From the time that I first heard of the metaphor of learning and growing being referred to as peeling layers of an onion, I've held onto that vision...until now. I was cooking the other day and as you can probably guess, I was peeling and cutting an onion. Each cut burned my eyes just a little more until the tears started to roll down my cheeks. As usual, my mind was busy thinking about the beauty of the freshly cut lawn I could see out the window, the to-do list ahead of me, the to-do list for each of the kids, watching the tiny ant scurry across the counter top and so on. As my thoughts moved from one seemingly random thing to the next, I became aware of the tears, the onion and the metaphor. I wondered why we use that particular metaphor. The process of peeling layers of an onion caused pain and tears. Why do we feel we need pain and tears to learn and grow?
Is it possible to learn and grow through other channels? Maybe through meditation, insight and action through integrity. Many people have wonderful stories about overcoming adversity and seeing life with new perspective. For years I believed that it was the tough times that motivated us to grow and see things in new ways. Many of my mentors have inspired me to look beyond my illness, rise above the challenges and create heaven on earth. For now, in this era and this time in our evolution, I feel we, as a human race, are exactly where we are meant to be. The adversity and challenge in life and in the world is waking us up. At some point there will be so many of us who live with awareness and take responsibility for our part in caring for ourselves, our neighbors and our world that we'll tip the scales. We're moving toward a conscious human world that realizes and learns how to use our energy and thoughts to create and live in peace. At that point, there will be no need for challenge, pain, hurt, war, adversity, etc to motivate us to wake up.
I've decided that my connection with the metaphor of peeling the onion to uncover my true essence, doesn't serve me anymore. I would like to jump from the onion to consistently living in heaven on earth, but it feels as though there are more steps in the process to truly integrate that mindset and heartset. It would be like expecting a toddler to balance a checkbook. It's a big jump.
I'm saying goodbye to the onion and it's time to replace it with something that will serve my state of being. In my flow of thoughts, or onion meditation, the chrysalis came to mind. A soft, nurturing place, intended for transformation. A temporary home, so to speak. The chrysalis is a place where, when the butterfly is ready, it emerges. This is a much better metaphor because with the onion, we have to wait, tolerate and attempt to overcome the pain and suffering until the layers have been removed. With the chrysalis, we emerge exactly when we are meant to, with nothing holding us back. There's no waiting, fighting, pain or tears, just divine emergence.
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