“The Steeling” by Jeffrey Sewell

 

THE STEELING

The best blades are made of steel.

Pure iron. A silvery white metal that is relatively soft and malleable.

Carbon. Hard, brittle, and black.

In order to make an effective sword, both materials are needed.

Steel is an alloy composed of iron with carbon impurities.

Impurity. A word that carries with it the conditioned connotation of being morally wrong or evil.

Ask yourself, is the carbon in the steel morally wrong or evil?

It is absolutely necessary for making a strong sword.

The carbon is mixed into the iron in certain places and in specific amounts.

Too much carbon, the steel will be too hard and brittle.

Too little, and the steel won’t be strong enough to use effectively.

The blacksmith creates the alloy for a reason.

The soul too is like a spiritual alloy of sorts, a composite organism.

This plane of life is a smithy for the soul.

Alloy and religion.

Both mean to bind.

What is our religion?

We smelt for purity.

We mix for strength.

The body is like a pair tongs for the soul, that spiritual alloy.

Holding it in place for the forging.

Set in our ways, we resist our destiny.

We resist change.

The universe is calling us.

We are needed.

Transformation beckons and we are drawn to an alluring flame.

Heated by the friction of inner conflict, we suffer in the furnace of persecution.

You are bad.

You are wrong.

You are unwanted.

The stress of resistance gives way to raw anger.

We begin to feel the rage latent within.

As it grows, we glow hot.

Lost in the roaring heat of the angry fire.

Forget your integrity, your symmetry means nothing.

The suffering makes us workable.

Loosens our attachments.

Where we were once stuck, the bonds are broken.

Internally, we become confused and disordered.

Off balance.

We stay in the hearth of the dry hot wind for a time.

Burning in the fearful fire of condemnation and dejection.

Nearly melting in the turmoil.

Until, at the seeming whim of unacknowledged hands, we are taken out of the blaze.

In the dying heat of our own volatile emotions, we are hammered by experience, molded by the painful blows of the blacksmith.

The Earth is our anvil.

Wrought by life.

Each strike is precise and skillfully delivered.

After the beating ceases we find ourselves are placed in isolation.

Buried in the sands of time, in the dead air we wait, alone.

Brooding and dissipating.

Cooling.

The reverberations die down.

Patience.

The annealing is almost complete.

Silence.

We settle into a new integrity.

Different.

Stronger.

We are lifted out of our lonely grave, out of the quiet sand, and guided once more into the fire.

This time it seems welcoming and warm, a pleasant change from the stale state we were in.

Our temper is tempered.

What is this hot nostalgia?

Bittersweet burn.

My throbbing scars, is this compassion?

Destiny has taken shape.

A thirst for relief is finally quenched as we are plunged into the waters of completion.

Fire and water, this is our baptism.

We rise up.

Born anew.

Still tarnished and bruised.

The same hand that hammered us now scrubs away the soot that covers us.

Cleansed and polished with ever-increasing finesse, we begin to shine in the light.

The image of the blacksmith is now reflected in the luster of our purity.

We see the world around us for what it is.

We know ourselves for what we are.

This is the Sword of Truth, but you are not the Sword.

The Sword is a part of you.

The blacksmith is the greater part of your Self.

You create the Sword and wield the Sword.

The Sword is an extension of you.

A product from the forge.

It knows pain and suffering.

It is familiar with torment and love and beauty.

It fights for all that is good and righteous.

However, this glory comes with an amatory burden.

A desire for darkness is what drives it.

This lust is what powers the Sword.

And this is the tragedy of the Sword of Truth.

It has no purpose without Falsehood.

It has no utility without darkness.

Thanks to the impurity within it.

It cuts down falsity.

It slays what is evil.

It destroys what it cannot live without.

Never forget.

The Sword of Truth is not powered by what is right or what is wrong.

Everything, without exception, rests in Truth.

The Truth takes no sides.

Rather, it contains all sides.

The only true judge is desire.

The Sword is powered by desire.

It is heavier for those who can see this.

For this reason, the Sword has a companion.

The Scabbard.

The Scabbard is Mercy.

The Scabbard is the Heart.

Each time we sheath the sword, we die to our desire.

We learn to live for others.

We learn to use the Sword for others.

To defend and protect.

Not what is innocent, but what we love.

How to discern?

Am I desireless?

What is innocent in Life if all is Self-contained?

The Sword gets heavier.

Aching in the heart-piercing Scabbard.

It craves to cut the darkness.

But you struggle with what it means to be noble.

You struggle with reason.

Bound by your own purity.

Something quivers inside of you.

The friction of inner conflict begins to build.

What is integrity?

Everything is a mixture of darkness and light.

Life cannot exist without division and cooperation.

Disparity and unity are part of the One thing.

You resist.

Perfection is here.

There is no Love without Pain.

This is the diagnosis.

There is nothing to fix.

Suffering is perfect.

Joy is perfect.

To choose charity and compassion is perfect.

To choose greed and denial is perfect.

This perfection rests in Truth.

There is no other place to lie.

We cannot change this perfection, we can only move through it.

The entire universe and everything in it is justified.

Our movements are what make it so.

This is the Truth.

It is a mistake to separate yourself from this justification.

This perfection.

Why can’t you accept it?

You are a part of it.

You can do no wrong.

You can only suffer and spread suffering.

You can do no good.

You can only enjoy and spread joy.

There is no such thing as morality, only health and disease.

Both are relative and necessary.

Pleasure and Pain.

One cannot exist without the other.

You will hurt and be hurt.

You will love and be loved.

Know what you are fighting for.

Know what you are living for.

The Truth is not as black and white as darkness and light.

Refracted from the prism of the One Life, there is an infinite spectrum of color.

The fullness of which cannot be seen in the dark.

Open your eyes to the Perfection.

How will you move in it?

What are you going to do?

The entire universe is justified.

It needs you.

What are you going to create?

What are you going to destroy?

You have the power.

Accept it.

Remember.

The darkness is not an ally to the Truth.

It is alloyed with it.

This is The Steeling.

Welcome to the forge.

~~~

written by Jeffrey Sewell

Cytocosmos.com

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