Fire of Sacrifice

Creation/Destruction/Sacrifice

Getting lost in something you created is fine for a moment, but don't let it swallow you. It then possesses and can drag you deep into some abyss.

 If the pen is mightier than the sword it is because of the ingenuity behind the pen. If the sword is mightier than the pen it's because the skill and craft of the swordsman. The flame of creativity can forge pens and swords. It can also create a strong man.

Like a dull sword into the flaming hearth, you have to sacrifice your outdated creations. You may give them up willfully, loss of interest or by having them torn from you. They go back into the fire of creation, and their raw materials are used for further creation, or strength of will.

It's so similar to a video game, our character excels, our level increases, and we gain abilities and traits to carry heavier loads, travel longer roads, and defeat deadlier foes. It can be said the character not the same, but has grown through the journey. This growth occurs in oscillation between creation and being destroyed.. the "being" that is destroyed is our attachment and fondness to our own creations and captivities.

And it is fine to create beautiful things, drawings and livelihoods, fine china, film.. etc. But what of when it turns into something dull and dead? when your energy to create is spent and there is no more fire?

Then we must destroy. We must destroy our attachments to material and form. Gross or subtle. We must use our identity as tinder, whether physical, mental, emotional.. we must use the dross of our existence, as grist for the mill. We must rub two stones together until they spark a new flame.

Sacrifice. Isn't it ironic that what makes us miserable gives us a sense of identity? The woe is me that replays in our mind grants a sense of 'I matter'. It grounds us, but to the wrong things, and for the wrong reasons, that is.. if it is our desire to reignite.

To let go of our attachment, our creation, isn't like releasing a dove that is dying to be returned to the sky. (Your lucky if it feels so) but to again challenge ourselves for what we are, where we are, and have brutal honesty in our evaluation. It is to return again and again to the notion of sacrifice.

Sacrifice is dying to what you believed yourself to be, and being an active participant in transforming that material into a more refined substance. It is not for the feign of heart, but for the rare breed who are sincerely through with their misery and repetitious lives, who are seeking to discover and not seeking to get lost in the search.