Page 53 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October / November 2018

New Stories Of Our Souls 53

The New Stories of Our crisis is not black and white. Radical Consider the following pairs of
compassion and great empathic capacities are metaphorical terms. In each case, the first
Souls necessary to any truly mature consciousness or metaphor might describe a way of being toward
society. which you might be tending, as your current
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Perhaps you (the hero) are accosted by way of being, and the second metaphor might
an enemy who is going to slay you, and you describe a new way of being toward which you
Likewise, in the “Integral Soul Work”
have to discover a new power, a new magic might be growing when you practice. Perhaps
that I teach, we ask: What is really going on?
quality, to become invisible and to change form. this evokes a sense of how metaphors can
What archetypal stories am I enacting in my
Something new is necessary in order not to be catalyze growth.
life?” Generally, we come to realize that we
blocked on your path. Or you may be at a Warrior – Sage; Seeker – Practitioner;
have been living out some pretty unproductive
moment where an old way of being is getting in Secret Prince – King; Orphan – Loving Parent;
stories, stories that limit us, based on limiting
your way. Suddenly, you notice, what was Martyr – Beneficent Elder; Hungry Hunter –
beliefs we hold about ourselves and the world
impossible becomes possible. It needs to be Wise Gardener; Anxious Planner – Faithful,
we are in. And we make new choices. As Rumi
released, and then something new can come into Confident, Powerful Listener.
said, “Don’t be satisfied with stories of how
being. Maybe your story is about tenderly These evocative inner journeys name
things have gone with others. Unfold your own
holding a key wounded part of your own being only a very few of your ultimately infinite
myth.” So, at this stage, we tune in to the
that has not previously been loved, opening your metaphorical options. There are dozens of
metaphors and archetypes, these deeply familiar
heart to the disowned part, bringing this aspect powerful archetypes and mythic stories that you
story lines that we have been living, in order to
of yourself into the family, and giving it a place. may be unconsciously acting out of or moving
enable our particular transitional stories to come
The work is wide-spectrum – largely toward. Allow yourself the time to contemplate
alive. As we practice accessing an archetype for
aspirational (eros), but also charitable (agape). your life narrative, in relationship to the larger
a new way of being, we access something clear
Blocked energies want to flow. When we context of the story of our great transition that
and fresh and full of possibility – a clean,
let go into a new story, these energies begin to resonates for you. If you are able to consciously
blessed energy of grace that washes us and
flow through us with new power. When a myth identify “current way of being” and “new way of
opens us.
begins to show itself, it often signals us being” metaphors, a transformational narrative
What might this look like? While there
somatically. You can feel an archetype taking can begin to inform your life, intuitively, every
are common themes within our common history,
you over and imbuing you with new capacities. day, in random moments. You might notice
each individual’s particular metaphors are
You discover that something in you is ready to opportunities to shift from one way of being to
unique. Some lives are heroic in their experience
take over, an intelligence that already knows another in any moment, perhaps many times a
of discomfort, pain, and distress. In such cases,
how to be the sovereign – the lover, the tantric, day. And over the course of years of practice, a
the heroic task is for the heart to rise and
the tragic hero, or the magician. This is a fractal powerful transition will begin, mature, and even
willingly hold this pain, so as to transmute it,
pattern that is enacted again and again, in micro stabilize.
rather than just contracting or withdrawing and
and macro scales, during the process of
pulling away in the face of the pain. The hero’s
authentic soul work. It can take place in an hour For Information on the Author, Terry Patten,
work is to find a way to use the pain, working
even while it is unfolding in larger terms over a Visit his website at TerryPatten.com []
with opposites, holding tensions and paradox,
period of months.
recognizing that life in a violent, mortal world in
A NEW REPUBLIC OF

THE HEART

AN ETHOS FOR

REVOLUTIONARIES

by Terry Patten

In the midst of today’s global crises, many of us
recognize the need for radical change if we are to
build a truly sustainable future. In A New Republic of
the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries, Terry Patten
Download a free PDF + MP3 provides a deep, practical approach to “being the
change” that the world needs — now more than ever.
excerpt here:
A New Republic of the Heart should be required reading for
www.terrypatten.com/nrh/ all humans over the age of 16.

— Stanley Krippner, PhD, co-author of Personal Mythology