by Marcy Heller

In 1978, the ground-breaking book, ‘The Road Less Traveled’, was published.  Scott Peck, an unknown author at that time was congratulated for having the courage to write such a book!  When it was originally published, a large number of women and men in the United States were both psychologically and spiritually sophisticated and had begun to deeply contemplate “all the kinds of things that people shouldn’t talk about.”  Btw, (with sales of more than seven million copies in the United States and Canada, and translations into more than twenty-three languages, it made publishing history, with more than ten years on the New York Times bestseller list!) it became one of my old-time favorites simply because of the first sentence. “Life is difficult!’ And, once we are aware of that we can transcend it! This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. Most do not fully see this truth that life is difficult. Instead, they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. They voice their belief, noisily or subtly, that their difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction that should not be and that has somehow been especially visited upon them, or else upon their families, their tribe, their class, their nation, their race or even their species, and not upon others. I know about this moaning because I have done my share. Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? Do we want to teach our children to solve them? Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. Without discipline we can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can solve only some problems. With total discipline we can solve all problems. What makes life difficult is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one. Problems, depending upon their nature, evoke in us frustration or grief or sadness or loneliness or guilt or regret or anger or fear or anxiety or anguish or despair. These are uncomfortable feelings, often very uncomfortable, often as painful as any kind of physical pain, sometimes equaling the very worst kind of physical pain. Since life poses an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and is full of pain as well as joy. Yet it is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit, we challenge and encourage the human capacity to solve problems, just as in school we deliberately set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of confronting and resolving problems that we learn. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Those things that hurt, instruct.” It is for this reason that wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome problems and actually to welcome the pain of problems.”

We will never know how to celebrate our ascension (evolving upwards), unless we have first felt and healed the pain of our descent into that vortex of suffering. By no means am I inviting myself or anyone else to experience more pain or suffering; however, we must as the pioneers and way-showers, the star-seeds, honor and teach ourselves and others, this necessity for suffering and the value of our problems/crisis so we can come out of them bigger and stronger and then share our learning and growing from those experiences.

At that time, Scott Peck was called a prophet. Take it personally. You all fit that description because like Peck pointed out, a prophet is not someone who can see the future, but merely someone who can read the signs of the times! The book had major impacts, especially for me – it transcended the traditional culture that I grew up with! Fast forward to now….You are the Ones who are continuing to transcend the traditional culture! You are the Ones the world has been waiting for! You are the Ones who had long begun to act, feel and think about the kinds of things that people shouldn’t or didn’t talk about!  This is the extraordinary significance of what continues now, after 2020 descent into the pandemic!

We’ve been through so much over this last year and many of us are still feeling broken open. Moreover, what is coming next is not yet known. More than ever it is essential to embody, empower and with more energy, excitement and enthusiasm practice fierce grace by stepping in and owning our power! It is the ground of rebirth and creativity and especially something to hold onto as we find ways to reset and reboot our nervous systems, as we go deeper to reconnect with our hearts, the earth. With our power and fierce grace we will discover a sacredness of how special it is to be alive on this holy ground called Earth at this time!

In closing, we are all discovering for ourselves that the dissolution and the destruction of the old outworn ideas and illusions does not have to end in hopelessness and despair.  Like all deaths it is opening up and giving us the opportunity to give birth to a new force and a wider and more illuminated presence of the divine within all of us.  As Andrew Harvey and Carolyn Baker wrote in their majestic book, ‘Savage Grace’, “With all that we inevitably have to face and accept, we must never forget what we all somewhere know within ourselves-that joy is the ultimate nature of reality and the fuel for all authentic survival. In the spirit of this joy, we would like to celebrate the infinite wellspring of joy that resides at our core and that cannot be destroyed by the worst agony and the most devastating defeat. From joy all beings have come, by joy they all live, and unto joy they all return.”

For all of you courageous and wonderful Way-Finders, Light Workers and Star-seeds, personally and collectively, we are birthing a new experience, a new expression of who we truly are while creating new ways that involve a complete changeover of systems. This is our opportunity to thrive, not just survive. We are here to be the greatest value and support for the planet now. May you continue to celebrate the Miracle of You – after all, You are the Power that created it all! Have the best week ever cherishing the wonder, power, magic, resilience, strength, beauty, clarity, truth and courage of You. Until we meet again. Know you are my heroes! In love, with love, from love…MM

And, a big hug of infinite gratitude to everyone who has continued to sign on to Patreon or have sent their financial appreciation through other channels. With great love and respect…I AM so grateful and feel so very Blessed!