I was reading a new book in which the author, Debbie Ford, tells a story about a Buddha statue. Monks were given the task of moving a giant clay Buddha. One Monk noticed a crack. Another Monk noticed that there was something glimmering beyond the crack. He chipped away at the crack and found a solid gold Buddha under the cracked clay facade. For hundreds of years, this magnificent treasure has been hidden from the world.
This is a story about each of us. We each have a clay facade. Our clay is our protection from the world seeing who we really are. The older we get, the more cracks we get in our clay armor. We sense there is more. We sense a yearning and a desire for realism. We want to know why we are here and what the true meaning of our life is. We want to touch and hold happiness, but we feel unhappy for reasons truly unknown.
We don’t know what to do with the cracks we are seeing. We try to fill them with more illusion, sometimes called a midlife crisis or trying to better our appearance, accomplishments, career, or relationship. We are looking for an external source to fix our internal source.
Under that clay facade lies truth, beauty, strength, purity, and vulnerability. Vulnerability and purity in this day and age can be a dangerous marquis sign. I am not going to lie and say that there are not people that will reject you or take advantage of you in your vulnerability and truth. Oftentimes what you are uncovering in yourself, what you represent, becomes uncomfortable and even threatening to others that are also seeing their own cracks.
What I am learning is a two-fold process. On one hand, your soul may be showing you what is not good for you. Look for someone that accepts you with your current warts and someone that truly wants to help you grow and improve.
On the other hand, your soul may be giving you a trial period; a testing of sorts. Yes, we ARE tested throughout life. Not to pass or fail in the traditional sense, but to see if we are ready to express and embark on our core reason for being here. I am currently at the point in my life that I am putting money where my mouth is. I am having to live my beliefs and words. I am being given a test to see if I am really ready for the next level. As hard as it is, there is so much beauty and glory in this. I am so thankful that I am getting to experience this, although it is so very difficult on my emotions and ego.
I have heard many self-help and prosperity genius enthusiasts say that the hardest things are the ones that are the most glorious and rewarding if you are willing to go through the muck and mire to get to the other side.
This also crosses over into other areas of your life. If something is too hard, no matter what it is, if you give up, you tell the universe (and your soul) that the things that are most rewarding, the things that will fulfill every one of your wishes, is not worth the work you have to put into it. And it IS hard. I am not minimizing the pain and seemingly impossible task of being tested. The challenge in this one area bleeds into and affects so many areas of your life and not just the area that you think is too hard.
Click HERE for part II of Your Soul’s Gold.