Fierce Grace
17 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Consciousness, Ram Dass, Yoga Benefits, Yoga Meditation, Yoga Philosophies
There are times in life when an incident or event are so intense, or overwhelming, that it causes us to stop in our tracks. Fierce means something intense or even violent. Grace has several meanings including divine assistance, a reprieve, or even a pause or turn in music. In trying to find meaning of the term Fierce Grace, I naturally Googled it and found a documentary movie of Ram Dass and his recovery and life after a stroke.
I could relate to a lot of what Dass said as he described the frustration of working with his mind and body, seeing my own mother deal with these same issues in the last few years. For Dass, the overwhelming part, the fierce part, was the stroke; the grace of course was the reprieve or clemency of not having his life end with the stroke. He said he remembered lying there in the ER and looking up at the pipes in the ceiling and try as he might, he could not make the connection to the spiritual. He said he “flunked the test” and was sent back (to continue working on enlightenment). Not only was he given a pause, or turn, as he lay on the table, but he was given clemency and chance to try again. Not fair perhaps, because he has the added limitation of aphasia to contend with, but nevertheless, the opportunity for growth and change, no matter how difficult the obstacles now.
For the rest of us, living in Fierce Grace means aggressively pursuing the change in the trajectory of our journey and the reprieve, pause, or divine intervention it brings, rather than waiting for the universe to force us there. We spend much of life maintaining routines that are safe, but possibly no longer useful. What would it take to suddenly drop the routine? When will we recognize obstacles as blessings? How could we live with less and be more happy? The crumbling away of what we think we know is difficult, but that is transformation. It is an unnerving, but necessary, process. Just as the fierceness of fire transforms solids into gas, the intensity of our lives can help us realize our full potential.
