Hello world, it has been a long time since I looked at you directly, with naked courage. My reward was a surprise spanking, after which I cried furiously for attention in order merely to survive. Thereafter, saddled with harrowing hardships from a very young age, it appears I have been crying ever since, seeking to control the world and everything in it.
But now my crying has finally stopped and I stand here before you, joyful, yet naked again, all my years of mainly self-caused suffering clearing away like the gradual goodbying of biblical rain clouds.
Will you come with me? Will you join The North Path?
What is the North Path?
The North Path, broadly defined, is not a northerly path heading through the woods, nor some straight road heading to Canada; in fact, it can be quite crooked. However, it is an absolutely free view of L.I.F.E. (this acronym will be clearly defined in my upcoming book, The North Path), a way of seeing the world that strives to maximize the “I” and to minimize the “Me.”
Every tiny step we take, every precious moment, is a critical chance to either free the “I” or to continue to incarcerate it. Following The North Path means making those decisions in The Now that emancipate the “I.” This includes, of course, the decision you may reach today to start on The North Path with me, for it is never too late! Following this blog will be a good start, and it is my life mission to help support all that do. If you have decided to take the first step, I congratulate you! You may soon notice little changes already, but there is a lifetime of work still to do … for your journey on The North Path will not be about the destination: it will be about the beautiful moments of the The Now and how you choose to live them. After all, our ultimate destinations are not ours to decide.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
―
As you follow The North Path, there will be great tasks to tackle and there will be hardship, but there will also be profound joy in those tasks. A significant part of your work, at the onset, will be to break your “I” out of the prison for which you, yes you, and the world, have opted. This will not be easy, however this blog and my books will arm you with ideas and practical knowledge to support you along your quest. My armory is forged from years of teaching philosophy, my personal study of some great psychologists of our time, but mainly, and most importantly, from the wisdom wrought of many years of profound personal suffering.
I believe it is joy we all seek, not just happiness. We are all phoenixes longing to rise from the ashes of the world of the “Me,” from the crying, recalcitrant ego of the little hurt child inside us. In every single moment, in which you decide to follow The North Path, a new voice will begin to emerge, foggy at first, like languishing land first spotted leagues away upon the sea, but then louder and livelier each day with its noble, quiet clarity. This is the voice of your “I” being liberated … your core … your wellspring of true freedom and joy.
It waits for you.
It always has.
And it is never too late to begin!
Yours in the infinite joy of the I,
Phoenix Richardson.