing that an army of the unseen is cheering me on for the brave earth warrior I have become.
So Eid Al Adha...I will celebrate you, along with my Muslim sisters and brothers. I will celebrate my own willingness, like Abrahams’, to give up all that is dear to me, for my Soul’s journey and evolution. I will celebrate, that because of the attunement and obedience I have cultivated to the voice of my HigherSelf (or whatever it is to you want to call it), and because of the positive outcome of heeding that call over and over,— I have total trust that all is unfolding perfectly in my life. Knowing this, there is little to fear and only beauty and presence left to experience through this lens.
If the Great All that is, is for me, who can be against me? There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the eye cannot say to the ear, I have no need for you, like joy can not say to pain, I need you not. We all need each other, we are all just walking each other home. We all have things we value, and those things come and they go for all of us. Only by knowing pain and losing what’s dear, do we know what’s dear and appreciate joy. The same thing that gives us joy, will inevitably be the source of our pain. It is all as intricately intertwined, as we are as the human race. Christian, Muslim, Jew…black, white, yellow….American, Russian, Korean…first-world, third-world…we are all one humanity, all citizens of Planet Earth.
I bow to my fellow humans, may we continue to raise the collective consciousness, by seeking first to understand that we are more alike than we are different. May we celebrate our differences, choose love over hate, peace over power and unity over separation. I see you. Through my lens of oneness, you are all a beautiful marvel. Eid Mubarak!
"May Allah/God/Source/Universe/HigherSelf flood your life with happiness on this occasion, your heart with love, your soul with spirituality, your mind with wisdom, wishing you a very Happy Eid.”
~Muslim greeting on Eid Al Adha
