Passage O soul to India!

Passage O soul to India!

Passage, immediate passage! The blood burns in my veins!

Away O soul! Hoist instantly the anchor!

Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail!

Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?

Have we not grovel’d here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?

Have we not darken’d and dazed ourselves with books long enough?

Sail forth—steer for the deep waters only,

Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,

For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,

And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

O my brave soul!

O farther farther sail!

O daring joy, but safe! Are they not all the seas of God?

O farther, farther, farther sail!

--Walt Whitman

“Passage to India”

As fate would have it, I am called back to India. The place where my deepest transformations germinate. It’s not easy quitting a job in your field—with generous PTO, benefits, and a livable schedule—what the hell was I thinking? In this economy? With this much student-loan debt? It would be so much easier to play it safe. Oh but how security eats at my soul! Give me transformative challenge! Give me ecstasy and defeat that break my understanding of self on its backside—shedding another layer of ego and getting closer to the center. If I were to write a letter to my future generations, I would tell them to choose paths that feel right, even if they don’t make sense, even if you don’t have a back-up plan. We have to let go in order for the universe to send us something new. Whenever I feel stuck, it is up to me to break free—with choices, intention. There is a lot of deep work that still needs to be done. But Hopefully I am getting closer. There is no end point though. I have no plan.