Many years ago, I read Gary Zukav’s book The Seat of the Soul. It was a game changer for me. It was recommended by a friend who just moved away to live on an Native American Reservation in New Mexico. I picked it up, but I never imagined the path I would take after reading it. I have always believed in a soul. I have always believed there was much more to life than what I could see, hear, and think. This book reaffirmed that.
Yesterday, I was running the footpath that circles the fields where the boys play soccer. When I run, I love to listen to music or youtube. When I went to the app, an Oprah Soul Series popped up. Always one for a little Oprah, I hit the play button. She was interviewing Gary Zukav. In the interview, they discuss what a soul is. He also explains how the soul is on a mission. He believes that the personalty/body is merely a “boat” that is following a “Mother Ship”. Our bodies are the boats. Our soul is the Mother Ship. He states that every intention can be broken down to two motivations: love and fear. When the “boat” is being steered by fear, we are often misguided and clinging to safety and fake harbors that misdirect us. When our intentions are guided by love, the boat can fulfill what it came here to do and properly follow the direction on the Mother Ship. Oprah’s voice lowered and she repeated his words the way she does when she is in full agreement with her guest. She got what he was trying to say, and I got it at that moment too. It lead me to the following questions:
What am I doing in my life because of fear?
What am I doing in my life because of love?
Raising my boys to be kind, generous, thoughtful, careful men…LOVE
Teaching my students to be better readers, thinkers, writers, communicators…LOVE
Constantly analyzing my sons’ behaviors to make sure that they are doing everything well…FEAR
Harshly grading a student because he/she did not work as hard as I believed he/she could have worked…FEAR
Two sides of the same coin. I define myself as a mother and a teacher, and I want to be great at both, not just adequate, proficient, okay. I want to be GREAT. Is it FEAR or LOVE that makes it so? Honestly, I am still sitting with these questions. I wish I had an answer today, but that is not so.
Below is a link to the interview. It is life changing, though I guess everything has the potential to be if you choose to see it that way.
The Wandering Empath 