Field Guide to
What Really Matters:
Integration

Integrating the 7 Paths of Wisdom

You have now completed this guided journey through the 7 Paths of Wisdom. Hopefully you have been inspired to continue to explore your own deeper questions about life and discover the wisdom that you already carry within you.

This final project of Integration will focus on embodying the wisdom from the 7 paths so you can utilize them in your everyday life. The ultimate goal of this work is to become more whole as your True Self.

You may want to continue a few of the practices you have experimented with--or create your own practices that have meaning for you. Let Nature be your ally and your teacher on this ongoing journey. There is still much to learn from the natural world.

The Ecosystem of Life

In nature an ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with their environment as a system. Plants, animals, and other organisms survive together while interacting with sun, soil, water, and weather. Each component plays an essential function for the wellbeing of the entire system and changing one part of the system affects all of the other parts. Just look around you and you'll find tiny ecosystems everywhere: in your garden or a park, on a pond or lake, even amongst the weeds growing in an abandoned lot. Natural life thrives through these cooperative, interdependent systems and humans contribute to them in both positive and negative ways.

But one purpose of this Field Guide has been to remind us that we are one with nature and all of existence. We are not separate beings living apart from the rest of the natural world--we are part of the ecosystem of life on this planet. In fact, we thrive when we embrace nature and its wisdom and learn to incorporate it into our lives. The illusion that we are separate--that we don't belong--is one cause of anxiety and depression. Integration collapses that illusion and helps us expand our capacity to embrace and carry whatever life offers to us.

Patterns of Nature

Look at the palms of your hands: the lines in your skin resemble the veins of leaves. Your fingerprints are whorls like the rings of trees. The branching pattern of bronchi in your lungs is exactly the same as the limbs of a tree reaching upward toward sunlight. From an aerial view a river delta branching across the earth looks identical to your blood vessels on an angiogram. The cochlea inside your ear is shaped exactly like the spiral nautilus shell, or the unfurling shoot of a fern, or a hurricane spinning over the ocean.

Our physical bodies are structured with the same blueprints we find over and over again throughout nature. We undoubtedly belong in the physical world where we find ourselves. But we also belong to an unseen spiritual ecosystem that exists as well: a living entity where the essence or energy of all beings coexist in a shared consciousness. This is the inner world of our existence that many of us ignore but that holds the key to finding meaning and purpose in life.

True integration is the merging in our awareness of our physical ecosystem with our spiritual ecosystem. When we no longer ignore our own consciousness but we cultivate its wisdom to help us care for our physical bodies and navigate the material world. Our awareness of this deep wisdom (the 7 paths perhaps) allows us to continually learn and grow and witness all that life entails, both what we experience as positive and negative.

Photos & Music

Palms of hands

Lines in the skin of the palms

Dried leaf

Veins on a leaf

Nebula

Spiral nebula

Palms of hands

Lines in the skin of the palms

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Flight from the City

by Jöhann Jöhansson

The Elements of Integration

Ultimately integration occurs when the material and the spiritual become one ecosystem that flows together, each component supporting the others; when we see ourselves as part of the natural world and part of the energy of the Universe simultaneously. Then what seems ordinary becomes sacred, what is minuscule can change everything, and the infinite is encountered in the intimate.

The following concepts will help you understand integration as you proceed on this journey. Remember that growth is spiral, not linear. You will return to the same lessons over and over again throughout your life--each time learning something slightly different than you understand before.

Everything Belongs

In your life, as in nature, everything has its place. Nothing is wasted and nothing is meaningless in the ecosystem. When you find yourself rejecting an aspect of yourself or an experience of your life remember that--even if you can't see why or how right now--even the challenges and difficulties belong; even the parts of ourselves that cause us shame belong; even the failures and mistakes of the past belong; even illness and grief belong.

Equilibrium

While life continually shifts and changes the ecosystem adapts and flexes to move toward a place of equilibrium. The goal is not to always stay in balance, because that isn't possible, but to develop the skills to work toward restoring balance whenever the system is disrupted. This is one of the secrets of life: be prepared for the disruptions that will always happen and learn how to navigate them. There will be rare moments when everything feels perfectly balanced and far more when you are working toward that balance, but that is the essence of life. The breathwork practices you learned on the 7 paths will help you move toward equilibrium when life upends you.

Life is a Paradox

Within this physical/spiritual ecosystem of life everything coexists with its opposite--that is part of the equilibrium of the system. In fact, it is the presence of darkness that makes light visible to us--we need both sides of the paradox in order to experience life at its fullest. When we learn to embrace this fact we are less likely to reject the parts of life we don't like and hold the opposites in both hands: loss and love, grief and joy. Meditation practices from the 7 paths can be helpful as you learn to navigate paradox.

Observation

Develop your ability to notice what is around you--that's one of the skills we have been developing with practices on each of the 7 paths. Look deeply and see what could easily be missed: the drop of dew on a flower petal, the spider's web glistening in the tree branches. At the same time work on your ability to look within yourself: observe your emotions and the wounds that trigger them, attune to your intuition and inner ways of knowing. See the inner and outer aspects of everything.

Perspective

I once saw two artists painting pictures of a ravine, each from opposite sides. Their paintings were nothing alike even though they were looking at the same feature. Recognize that there are multiple points of view for every situation. Learn to see from more than just the vantage point you were raised with or the views of your culture or peer group. Seek out other ways of noticing and interpreting the world. Use journaling practices to explore your own perspectives.

Focus

When you view the world or your life, even from different vantage points, adjust your lens to focus on love. If you seek to see love in all of its possible forms, in every situation and occurrence, you will find it--because love is the substrate of creation. Recognize that love is far more than the romantic version you have been taught and you will see that it is life-force energy itself--and present in everything that exists. Rituals, ceremonies, music and art can help you return to a focus of love.

Integration Practices

Hover over each image to read about the practice.

Observation

As you observe nature from now on look for the opposites that exist and acknowledge both. The wind is cold today AND the clouds are beautiful. The flowers in the garden have died AND the autumn leaves are lovely. It is starting to rain AND the leaves are shimmering with the moisture. My heart feels broken right now AND I'm enjoying this cup of tea.

Weaving 7 Paths

This will be an Integration Practice to help you embody the wisdom of the 7 Paths: Suffering, Love, Forgiveness, Presence, Purpose, Surrender, and Impermanence. Click on this image to open and download the attached handout for full instructions for this practice.

Your Field Journal

Complete these 3 prompts: 1. What have I discovered? Which path has changed how I understand my life? 2. What am I still learning? Where do I notice uncertainty or resistance? 3. What can I practice today? What small action can bring insight to my daily life. Closing: I can meet what arises.

Note from Karen

I recently visited the estuary where the Russian River flows into the Pacific Ocean and discovered that a remarkable ecosystem exists where the fresh and salt waters mingle--one of the most fertile and life-sustaining environments on earth.

The winding river, carving a path through solid land with banks and tangible borders, represents the material world--our physical existence. While the ocean in its vastness that stretches beyond our imagination, represents the spiritual world.

When they merge the river is not lost in the ocean, nor is the ocean diluted out by the freshwater of the river. But a new profoundly diverse habitat emerges--brackish water is the name for the integrated river and sea--a place where unique grasses, sea creatures, fish, and birds flourish.

Similarly when we do the work of integration, embodying both the natural and the spiritual realms, our lives become an incredibly fertile ground for new growth, resilience, and meaning. As you continue on your spiral journey through life and the 7 paths, remember that everything belongs and everything is still becoming. May you meet whatever arises with curiosity, courage, and love.

Karen