Across the Wall of Flame

What is Across the Wall of Flame? We must act with courage through the wall of flame into the more enormous sea, as a man in a burning boat has only one way to live. Over time, we all discover an old mindset, way of thinking, or way of living has gone up in smoke. We often feel trapped when an unexpected moment of fear appears, as if an old way of life might close in on us. We must undergo this period of rebirth in order to live our lives.

This is a momentary painful process of passing from the old to the new one. The flame wall can be frightening, and it is understandable for us to avoid it. It is impossible to put out an old flame forever and waiting for it to extinguish itself rarely works. This can waste years and years of time.

The greater sea we are jumping into will extinguish the fires as we move through it, just as the terrified man in the burning boat did. Faith does exactly that. I have stumbled through many walls of flames in the face of great fear and without trying to be brave. I remember my first experience of being scared for my life when I left home— needing to go, burning at the edge, afraid that beyond the flame of anger where I was raised, I would not survive.

The fire of rejection from first love came soon after. In this instance, the broken part of me was almost willing to be burnt alive. Unlike the broken part, I felt that nothing would ever heal me. As I fell through this wall and then jumped, the world continued and I healed once I was immersed in the sea of life beyond myself.

It was probably the pain of cancer and the prospect of dying that was the biggest wall of flame I had to jump through. The whole ocean seemed on fire. Despite my efforts to stay out of the fire once I was overboard, I feared drowning. What if the greater sea were the mother of a deeper life? This is probably the case for anyone trying to break free from addiction, illness, or a relationship that is abusive.

The subtlest ring of fire, however, seems to be the way we take our own perspective too seriously, which suffocates us. Our self-centeredness smolders in every corner of our lives. This selfishness eats away at our identities. What can we do to escape from the burning boat? To dive from the boat of the ego into the sea of our spirit, we must somehow leap from the boat of the ego.

That would require some kind of surrendering of stubbornness and control of dreams. The ego would be hard to kill down. The hurdles would be high. Rather than just survive, we will reach a shore we can never have imagined. Consider and reflect upon one way of being, thinking, or loving that prevents you from experiencing the fullness of life. Maybe your hiddenness prevents you from experiencing the fullness of life. Perhaps you suffer from a critical / blaming nature.

Maybe you lack self-confidence. Consider how you might behave if you followed this old path. Breathe deeply and imagine how it might challenge you. You might find that being spontaneous is all it takes. Or you might just give yourself permission to break out of your own routine. Try to visualize yourself moving through the flames around you while you breathe slowly. Visualize this leap over and over again while breathing steadily.