A personal reflection on contemporary rites of passage.
How many of us have heard a small voice within us, calling us to break from the way of our lives and to follow a new road of exploration? A road whose destination cannot be seen as it turns a corner that we have not been down before. A road about which we are uncertain of the terrain that it crosses as this new terrain is foreign to us. An image that comes to me is of a train track disappearing out of a station, to an unknown destination with unknown adventures.
How many of us have heard this call but have chosen to muffle its sound, most probably through fear by rationalizing that we must stick with what we are doing? Even though the call resonates with our heart, the break that it asks of us with that with which we are familiar, can result in drowning out the voice of adventure.
The "Call To Adventure" that I speak of is this small voice which calls up from the world in which we live and probably feel safe in. I am an apprentice to the ways of following this call, but have long believed in the healing that can result from heading this call. We feel unsettled in the core of our being but the tempo of modern life does a very good job in convincing us that this voice is not a voice of sense. However, I have known people who have made that break, heeded the call to uncertainty and yet certainty at the same time. The certainty is laced with fear (hence the uncertainty!) but also a distant sense of knowing, knowing that this is the thing to do. Those who have made the step speak of a release of energy, maybe that had been blocked by their uncertainty, and a deeper happiness. Their life has moved to a place where it is in deeper resonance with the core of their being.
This call to adventure is traditionally seen in the Rites of Passage of indigenous peoples, especially in the move from young person to adulthood. The initiate going out away from home to experience some sort of test, to learn and to return with a vision. A death followed by a passage and then a rebirth. First there is the Severance, moving from that which is familiar. Next the Threshold, the time away, in sacred time seeking a vision from the land upon which you are walking. Finally comes Incorporation, coming back to the world with new gifts to share, and with time a learning of how to bring them to this world.
However, this adventure need not be a traditional Rites of Passage as spoken of above. Forms of contemporary Wilderness Rites of Passage are emerging in our time. They can be of benefit to people of all ages, to people wishing to mark transitions in their lives, or for those seeking clarity. One might be marking the move to a new city, the death of a loved one, seeking clarity in a career change, or maybe you are not clear what you are seeking? There is simply a sense of change happening inside you and you wish to find a way to search for its meaning.