Imagine a huge, imposing mountain. A mountain with a wide base, rooted almost to the center of the earth and reaching to the sky with the power it takes from this root. If you look at this mountain from an airplane, you will see it far below as part of the texture. When you look from far away, it is a tiny mass that cannot be reached far ahead. As you approach its skirts and begin to look at the top, you will understand its scale better. Suddenly that same mountain becomes huge. You will be tiny next to it, even the top seems difficult to reach. Being able to understand and accept its greatness will bring you a little closer to the mountain mentally. As you physically approach, explore the paths on it and start walking, you realize that the mountain itself actually keeps all the ways to reach the summit hidden inside. As you walk, the road opens before you. In fact, there is no single way. Different paths open up to different adventures and take you to the summit by taking you around the surface of that huge mountain. When you reach the top, this time you look down the hill, far away. The bumpy, sloping, sweating path that seemed like it would never end while walking just a moment ago turns into just a line on the mountain's surface. Your starting point is very low now. The place you look at, the roads you pass change your whole perception. This may be an experience that will change your relationship with space, time, and your experiences. When you choose a path with awareness and start walking faithfully, you see that the mountain is discoverable, and you realize that the summit of the mountain is reachable. Pınar Enginsu said in a jivamukti session; ‘Our boat has two oars on the journey. One is devotion, the other is humility. Just as we must devote ourselves to our desires, we must also show humility to those we meet on the way.'
When we look at the summit from the foot of the mountain, what we actually need is to remember that the big mountain can change in relation to where we look. Then, rather than feeling the rush of how to reach the top, we immediately begin to see the paths ahead.
In his book 'Living Your Yoga' he says:
“It could have been much worse than what happened, it could have been much better.
But life is often in between the two.”
It seems that the whole issue is related to how we look at it, from what perspective we try to perceive it. We should be able to change our relationship with life, just as our perception of the mountain and our relationship with it change. By choosing our path with awareness, remaining faithful, and showing humility towards what the path brings to us. Let's hope that this path and the perspective we choose will bring the good and the beautiful closer to us and to the whole.
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