“Everything is Material for my Liberation”

By Lian Brook-Tyler

This is one of my most used phrases which has become an iconic and much-quoted Waking The Wild term, so much so, it’s frequently abbreviated to “MfL” (which can also been read as “mother f*cking love” - which actually has much the same energetic!)

I’ve been listening to Richard Rudd speak about each of the 64 Gene Keys recently and the way he described my Purpose sphere of Honour, allowed me to see more about what constitutes Material (for eagle eyed readers, there’s a clue in the first line of this post) and what actually results in Liberation.

He talked about the Shadow of Honour, which is Struggle - this shadow compels us to feel victimised by life, creating an unconscious habit of fighting a fight without true purpose, it traps us and prevents us from experiencing fulfilment and meaning.

At the Siddhi level, Struggle becomes Honour, here we realise that struggle is life but suffering is optional.

“What will we do with each precious day of our life? The 38th Gift tells us: find a fight worth fighting, and pour ourself into that. The human spirit is indomitable. It loves to reach and stretch and break new ground. We won’t be happy in life unless we too reach and stretch and break new ground. No matter who we are.” Richard Rudd

We understand that struggle can hone, strengthen and refine us. Struggle becomes a gift that we can use in honour of ourselves, this moment and a higher purpose: our liberation into love, magic, beauty and truth.

Struggle is clearly the Material and if Struggle is life, and if everything is material for my liberation then that must include, well, everything in life… Not just the struggles that I can honour because they seem to be courageous, destined, or righteous.

This moved me to look for the places that I don’t recognise as Material for Liberation.

That’s something that’s hard for humans - we tend to look at things from a perspective of “But look! I do it here!” Not “Where don’t I do it?”

And the truth is, I *do* do it, I recognise Material for Liberation all day, every day and embrace it wholeheartedly, which makes sense… I’m a teacher of sovereignty, of course I’m reliable for this. It’s nigh on an unconscious competence.

And that provides the seductive illusion that I do it everywhere with everything.

But I don’t.

The main place I’ve realised that I didn’t see the Material for Liberation is in a seemingly intractable, long-running stalemate of sorts that involves other people, who are quite clearly doing their best - it feels impossible for me to do anything about it, let alone use for my liberation. The best I’ve managed is seemingly gracious but actually hopeless acceptance, interspersed with monthly foot-stomping frustration.

In short, it’s become an unconscious habit to feel victimised by this struggle, to either attempt to force a resolution or disassociate from it because it feels hopeless, and both sides of that shadow pole trap me and hold me back from fulfilment and meaning.

I wonder now if this is the greatest MfL for me of all - to choose honour in a struggle that doesn’t seem brave, destined, or righteous, and most challenging of all for me, a struggle it appears that I’m powerless to overcome any time soon, no matter what I do or don’t do. It will require that I pause and look to see what lies beyond my habitual pattern.

One of our precious Sovereigns sent me a poem by Diane Ackerman with the line “I swear I will not dishonour my soul with hatred”

I’ll see that and raise it - I swear I will honour my soul.

Honour is humble, it is a gratitude to the gift of life - even the struggles, especially the struggles that don’t fit our definition of Material. Honour brings us closer and deeper to ourselves, life and each other.

Honour liberates.

As you may know, my shamanic work entails deep reverence for ancestors and so I will share an ancestral story about honour to finish.

In 1944, my Great Grandfather James Charles Gordon Tyler was serving in the Royal Navy and a fire broke out on his boat.

I only know about this because of what happened afterwards… King George VI awarded him an MBE for showing leadership, enterprise and skill.

I suspect James had leadership, enterprise and skill all along (hey, he’s a Tyler!) but it took the struggle of a fire threatening the lives of his men for him to choose to honour himself, to allow the struggle to hone, strengthen and refine him, and then ultimately be recognised in a way that will be remembered and passed down in stories for generations to come. A legacy of honour.

Some struggles are life-threatening events, some are the mundane minutiae of life…*Everything* is material for my liberation, when I choose to honour my soul. 💗

 
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