KIRK DOUGLAS KIRK DOUGLAS - Earthstar

Castle Continued from page 35meet your soul?I wrote Entering TheCastle for precisely thisreason, as a guide to meetyour soul. The soul is aforce that is difficult todescribe in concreteterms; it must be experienced.If a newly marriedwoman asked a mother,“But describe what childbirthis like and then tellme what it’s like to loveyour children, because Ihave to know exactly what that’s likebefore I have a child so I know forsure if I really want to have a child,”could a mother really find the rightwords? When I ask that question in alecture, mothers laugh out loudbecause they know that until awoman experiences being a mother,she can never know what it is like tolove a child. She has to meet thatchild directly. The same is true for thesoul. You have to enter your Castle,beginning with crossing your drawbridgeand taking up the explorationof each of the seven mansions. Thejourney, I will admit, is not easy. Eachmansion has many rooms, as Idescribe in my book, and it’s importantthat you go into each one. Andthat’s where you begin.As we enter our personal Castles,what will some of our most profoundchallenges be? And what will besome of our greatest rewards?How typical to ask for the rewardsbefore you even begin the journey. Asfor the challenges, the greatest challengewill be to defeat your need tohave God be a force of logic and reasonin your life. The greatest challengeyou will ever face will be toconfront your fear of being humiliatedand come to understand the powerof being humble. When you do, youallow that power of humility to leadyou to finally surrender your life toGod’s direction for you.It’s so ironic to me that many peopleassume that, in surrendering toGod, their lives will become miserableand not wonderful. They have noidea that their lives will, in fact,become extraordinary. They cannotsee that they have been living in aprison, held captive by a fear of beinghumiliated and the need for other’sapproval most of the days of theirlives. The most profound challengewill be to get over the grip the Earthhas on you. In the language ofBuddha, free yourself from these endlessillusions. St. Teresa calls themyour reptiles. That freedom is yourreward.St. Teresa’s instructions in theSeventh Mansion are to serve thedivine through serving others. Howcan we use prayer and channelinggrace to be of service in the world?People have no idea how powerfulprayer really is. I listen to people say,“Well, all we can do now is pray,”after they have tried everything else,for example, in medical interventions.If they really understoodprayer, they would begin medicalprocedures with a prayer and then dowhatever they can medically. St.Teresa wrote The Interior Castle as aguide to God through prayer, throughlearning how to rely upon the everincreasingdepth of inner dialoguewith your soul and God. Throughprayer and this spiritual dialog, youdiscover your profound capacity tobecome a channel for grace in thisworld.Grace comes in manyforms: illuminatedthought, a moment ofauthority, abundant compassionand courage, thecapacity to heal and comfortanother, visionary creativity.Grace has many,many forms and grace ismeant to be shared, to bedistributed to others constantlyand under theradar, in silence, invisibly.That’s the role of a mysticout of a monastery – to become aninvisible channel for grace in thisworld, to form circles of grace, toshare the capacity to nurture eachother, to channel grace at a distance inorder to heal others and this Earth,and to bring forth new creativethought.This is a great calling and I knowmany, many people are emerging asmystics out of monasteries. Many arecoming to study with me at CMEDbecause people need support as theyventure into their souls’ Castles. EvenSt. Teresa said that one should not gointo the soul alone. You need soulcompanions. And the groups thatform through working in the Castleare profoundly bonded to each otherbecause they come to know eachother through prayer and a devotionto bring the best of themselves toeach other and to the world. I feelvery blessed to be doing this workand I am so grateful to all of thesestudents, so very grateful. And mostof all, I am grateful to St. Teresa.APRIL / MAY 2007 EARTH STAR 67