RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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Em hotep all!
As I always say African Traditional religions are first and formost concerned with LIFE
I have found that when I am living Ma'at, when I am really on track with both those activities that are directly religious and the rest of my life....some wonderful things happen and good things seem to open up and fall my way.
That is not to say being on path is always easy
I thought we might want to discuss how we recognize when we are and are not "on path".
Thoughts?:
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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Llyne_Merytamon
Priest Candidate / Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator
Reged: 08/10/02
Posts: 519
Loc: Seattle, WA -- Land of Tefnut!
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Em hotep *bow*
Oddly appropriate timing -- for the past two evenings I've done Daily Rite, for the first time in a long time. Consistent practice isn't currently one of my strong points.
I've been struggling with depression, and yesterday (the first day after starting again), things were much easier than usual. I had the energy and the mindset to do tasks I'd been procrastinating on, things I knew would make me feel better but just seemed overwhelming - dishes, laundry, balancing the checkbook, grocery shopping, etc.
All this after an incredibly hectic day at work, that I managed to walk out of in a decent mood.
Being able to do these things makes me feel better, and I know that they are things that make me feel better when they're done in and of themselves.
Stopping to check in with Netjer and really acknowledge where I was and how I was feeling, and ask for help, did a lot for me -- started a positive spiral upwards.
I became more aligned and in tune with Ma'at. 
-- Llyne Merytamon.
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You can surrender
Without a prayer
But never really pray
Pray without surrender -- Rush
Llyne Burton, Priest Candidate
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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WabSandie
Senior Wab Priest /Ritual Coordinator
Reged: 04/11/02
Posts: 898
Loc: Austin, TX, USA
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Em hotep! *bow*
Great topic!
When I am on path, I feel alive, energetic, inspired, optimistic, fulfilled, like the world is good, like I have unlimited options, and like what I do matters. Things go more smoothly, like fewer traffic hassles, fewer problems at work, all sorts of little and big reminders that the world is harmonious. I tend to notice more beauty in the world and just feel more open, more joyous, more "right".
When I am not on path, I am grumpy, low-energy, pessimistic, scattered, feel dissatisfied, get annoyed easily, and I feel like life is just pretty dingy and a chore. I learned long ago life is much better when I stay on path! 
Senebty!
Wab Sandie
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Senior Wab Priest of HetHert-Sekhmet --|<>]
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
www.per-ankh.org
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crimson
KOL
Reged: 04/07/03
Posts: 508
Loc: Nottingham, england
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em hotep *bow*
i often find that when i am not on my path, things tend to go badly...not that they always go smoothly when i am on the right path however...but it is different...when i am on the right path and "bad" things happen, they tend to be lessons i must learn and they tend to make me a better person, but when i am on the wrong path, it seems that i am going against the flow of the river and everything seems to be a struggle....
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Clay
Priest Candidate
Reged: 04/10/02
Posts: 176
Loc: MD, U.S.A
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19 Mar 04
m htp,
*bow*
Being on path, I listen and hear Ntr better, opportunities arise and a fresh view on people, matters and circumstances appear. To echo everyone else a bit, an optimism overcomes me, the world seems ripe with possibilities, newer.
What I like best though, are the quieter moments – when after Rite, the day simply is. I may be at work or at home, reading, or out with friends. Yet, all the while I am surrounded by the humbling sensation of giving love and through it worship, and of being loved in return. Sometimes this sensation swells from the region of my heart, into my throat... joy transformed into an urge to write. This is my favorite expression, writing.
On path, my entire self is relaxed and open, ready to serve in any capacity.
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"Holy baboon with shining mane --
my heart belongs to him.
O Djehuty; I shall never fear what you do."
Shanee Crystal Gbelawoe, Priest Candidate
Per AnkhThe Traditional Reigion of Ancient Egypt
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Caithlyn
Priest Candidate
Reged: 08/05/02
Posts: 253
Loc: Ada, Ohio
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Em Hotep!
*bows*
This is a very appropriate topic and one that I have been giving a lot of consideration to of late. I took some time off from my daily ritual routine. For some reason, finding excuses not to do the rite or to make that respectful connection with the Netjeru was easier than purifying and having rite. And for a while, I was lost in a world wind of doubts and a constant state of, what I call, 'moving through mud'. I still felt that the Netjeru were in the world, I just didn't feel like They were communicating with me. That for some reason I had become 'unworthy'.
It wasn't that They weren't talking to me, or that I was unworthy of Their attentions, it was that I was failing to make time to honor Them. I was not holding up my side of the relationship.
Having re-established my daily routine of doing the rite, meditation and living in better accordance with Ma'at, I am finding that the 'mud' has gone away. That inspiration and messages are flooding back... sometimes too many messages. But the connection and the relationship is building again.
I think for me, I might have gotten to a point where I took some part of that relationship for granted... almost like when I was a Christian and I said the Lord's Prayer. I would say it so many times, that I never thought about what the words meant, or what the intention was in saying it. So, for me, I needed that break, because I can see and understand so much more clearly just how important being on 'The Path' and Walking with Ma'at really is. It isn't around saying the words, although they are very important, it is about keeping it alive and honest within your heart. To make sure that you don't take something for granted and go through the motions, but take a moment... thing, consider and really communicate. And then be open to the outcome of that relationship and put that into action in your daily life. Carrying it with you every minute, of every day.
This is what Being on the Path has been like for me, and being off of it.
Senebty,
Caithlyn
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Caithlyn Hydock, Priest Candidate
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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ShaRenKa_Acre
KOL
Reged: 03/13/04
Posts: 59
Loc: NY
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Em Hotep Caithlyn....
*BOW*
I feel the very same right now...I mean...not having the time for prayer/worship ect due to not feeling well...and basicly waiting each night for the sun to go down just so I can go to bed...and perhaps for a while forget my pains ect...all else around me has been falling apart. Bills...home life...family life and most of all my life with Netjer....I have to find a way out of this hole and get back on path before I'm burried. Just 5 mos ago..things were so much better..having had more time and energy to do so...but as of late...not so good. It's people in here...Kemet...that have helped me alot in just the few days I've been in here. Reading all your posts ect...has opened my eyes to refocusing not on my physical problems....but instead focus back on Netjer, then and only then will things fall back into place. Enshala ShaRenKa
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Shepenmut
KOL
Reged: 10/17/02
Posts: 753
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I strayed from the path and trying to find my way back. Procrastination and right out deceitfulness to my mother is what to blame. My mother did not understand nor approve of my religion.
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WabJenSoko
Wab Priest / KOL Newsletter Editor / Central Regio
Reged: 08/22/01
Posts: 850
Loc: Lost in Middle America
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Hotep *bow*
Being on Path (and my mind keeps switching the letters to think I'm reading "being on Ptah" which is a completely different (and more than a little scary) thing )--most important thing to remember for me is that being on path is a journey, not a destination.
Someone once told me that the thing to remember about Ma'at is that it's a road you travel. In one direction, there's isfet. In the other, there's Ma'at. We often find ourselves traveling towards isfet, and like begets like. The crap starts piling up until we need to pull our boots up to our eyeballs. However, all it takes to get back on the path to Ma'at is simply to turn around to face the other direction. Like the old saying--first thing you do when you find you're in a hole is QUIT DIGGING! Yet many of us still hold on to our shovels in a death-grip, because we keep thinking we have to shovel the crap out, when what we really need to do is put the shovel down and start walking up the slope.
What we're not used to here in the west is making things right in the spirit world first. We keep thinking that if we have the outer shell (the small stuff) all dusted up nice and shiny, then we can fill it with goodness later on. That ain't the way things work when you're kemetic (or approaching kemetic) - we work closely with the spirit world, and by doing so, we tacitly accept that since we can affect it, that it can also affect us. That means we have to maintain it the way we maintain our outer lives.
It's hard to get out of a downward rut. But making the initial effort doesn't have to be a big thing. It's hard to break the inertia of isfet, but keep in mind that the benefits of doing so are cumulative. I notice that if I get into ruts like this, when I finally get off my franny and start something, even if it's small, other small things start happening to complement it. I perform daily rite and I develop the energy to load the dishwasher twice in one day, thereby letting me go to bed with an empty sink. Which spurs me on the following morning to clean the counters, and with a clean counter on which to set my laptop, I can finally get over the hump of that one scene that's kept my story from progressing. Getting that unstuck then lets me move on to the horizontal filing cabinet that is my dining room table, which gives me a clean space to open up my writing notebooks and start scribbling brainstorming ideas about my next few chapters. That gets me into a good enough mood to take my son out to play at the bookstore or somewhere else that kids can jump around, like our local YMCA. I come back and I'm ready to tackle the living room with all the toys, etc. etc. etc. Pretty soon, I have a house I can live with, my writing is flowing, my kid isn't climbing the walls from boredom, and daily rite is something I look forward to every day.
It doesn't happen overnight. But it does happen. All it takes is that turn around to look towards Ma'at.
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senebty,
Jen Sokoloski, Wab Priest of Ptah
Per AnkhThe Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
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ShaRenKa_Acre
KOL
Reged: 03/13/04
Posts: 59
Loc: NY
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Em Hotep Wab JenSoko!
*Bow*
First off...let me say I love your humor in your writing;) Made me laugh a few times. But so right about Path. After last nights solitude/prayers ect...(till almost 5 am this morning) I came up refreshed..new wind, and can see alight at the end of the tunnel. I know it will be slow going...as you put it..as I my boots were to my eyes, but since last night...they shrunk down to my chin;) It's a snowball effect....it took several months to get this bad...will most likely take as long to "Shovel" the last bit out! I am back on path....and have many of you to thank....not only for the prayers...but also for all the enlightenment I have gotten from reading many many forums. All are so positive...and full of Light....and it's contageous;) Enshala ShaRenKa
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WabAndy
Wab Priest
Reged: 12/31/02
Posts: 453
Loc: New Hampshire
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Wab Jen - briliant post!! I think this is criticaly important thing about our faith and perhaps someitng we need to coumunicate about more activeley and more often (if only to remind ourselves!!)
ShaRenKa - yes - it definatley can take time to get out of that sort of place - but at the same time - it's AMAZING to me sometimes that when I AM able to realise where I am and turn around and start in the other direction how quickley things start to move - and the effect is cumulative and exponential.
Take care,
Andy
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Andy Dolph, Wab Priest Aset-Hethert
Per Ankh The Traditional Reigion of Ancient Egypt
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Skye
KOL
Reged: 01/29/02
Posts: 597
Loc: Somewhere
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em hotep,
"being on Ptah". LOL! now that was the best start i've ever seen!
of course, when i'm on path, i'm happy.
when i'm not, i'm sick.
that sums it up, without any "sob-sniff-sob"-messages.
being on the path is actually very hard for me, but everytime i've lost it, i have found my way back.
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Nailed to the Sky - my journal
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RevSedgwick
Heri Tep Hem Netjer
Reged: 04/12/02
Posts: 361
Loc: Racine, WI
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Em hotep! <bow>
Quote:
i often find that when i am not on my path, things tend to go badly...not that they always go smoothly when i am on the right path however...but when i am on the wrong path, it seems that i am going against the flow of the river and everything seems to be a struggle....
Being on path has never meant for me that everything goes well, or goes right. As Crimson says here, there will always be things that go badly. When I am Queen of the Universe, everything will be perfect--but since I never will be, well don't hold your breath.
I say that because my desire to have everything in my life go well has often translated into a desire to be Netjer, to be in control of everything. 
But I echo Crimson that there is a difference between the difficulties I experience when I'm on path and those I experience when I'm off. I like her image: when I'm off path, I am always swimming up the river against the current. There is a sense of wrongness--that is, error--in my whole way of thinking about my life.
Getting back on path, then, means shifting how I perceive and how I think. It has nothing to do with changing the outside world.
And--I cannot speak to what it would be like to be on Ptah. I have no information on that point.
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Rev Sedgwick Heskett, Hemet NebetHet-Nit and Amun
Heri Tep Hem Netjer Per Ankh
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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RevSedgwick
Heri Tep Hem Netjer
Reged: 04/12/02
Posts: 361
Loc: Racine, WI
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Em hotep! <bow>
Quote:
Yet, all the while I am surrounded by the humbling sensation of giving love and through it worship, and of being loved in return.
This goes back, doesn't it, to the discussion of Nefertem and the understanding that sometimes Netjer just wants us to be in Its presence. We look at Netjer as Netjer looks at us.
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Rev Sedgwick Heskett, Hemet NebetHet-Nit and Amun
Heri Tep Hem Netjer Per Ankh
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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RevSedgwick
Heri Tep Hem Netjer
Reged: 04/12/02
Posts: 361
Loc: Racine, WI
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Em hotep! <bow>
As always, Wab Jen provides us with a clear and powerful image:
Quote:
Someone once told me that the thing to remember about Ma'at is that it's a road you travel. In one direction, there's isfet. In the other, there's Ma'at. We often find ourselves traveling towards isfet, and like begets like. The crap starts piling up until we need to pull our boots up to our eyeballs. However, all it takes to get back on the path to Ma'at is simply to turn around to face the other direction. Like the old saying--first thing you do when you find you're in a hole is QUIT DIGGING! Yet many of us still hold on to our shovels in a death-grip, because we keep thinking we have to shovel the crap out, when what we really need to do is put the shovel down and start walking up the slope.
Yes, the muck--or, as Caithlyn called it, the mud--can get pretty deep, and our waders need to become hip-boots. And yes, we often do keep digging in the mistaken impression that we are shoveling out the muck, cleaning and polishing up our lives to make room for Netjer after that's all done.
And yes, all we really have to do is to put down the shovel, turn around the other way, and start walking.
And at the same time, I find that looking at being off path is sometimes as simple as having stepped literally off the path, into the grass; and all I need to do is to step back. That usually takes noticing that I've become distracted and gotten a little lost. So I put Netjer first again, and there is the path, all laid out in front of me.
The problem with being on path, I find, is that I don't know from one step to the next exactly where I'm going, where it is taking me. The horizon is very close; I can't see over it. And I want to make a leap to get where I'm going right now. I want, not a pair of waders, but a pair of those hundred-league boots the fairy tales talk about.
But the reality as I've discovered it is that walking one's path, like taking care of one's life, as Llyne talked about above, is much more a matter of small steps. Wab Jen describes loading the dishwasher at night, so that in the morning the sink is clean, which inspires her to clean off the counter, so that she can write part of that tricky chapter, which gives her encouragement to clean off the table and write down her ideas, thus energising her enough to take her son to play group, which makes him calm and happy so that she can go home and straighten the living room, etc.
Yes--just one step after another, little steps, and all beginning with being in Netjer's presence in the Daily Rite.
Llyne, here's a question for you: Do you think this is the place to talk about FlyLady?
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Rev Sedgwick Heskett, Hemet NebetHet-Nit and Amun
Heri Tep Hem Netjer Per Ankh
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Should one who tries to control his own destiny too much let it go to let the gravity of the path pull you back to the rightful way?
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WabJenSoko
Wab Priest / KOL Newsletter Editor / Central Regio
Reged: 08/22/01
Posts: 850
Loc: Lost in Middle America
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Quote:
Should one who tries to control his own destiny too much let it go to let the gravity of the path pull you back to the rightful way?
Hotep, Anon *bow*
In a word, yes. And here's why. The people of Kemet believed that life was inherently abundant, and that the universe actually gravitates *towards* the path of Ma'at. It is the choices we make that can take us off path, and thus away from the abundance that is present in the world when you are facing in the direction of Ma'at. This is not the same as saying that everything bad that happens to a person is somehow their fault--far from it. Instead, it is saying that in reacting to Events That Happen, our choices either contribute towards the greater Ma'at, or they take away from it.
This belief in abundance is something we here in KTR-land have found to be as true as the ancients did. And it's a different way of thinking than the usual "life sucks and then you die" attitude that kind of pervades modern western thinking. Kemetic thinking says, "life's great, and if you don't see it, then take the hood off!" For us moderns, it sometimes takes a great effort to really believe this, given the world we live in, and the emphasis on suffering we see on the news every day, and the personal problems that seem to be like heat-seeking missiles aimed right towards our foreheads. However, when you make an effort to see the abundance in the world, it sort of seeps into the foreground, and those slings and arrows of outrageous fortune don't seem like the only things happening to us. And they soon begin to seem like insignificant things, compared to the rich abundance of the entire world around us.
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senebty,
Jen Sokoloski, Wab Priest of Ptah
Per AnkhThe Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
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RevSedgwick
Heri Tep Hem Netjer
Reged: 04/12/02
Posts: 361
Loc: Racine, WI
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Hotep, Anon and all! <bow>
Wab Jen says, Quote:
For us moderns, it sometimes takes a great effort to really believe this, given the world we live in, and the emphasis on suffering we see on the news every day, and the personal problems that seem to be like heat-seeking missiles aimed right towards our foreheads.
In fact, it's easier to say this than to live it. There is a whole literature that counsels us to learn from our suffering, to allow ourselves to be opened up by our pain, and to let our pain teach us what we have in common with the rest of humanity and soften us toward others. I agree with all that.
I sometimes wonder, though, why people keep writing, buying, and reading these books. In our culture it's much harder to believe that we can learn anything from our joy. In fact, I think it's pretty hard for us to have joy, or even to believe we can or should have joy. This is where our Kemetic ancestors--in fact our ancestors in African religions in general--had the advantage over us. They observed the flooding and receding of the Nile, and their complete inability to control it so as to ensure a good harvest, and they concluded that Netjer had created a world of incomparable abundance. I'll bet an awful lot of us moderns would conclude that our world was uncertain and scary given those same facts.
I have served Nebet Het, in various forms, all my life, and I'm really, really comfortable in the underworld. You might ask Rev Renee about that sometime. There is a funny story she tells about how much I love the underworld. I had to learn how to love the sunlight. Now I have both.
Blessings!
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Rev Sedgwick Heskett, Hemet NebetHet-Nit and Amun
Heri Tep Hem Netjer Per Ankh
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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Caithlyn
Priest Candidate
Reged: 08/05/02
Posts: 253
Loc: Ada, Ohio
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Em Hotep, ShaRenKa!
*bows*
Like so many have already mentioned, when you feel like you are in a hole, stop digging. And this sounds so easy. In fact it is very easy to see, but not very easy to do. I know, I've been there a time or two.
I think though, and I believe with all my heart, that good energy begets good energy, and bad energy begets bad. Therefore, like Wab Jen has mentioned a few times, if you just turn around and start, the outcome will be almost immediate. Just keep your expecations realistic, and what I mean by that is ... your problems will not solve themself, however, by making the first steps back toward the Path of Ma'at you are putting energy in motion.
The lesson that I have learned, is that it is not enough to just put the energy in motion, you have to put action in motion also. You (and I mean myself in this title) need to follow your Daily Rite with accomplishing goals that will keep you moving in the right direction.
I hope this makes some sense to you... it was my clue by four this week.
Senebty,
Caithlyn
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Caithlyn Hydock, Priest Candidate
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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Quote:
have served Nebet Het, in various forms, all my life, and I'm really, really comfortable in the underworld. You might ask Rev Renee about that sometime.
Em hotep Rev Sedgwick
:Bow:
Oh you mean about my reaction to your claim that Ereshkagal, Morrigan, Oya and Nebet Het are so "reliable"
And I answer
"Yeah like death and taxes---literally!"
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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Clay
Priest Candidate
Reged: 04/10/02
Posts: 176
Loc: MD, U.S.A
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27 March 04
m htp,
*bow*
A "little" story -- bear with me, people!
One of the times in which I was on path, I didn’t even realize it. It was early on, pre-Kemetic, just beginning to put out feelers for my spiritual path when this idea popped full into my head. I basically asked for it without realizing what I was asking for, which I now know can get you more than you bargained for. What I got was this: Life is wonderful, it is helpful. There is a force which exists all around, and it seeks only to aid and to lead people to being the best possible person they could be.
I had no idea where this idea, this enormous certainty had come from but I believed it. And my entire view of the world shifted. The good, the bad... oh, the bad – those “little earthquakes” life hands us. “The bad” was still bad , however, I realized it wasn’t happening to wreck me or stunt me. Just the opposite. These shake ups were revealing new possibilities in my life, making necessary changes. Set, anyone? I mean, now it’s so obvious. At the time I was like, what’s my path, I still don’t get it! 
You know, I wish I had known you at this point, Rev. Renee, I really do! You would have sat me down and said, guess what!! Instead, after I told my friends, they literally patted me on the head. Called me an optimist, the Black Pollyanna (played by Keisha Knight-Pulliam, Rudy from the Cosby Show, by the way. Yes, I actually know that. I love the original Pollyanna, I’m not ashamed to admit!  ). Actually that created an entirely new situation in which my friends expressed glee almost when something went wrong for me. They so wanted me to not believe what I believed, it was amazing. Weird, how people are sometimes. 
Anyway, I didn’t care. I knew it was true and that was all that mattered. One of the sweetest periods of my life. I had let go of worry, fear, despair without realizing I had; I still felt every one of those emotions, I just didn’t dwell on it or let it incapacitate me. So, what happened, you ask? Well, I stopped believing in that force, in Ntr. Why? I stood still. I don’t know at what point it happened but I stopped actively taking part in my own growth, in my budding relationship with this greater power.
It’s all well and good to appreciate Ntr, the influences and signs of Their existence/presence within your life. However, you can’t just let everything happen to you. This is a flowing, back and forth relationship which requires the input of both energies. This is what was missing, what I had failed to grasp, to learn, at the time of my revelation.
Which brings me to returning to the path. The view can be so different, it sometimes floors me. A slew of new sensations, realizations, insights, aspects are revealed. Maybe instead something with which you were previously familiar is no longer so immediate, so at your fingertips. An ‘argh!’, sorrowful experience, to be sure.
It is part perplexing, distressing and wonderful, that first return step onto the path.
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"Holy baboon with shining mane --
my heart belongs to him.
O Djehuty; I shall never fear what you do."
Shanee Crystal Gbelawoe, Priest Candidate
Per AnkhThe Traditional Reigion of Ancient Egypt
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RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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WOW
Hotep <bow>
I must say we have some very articulate folks around here..and very deep...
The sort of depth that comes not merely from writing skill..but from experience and from embracing that process of gaining experience which is life
And I imagine you think I would have labeled you as having a dominance of Het Hert energy eh? chuckle
Depends whether I would have seen the Her hert or Djehuty resemblance first
Best
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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RevSedgwick
Heri Tep Hem Netjer
Reged: 04/12/02
Posts: 361
Loc: Racine, WI
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Em hotep! <bow>
I reread this thread tonight from the beginning and was wowwed all over again.
[Except I have one little question: Rev Renee, what WERE you up doing at 2:43 a.m. Good grief, woman, go to sleep! Ahem--this interruption is now concluded.]
I reread this thread after reading the whole thread about facts and meaning in Egyptian religion, and it occurred to me that there are the facts about being off or on path, and then there is the meaning about it. The meaning is easier for me to understand in this moment. When I'm on path, small steps keep me moving toward ma'at. When I'm off path, small steps start me down a slippery slope toward--well, lethargy, boredom, unproductivity. The opposite, in fact, of what Shanee/Clay described above as the back and forth of relationship and action. When I'm on path, "problems" are in perspective, and that perspective is large enough that I can see the context and thus the value of events that in a smaller view would seem merely annoying and destructive. That seem annoying and destructive, in fact, when I'm off path.
That much is pretty clear right now. What isn't so clear is how to recognise the signs of being on or off path. The reality in my life is that the same actions and events can be a signal for either on-ness or off-ness. Discernment then becomes a matter, as Wab Jen said elsewhere, of culture and context.
For instance: I spend several hours a day watching TV (only the educational shows, of course--not!) and knitting. Am I on path or off? Well, if I'm simply avoiding doing what I need to do--then probably off. If I'm recuperating and recharging my batteries after dealing with family crisis and illness--then probably on. And how long, precisely, is the TV and knitting still on path? Well, it's hard to say. The discernment may be a matter of recognising some simple changes in how it feels to be watching, etc. Or it may be Rev Renee looking askance at me. Or it may be waking up one morning feeling ready to tackle grading papers and writing. I can't predict; I can only pay attention.
And in the end that may be the best indication of on-ness or off-ness: how well and how clearly I can pay attention to the small stuff.
Rev Sedgwick
--------------------
Rev Sedgwick Heskett, Hemet NebetHet-Nit and Amun
Heri Tep Hem Netjer Per Ankh
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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