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<\/a>Dorothy and her friends discovered that the Wizard of Oz was just a frightened little man and they already had everything they were looking for inside of them.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My friend Mellen-Thomas Benedict stated in a recent letter to me, \u201cThe most important thing we have to do right now is to somehow see through the fog of divisive\/self-serving politics, the fog of self-righteous religious leaders, the fog of the unbridled greed of our times, and most importantly the fog of our own fears and doubt.<\/p>\n
I agree with Mellen.<\/p>\n
Are you one who looks to your leaders for guidance?\u00a0 Many openly admit to doing so and probably just as many quietly acquiesce to individuals that they put high up on pedestals.\u00a0 To change the world, we must change ourselves, and that\u2019s an inside job.\u00a0 Leaders can\u2019t do it and history has proven that.\u00a0 Only miniscule percentage have pointed us in the right direction, and we know their names, but millions more have floundered.<\/p>\n
This is not to defame those who choose to lead, but for the remainder of us to realize and to actualize our true power, our true essence within each of us.<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t it time to realize that our political leaders are lost and that holiest people in the world have done all they can do for us? By that I mean that the enlightened have shown us ways of living and growing, and Mellen-Thomas Benedict says that as much as the Pope, the Dali Lama, all the Gurus would love to help us, they cannot take this last step for us. There is only one step left to take.\u00a0 This last part of the path to enlightenment is the path of Self-Initiation or Self-Realization.<\/p>\n
There is an old saying, \u201cIf it is to be, it is up to me.\u201d\u00a0 In essence we are responsible for us \u2013 no one else is.\u00a0 \u00a0\u2018Leaders\u2019 cannot in the big picture do much to make us happy or fulfilled, only we can.\u00a0 Whether or not you are a person of deep religious convictions, an agnostic, or an atheist really doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 At some point, we all must look inside of ourselves to garner the truth.<\/p>\n
Mellen continues with a well-positioned analogy to the Wizard of Oz.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt’s Like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.\u00a0 When Dorothy’s world ended in a terrible storm, she found herself beginning a great adventure.\u00a0 She went looking for the fabled Wizard in the Land of OZ who was going to solve all of her problems and save the world. But when she got to the Land of Oz and found the Wizard, she discovered that behind the great curtain there was a scared little man.\u201d<\/p>\n
From my perspective, Dorothy\u2019s encounter with the great Wizard was a great moment of Self-Realization, an initiation if you will. \u00a0That moment transformed Dorothy. \u00a0Her eyes were opened as never before. \u00a0Her quest to find the Wizard brought her to a new place in her soul. For the first time, she realized that the rest of the path or quest was up to her.<\/p>\n
Dorothy wasn\u2019t the only one transformed, so was everyone about her – the Lion who needed to be brave, the Tin Man who needed a heart, and the Scarecrow who needed a brain.\u00a0 Dorothy\u2019s journey along The Yellow Brick Road (like ours) encountering the witches, goblins, scary places, new friends, and even seeing behind the curtain of Oz were all a part of Self-Initiation.<\/p>\n