The Last Straw Part 7
June 28, 2025
The Last Straw Part 7
When we reach the last straw and it seems there’s nothing we can do, if we wait, a new way emerges. Yes, when things don’t work as planned, when we hit bottom or are derailed, when the deadline has passed, when we’ve timed out on our login, when we’ve run to the plane, but the door has just closed, we may think we’ve hit the wall, but things continue, just in a different way.
If you think of all the times it was the last straw, and things were imploding, it was not the end. No. You are right here right now— proof that you survived the implosion. You picked up the pieces and found a way to continue. The change may even have ended up being positive. The only real end is when our life on earth comes to a close. But if we believe that when our body dies, our spiritual consciousness enters another realm, we still continue.
I do not know anyone who likes losing their dreams and plans, and I do not know anyone whose life doesn’t include the loss of dreams and plans. Many of us have lots of trouble when derailed, and many take it in stride. Those whose ego has a strong grip on them will not readily adapt to the changes brought on by derailment. Yet those of us who live in the soul trust every new landscape they find themselves walking in.
A dear soul just poetically put a word to this for me; in a brief note, she says, “I’ve learned to trust the unseen unfoldments.” She pointed out that when we follow the soul, all changes, implosions, derailments, and closed doors are accepted realities to be faced because our soul’s destiny is hidden within them. The soul realizes that the new reality is not always wished for or pleasant, yet it is the road ahead. And the soul realizes that unseen unfoldments are vital to its progression. One circumstance we are unaware of builds upon another to create something profoundly important to our existence. Then we walk through these unfoldments, which have been developing behind the scenes for decades or hours. Whether they are pleasant, difficult, invigorating, ecstatic, or upsetting, the Holy Plan unfolds.
Another dear soul who has been working the Enneagram for decades explains the unfoldments of her Holy Plan as “All is well.” This incorporates the concept of the now into whatever unfolds. But it also assures her that whatever the appearance may be, ultimately, all is well. The ego always fights with this because it believes only what it wants to believe or what it thinks it perceives. But when the ego submits to the soul, it cooperates with the notion “All is well,” regardless of how things appear.
The theme of false appearances is explained beautifully in the classic work, A Course In Miracles, by Helen Schucman and William Thetford. The ego’s response to reality is fraught with what they term “error.” They use the word “error” instead of sin because it connotes that negative consequences befall us due to our ego’s misperception of reality. And Oscar Ichazo’s work agrees with Schucman and Thetford. He discerned that each of the nine ego type’s basic misperceptions, which trigger their passion, are because we disconnected from our Holy Idea. The Holy Idea is how we perceive the world in our soul and how we expressed the divine when we were in our soul child. Our Holy Idea makes reality far clearer; it vaporizes our distortions of reality. And when we embody all the Holy Ideas, we have a “360” of reality. To do this is a lifetime process.
Spiritual practice: Study your Holy Idea as the lens through which you perceive your next change in circumstances.
Self-inquiry: What possible change in circumstances are you faced with? What is your soul’s response? Your ego’s response?
Dear God,
For strength and faith, I pray in all circumstances, those that are in effect, and those that are unfolding but unseen. Amen
