by Deborah Lindsey

Poster from Camp Etna

I have always found the Hindu Goddess Shiva to be an interesting character. She is both the goddess of creation and the goddess of destruction. She teaches us that every creation begins with a destruction, that the two are intricately linked and that one cannot happen without the other.

It doesn’t matter when you are looking at the macrocosm or the  microcosm – the big picture or the small picture – the story holds true. One can see it play out in every aspect of our lives. We see it in the cycles of nature where seeds lie seemingly dormant before they spout, then grow, fruit, and eventually curl and die. It also happens in our own lives. Each of us must go through the cycles. Like it or not, we age. Like it or not, life changes. In fact, the only constant we can ever rely on is change. It is the great dichotomy of life, that we try to hold on to the moment, to be present, to savor, and yet the present is as elusive as the past and the future as it is always mired in change. Perhaps change is the only thing that is real.

I remember the first day of my chemistry class in high school. The teacher, Mr. Malcolm stood in front of the class and said, “If you don’t remember anything else about this class, remember this. Change is the only constant. If you can’t accept change, you will quickly grow old.”  I wrote it on the front of my notebook that day and looked at it until it was ingrained not just in my mind but in the essence of my entire life. I wonder if he has any idea how much that one sentence affected me. And I wonder if anyone else in the class even noticed.

And so my own life has been savoring the glory of change. I recently consciously dismantled the fabric of my own life, leaving my home and all that is familiar in West Virginia to head out for adventures as yet unknown. Just me, a car, spirit, and IMU. Its interesting how the unknown is the provider of both the excitement and the fear. What will tomorrow bring? What will the next minute bring? Will I flourish and fly or will I crash and burn? And ultimately, does any of it matter? For without the willingness to embrace change, without the glory of Shiva, life is somehow  incomplete.

I guess some would call it a mid-life crisis. I personally see it as a mid-life opportunity.

So now for the first leg of the tour, I’m in beautiful Maine with my dear friend and fellow IMU dean Janet Decker. I’ve settled here at a wonderful old spiritualist camp in Maine called Camp Etna. For the past few weeks I have been surrounded by psychics, mediums, healers, and other high-level seekers on the path. I’ve had some great readings, all of which foretell an exciting future with IMU.  The weather has been absolutely exquisite and the energy high. It has been a time of enjoying the “winter” of my creation, the time when the deconstruction of Shiva turns into the cocoon of winter as ideas seed beneath the surface, preparing for the rebirth of “spring.” Shiva herself guides me and guides IMU as we get ready for the next phase of our journey. What wonderful things will spring forth now? What will spring bring? And how will it fruit?

I know that we have many new courses ready to come forward.  Accreditation is again a hot topic around here. And new perspectives, bring new opportunities and new creations. They are exciting days indeed and I look forward to see Shiva in  her full glory as the creator force of all things new.