The Backside of the Tapestry
When we gaze at something that appears to be perfect and oh so beautiful, we can feel as if it all came together easily without upsets or struggle. And it would be wonderful if our lives were like that — free from strife.
Many of us on a spiritual path have been told repeatedly that we are creating our own reality. We look at these so called perfect productions of those whom we believe are creating a better reality than the one we are experiencing and assume they have something we don’t. The fact is: what they produced and show to the world is what they have been focused on. Behind the scenes, it was messy. You are just not viewing that side of the tapestry.
This thought pattern and idea came to me from Christine, a very dear reader in Papua, New Guinea. At the end of one of her emails, she pointed out that the back of a hand designed tapestry is always messy. I loved her analogy and in a metaphorical way, this does ring true. She wrote this in response to my references (in my memoir) to our lives, combined in unison, creating one huge tapestry.
We tend to look at those we hold in hero and heroine positions in our world as having something extra that we don’t. Often, we may think they are lucky, more beautiful, talented or at the right place at the right time. We are only looking at the front of the tapestry. If we look at the backside, there is probably a tangled mess of threads intersecting and tied in knots.
And let’s say that the backside is the inside of you and me. There is what we present to the world and there is what rests primarily most of the time in our thoughts. Those thoughts make up our frequency or vibration. It is where we are resonating most of the time. Our resonance and patterns contained within it affect the situations and people we attract into our lives. And this will form the patterns and picture on the front of the tapestry.
Without those loose and tangled threads on the back, we have no design presented on the front. It is the task of going through experiences and integrating those into our being that result in the final piece of art.
If we look closely at our heroine and really examine what she is presenting to the world, we will find some flaws in her tapestry. We will find that she has a few loose threads that need to be repaired. She decides those loose threads no longer serve her. They represent something that is not in alignment with her true inner being.
She desires to shine and express something better. Realizing these loose threads are bothering her like a hangnail, she turns herself over and lovingly examines where these loose threads (thoughts) originate from. She gently ties them up, clipping away the excess that is no longer needed — remaining focused on the finished piece of art, not on what has gone on behind her. Because it is the finished piece that gives her joy and spreads that feeling to others.
There are tapestries with less loose threads on the back. They’ve been dealt with … tied up neatly, trimmed and clipped. So, when we turn this piece of art over and examine it, we can see that someone has lovingly paid attention to this part of it as well. Even though it is not the public side of the art, someone thought to clean up the backside and not leave it in disarray. And it resulted in a more vibrant, intricate and beautiful piece of art.
Obviously, this is what we are doing when we go deep inside and examine our patterns that are making up what we present to the world. The more clean up we do to the back of the tapestry, the tighter and more cohesive the front side is as well.
The backside doesn’t have to look what we have determined is pretty any more than the inside of your body has to be viewed as beautiful if you were to open up your torso. But your insides are gorgeous and beyond wonder if you think on a deep level of what goes into making you human and how everything is working together inside of you to produce a wondrous biological entity encasing a spirit that is here having many experiences.
Let us not be afraid to turn the tapestry over and look at everything that makes up our inner selves. And if we see loose threads that need tightening, allow our fingers to be nimble, tying with a precision that is effortless and smooth. We are focused on what we are becoming and only look at where we have been to see how much we have grown.
As Pythia, the ancient Oracle of Delphi espoused, “Know Thyself”.
Many of us on a spiritual path have been told repeatedly that we are creating our own reality. We look at these so called perfect productions of those whom we believe are creating a better reality than the one we are experiencing and assume they have something we don’t. The fact is: what they produced and show to the world is what they have been focused on. Behind the scenes, it was messy. You are just not viewing that side of the tapestry.
This thought pattern and idea came to me from Christine, a very dear reader in Papua, New Guinea. At the end of one of her emails, she pointed out that the back of a hand designed tapestry is always messy. I loved her analogy and in a metaphorical way, this does ring true. She wrote this in response to my references (in my memoir) to our lives, combined in unison, creating one huge tapestry.
We tend to look at those we hold in hero and heroine positions in our world as having something extra that we don’t. Often, we may think they are lucky, more beautiful, talented or at the right place at the right time. We are only looking at the front of the tapestry. If we look at the backside, there is probably a tangled mess of threads intersecting and tied in knots.
And let’s say that the backside is the inside of you and me. There is what we present to the world and there is what rests primarily most of the time in our thoughts. Those thoughts make up our frequency or vibration. It is where we are resonating most of the time. Our resonance and patterns contained within it affect the situations and people we attract into our lives. And this will form the patterns and picture on the front of the tapestry.
Without those loose and tangled threads on the back, we have no design presented on the front. It is the task of going through experiences and integrating those into our being that result in the final piece of art.
If we look closely at our heroine and really examine what she is presenting to the world, we will find some flaws in her tapestry. We will find that she has a few loose threads that need to be repaired. She decides those loose threads no longer serve her. They represent something that is not in alignment with her true inner being.
She desires to shine and express something better. Realizing these loose threads are bothering her like a hangnail, she turns herself over and lovingly examines where these loose threads (thoughts) originate from. She gently ties them up, clipping away the excess that is no longer needed — remaining focused on the finished piece of art, not on what has gone on behind her. Because it is the finished piece that gives her joy and spreads that feeling to others.
There are tapestries with less loose threads on the back. They’ve been dealt with … tied up neatly, trimmed and clipped. So, when we turn this piece of art over and examine it, we can see that someone has lovingly paid attention to this part of it as well. Even though it is not the public side of the art, someone thought to clean up the backside and not leave it in disarray. And it resulted in a more vibrant, intricate and beautiful piece of art.
Obviously, this is what we are doing when we go deep inside and examine our patterns that are making up what we present to the world. The more clean up we do to the back of the tapestry, the tighter and more cohesive the front side is as well.
The backside doesn’t have to look what we have determined is pretty any more than the inside of your body has to be viewed as beautiful if you were to open up your torso. But your insides are gorgeous and beyond wonder if you think on a deep level of what goes into making you human and how everything is working together inside of you to produce a wondrous biological entity encasing a spirit that is here having many experiences.
Let us not be afraid to turn the tapestry over and look at everything that makes up our inner selves. And if we see loose threads that need tightening, allow our fingers to be nimble, tying with a precision that is effortless and smooth. We are focused on what we are becoming and only look at where we have been to see how much we have grown.
As Pythia, the ancient Oracle of Delphi espoused, “Know Thyself”.
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