The Cave: Going Within

Escaping the Noise

The demands of life in today's society place enormous pressure on all of us. Finding a moment away from the constant noise of traffic, advertisements, television and the urgency of every day concerns seems impossible. Friends and loved ones need us. There are bills to be paid, projects to finish. The babble is deafening! This myriad of distractions creates a cacophony of sensations that overload our receptors, desensitizing us to the voice of our creative being and Spirit.
Don't beat yourself up if you find yourself in need of "Me" time or for feeling the need to withdraw from others into the seclusion of your own private cave. Going into the cave physically or metaphorically is an important and life affirming act. Before you can find new direction you need to take time for reflection and self awareness. Winter is traditionally the time associated with going inward and self contemplation. As winter draws to its close and we often look forward to spring with restlessness and a desire to renew ourselves. Gifting yourself a period of reflection offers great benefit.

The Cave

Symbolically, the cave represents isolation, contemplation and a gathering of resources needed to face future challenges. The silence of the cave affords us an opportunity to regain our center and to ground the overflow of stresses which otherwise lead to anxiety and depression. Knowing yourself and listening deeply to the promptings of your inner voice is essential to making healthy life choices. When we fail to honor time spent alone, secluded from outside influences and demands, our spirit suffers. Desensitized and disconnected, the choices we make are not genuine to our soul expression and the sublimated urging of our authentic self will manifest in unhealthy attitudes, behaviors, and as illnesses. We become destructive, lashing out at the forces that bind us. Anger turns inward where it becomes self-loathing. We find ourselves sabotaging relationships. Our desires go unfulfilled.

Time spent in silence and contemplation may at first seem uncomfortable and challenging but the experience is healing. By turning inward and seeking the solace of isolation, energies spent in fruitless action pool internally, coalescing, focusing to recharge our mental, physical and spiritual batteries. Listening to and questioning that part of our self which remains hidden behind a social mask, will reconnect us with hopes and dreams we've buried, freeing us to gather resources, hone talents and prepare to face the rigors and challenges ahead. Often answers found within the cave reveal hidden and unexpected jewels of creativity or personal insight, opening the door to authentic self expression and deeper relationships.

A Womb Of Self Discovery

Going into the cave requires more than shutting out the intrusive demands of others, it asks that you remove yourself from the flood of outside information bombarding you. Try turning off the TV and radio. Resist popping in a DVD and "vegging" out with a bowl of popcorn. Put down the novel and separate yourself for a time from the voices of other people's creativity. Make a journal entry. Spill you guts onto the page. Paint a picture. Use your child's mud like finger paints. Go for a walk in the woods or sit on the porch and simply watch the world move around you. Observe the thoughts inside your head without criticism. Take time to be alone with yourself as a friend, listening.

Marvelous things happen in the cave; Spirit speaks, lessons are absorbed or learned. Hibernation, germination, and reflection are essential to growth and connection with the divine and they happen in the womb of the cave. The cave is your cocoon and in it your infant self develops adult organs, undergoing complete metamorphosis. Take time to know yourself and to transform. Free yourself to embrace this stage of your development. Enter the cave with trust and at peace, knowing that you will emerge from it renewed and inspired.