"There's no leader of this band, and there never will be. That's the key. You can't control how the public perceives you -- people see rock 'n' roll bands as the guitar player and the singer." -- Shannon Hoon
In everything we do, people slip into curious "roles." For a while, I was described as the “horse girl.” Then the “yoga girl.” Now, I suppose I’m the “writer.” But when I get deeper with it, something interesting comes to mind; I’m aware that these roles are merely created out of perception. And how I see others is directly related to my personal perception, to be exact.
But strangely, in a spiritual realm, these titles or labels don’t seem to exist at all. Because according to nature and all great spiritual leaders, everyone in the band is indeed important, so why do we single people out and raise them up as if they're "the ones"? And why do others disappear, fading into the background? Why do we film someone having breakfast? Why does someone else dine alone next to the sewer grate? Why does one man’s swipe of hand determine the fate of an entire country?
Throughout my day, I may glance around and see someone as a manager, an actor, a spoiled child, a diplomat, or a thief. But when it comes down to it, these perceptions are just that – perceptions. Superstar, punk, janitor, drummer, executive, chef, dishwasher, president -- all perception. Because what rests inside the soul may be altogether different and complex. Indeed, paying attention to the soul takes a wicked, devoted, spiritual gangster. In every great religious, psychic, or sacred text, from Native American philosophy to Christianity, there exists the creation story, as well as the notion of soul, or “god on the inside,” or the holy ghost, or the Buddha, or whatever name we choose. Jesus, Gandhi – part human, part divine, a mirror. Like us.
So take a look at the chef. Maybe he secretly wants to make butterfly wood carvings, and that is his true calling. Maybe the executive would rather be a tour guide in the Grand Canyon. Maybe the drummer dreams of swimming across random oceans, because he loves sharks. And perhaps the superstar simply wants to curl up on the couch with someone and experience love, but he or she can't seem to find it inside the work, because he never learned how to love. Maybe that guy with millions of followers can never feel full, because what he really wants is a son or a daughter. And then there’s me – I’d rather be holding hands with someone, taking a walk, instead of writing this piece, but I’ve failed to make that leap, because I am afraid, and I never learned how to receive love. The “god inside” is telling us these whispery hints each and every day.
But since we are human, sometimes we fail to hear the voice.
If we all saw each other as spirits here to follow a true purpose, the labels would ultimately disappear. We would be dead even, on a collective journey, and the appearances and roles wouldn't matter at all. We would simply understand that each person’s ultimate “reach” was true and right.
Everyone is in the band. And if all of the spiritual giants are even remotely on target, no one is the director. We are all here trying to figure things out, which means that no one human being is in charge. I have no say on your true path, and you have no say on my true path, because the answers rest within our own souls, and within our own divine direction.
Seems to me that everyone is in the band, and everything is a free choice.
Nature knows this. Within nature, at all times, each part pays attention to the “god inside.” Nature, as a whole, is the ultimate representation of individual divine purpose. Seems to me that any shark, worm, black snake, dogwood tree, blade of grass, or forest understands the reciprocal need that is necessary for planet survival. Each acts individually as part of a perfect whole. And yet, God, or whatever you choose to call the divine order of things, is invisible, intangible, and mysterious; the “unseen” shows the true power of ultimate love, and the mystery of it allows us all to have complete free will.
If we mimicked nature, it would be a definitive expression of freedom within a collective pattern. Seems to me that when it comes to free choice, any Moses, Eve, Gandhi, or Noah would agree. Seems to me that all of creation and God, however one names this being, this force, this intangible, unknown band leader, would agree.
Today, you are “the reader,” and I may be “the writer,” but tomorrow, I may want to set my books on fire and become a skydiver. And no god would stop me from doing so, because as it has been since the beginning of time, what I do with my body is a free choice, one made by no man alive. Amen.
C.A. MacConnell
