Reaching the Fork in the Road

We have an image of the "modern man", the person who is happy most of the time with the occasional depressed, sad or fearful moments; a person who has found his equilibrium in society. He follows some cultural traditions, may even go to church on Sundays and certainly has his notions of good and bad. He has a job that he might be ambivalent of; yet, it gets him the money and status he aspires to have. He is married, so he has found his partner for life, and he may even have some missions in life like coaching baseball for his son's team, or a hobby that allows him to express his creative and passionate side.

Then there is the occasional dance with the dark side that he is less proud of, but they somehow just happen, like the affairs he had, or the nights he spends with booze and porn when his wife is traveling. There is also the ruthless behavior that pops up now and then when he feels threatened professionally. Sometimes he has fear attacks and then he asks in these moments of weakness, "Could there be a God after all?

This "modern man" might be your friend or someone you know. Basically, you can find this modern man almost anywhere.  There is only one little problem.  Deep inside, he is not really happy.  This so-called equilibrium of good and bad is not a road to real happiness and eventually everyone will ask, "there must be a better way!" You can only find happiness when you are true to yourself and if you manage to connect with this True Self.  

When we are young, we feel alive. Sure, norms and programs get installed into us, like the expectations of our parents, friends or cultural norms, but somehow that doesn't take our joie de vivre away. Certainly, some of us can already run into a wall during the teenage years, but for most of us we just live an exiting life until we run into a wall much later, often during the middle stage of our lives. It seems that a program is opening up in us that points all the contradictions out to us. Everything else that had happened up to this point was just a collection of insights, experiences and memories to prepare us for this moment of soul searching. At this moment we realize that something has gone adrift and we start to look how we can reclaim that feeling of peace and happiness that we certainly once experienced.

Congratulation if you come to this fork in the road!  It means that your spiritual journey will now start in earnest and that the time of encountering your True Self is near. The irony is, you may not really have to do anything much differently when this eye-opener comes; all you have to do is to rediscover meaning in what you have been doing all along.  Imagine what joy it is when after 10 years of being married to someone you suddenly recognize that this person is in fact your soul partner. Imagine the surprise if you suddenly realize that you are raising "old souls" who have signed up for the job of helping you find yourself. Imagine if you discover that the job you have in hand today was just designed to jump-start a life-time of creative expression and community service!

The Tao is God's instrument in helping you discover who you truly are. All the insights that the spiritual bestsellers describe are something you can learn for yourself just by living your life. The way of the Tao is the realization that literally everything that is coming your way is meaningful for your soul developments. The notions of good and bad will fade into nothingness when you discover that every voice in your life is important and should be cherished. Once you reach this stage you no longer have to worry about getting lost or making mistakes. The Tao, the great healer and coach, will ask you to work on yourself all the time. Be open, ask, and all the answers will be given to you.  Celebrate the fork in the road and let it be the beginning of a period of renewed passion and meaning. After you have taken the first few steps it will be easy to follow the new path. Just observe the laughter and merriness as signposts and let love show you the way.


By Christian and Su Zhen