i am the lion and
you are the lamb and
as prophesied,
we will lie down together.
because love is greater
than the sum of its parts.
from love: study 1
Waking Up at Rembrandt's
The sky tells its own stories. Like the one written down in the English proverb where March comes in like a lion and then leaves like a lamb. If you watch the night sky, the constellation Leo rises in late February and by April's dawn, Aries has taken its place.
Though the stars foretell this story of growth, of self-awareness, of maturing and finding peace, it doesn't always happen. In fact, it doesn't happen that often.
Most people do not find peace. We come into the world with a roar. Screaming our names to the sky. Pissed off about the bumpy flight. Unhappy we had to leave our warm and cozy wombs. We scream and cry throughout early childhood, often for no apparent reason. By age two, the ego has come onto center stage, doing what the ego does best: want. Perpetually want, no matter how many wants are met, never being satisfied.
In most cases, this behavior does not stop with toddlerhood. Though we grow into adult-sized bodies, take on adult-sized tasks, pay adult-sized bills, feed and dress ourselves, we are still prone to the same tantrums. Sometimes we throw these tantrums where others can see; most often they rage on inside us.
The wars we've become hopelessly addicted to in the world at large actually rage inside each one of us. The corporate world’s destructive greed comes from our own insatiable hunger. The anger and hatred we show one another comes from the lion's roar inside each of us. From an animal inside us who -- despite the years, the clothes, the utensils, and the words it has learned -- has blindly refused to evolve. Or maybe it simply forgot it was supposed to.
Maybe it stopped looking up at the sky for guidance. It stopped reading the stories of the lions who went before it. It closed its eyes to beauty. It came to believe the lie that survival depends upon burying the heart. When the opposite is actually true.
Fear an ignorant man more than a lion.
-Turkish proverb
The lamb knows the simple answer that eludes many searching lions: Letting go is the secret to everything. Letting go is understanding that this moment is enough. In this, the lamb loves more fiercely than any lost lion can imagine. In this, the lamb is the lionhearted.
In that case, go ahead, roar like a lamb.