As the Paradigm Shifts: Z is for Zenith

The Zenith, is described as the highest point or state, the summit, or highest level of development: To have ended and thus arrived at a final stage. It is also considered the culmination of all that has gone before.

From a spiritualists’ point of view, the zenith may be reaching enlightenment, or atonement (read this as at-one-ment): The Dali Lama stopped at a hotdog stand in New York City and said to the vender, “Make me one with everything.”

We’ve arrived at the end of this series and thus we are arriving at the Zenith, the culmination of twenty six blog entries on spirituality and business. Starting this, that many weeks ago, I didn’t see that the interweaving of concepts over the months could lead to an emerging process of development; one that could perhaps lead toward even enlightenment for the reader or for me, the writer. I watched as each letter and its word or words built upon what came before. One practice led to the next. In hindsight it all makes perfect sense.

The willingness (W) to allow and accept (A), trust (T) and practice (P); choosing to choose (C) in service to one’s highest good and highest truth, takes intention and integrity (I) to courageously face potential loneliness, taking the leap of faith (L) all by yourself – that’s the only way it can be done!

A Zenith can be that jumping off point; like a fledgling eagle, who for the very first time steps off the edge of its nest and realizes flight. A Zenith can also be the return from a practice or journey that has brought with it insights that have been life-changing; even transformational. This leads me to a story I’d like to share:

In service to growing myself professionally (and inevitably, personally), a year ago I stepped off the edge into the spiritual abyss, never for a moment considering that the fall alone would breakdown every reality I ever believed to be true. I thought I was spiritually and personally evolved enough (ego speaking here) that it would be a romp in the park, not a yearlong purification process that macerated every limiting perception and way of being I relied on.

Throughout this time I witnessed over and over that “I’m not that, nor that, nor that.” in relation to my identity as a woman, as a highly credentialed individual with three masters degrees and a Ph.D., as someone who sailed across the ocean, wrote two books – all of the things I tried to be, all the things I hoped to be seen for, all the ways I pretended to hide, to avoid my own fear of invisibility and worthlessness. I wasn’t the anxiety, the anger or sadness; I wasn’t that which had given up my main source of income and continually depleted all retirement savings. I wasn’t any of it and it all had to go!

I participated in a shamanic journey the other day. The vehicle for this journey was a rattle being shaken consistently for about 30 minutes. I experienced the moment of death when I realized that none of what I achieved or tried to achieve mattered. As I experienced what it would be like to leave my body it was clear I would not be taking any stuff with me – none of it. Again, the question was: “If I’m not that, then what am I?” For a very long time I listened and waited, watched and experienced … nothing.

As I experienced this nothingness I came to experience myself as the space within the rattle, nothing more. I allowed myself to merge with this reality, exploring and discovering what it was like to be without my normal identifiers or ego attachments. It was unsettling to drop everything I’ve ever been attached to, in service to revealing a perspective, though spiritual and religious in nature that generally goes unacknowledged and unexplored. I was like the Dali Lama’s hotdog: one with everything.

Once comfortable with being the space within the rattle I became the seeds and the rattle itself. I was in the hands of that which shakes the rattle, creating sound and vibration, which ultimately creates patterns of waves and particles that make up matter – the me in physical form, my thoughts and intentions. Some trip!

Experiencing this reality in this way has been the culmination of so much of the spiritual work I’ve been doing for years. It is the Zenith of self-realization and self-transcendence and to some degree, enlightenment. I will never forget the experience of being just the space.

We are all this – the space, the seeds and the rattle that when shaken creates a distinctive vibrational resonance, which manifests as the unique beings we are. Quantum physics validates this perspective.

I believe that wherever we are in our professional career and development, we are each at the Zenith of our own creation – the culmination of all that’s come before. We’ve reached the pinnacle of success and fulfillment, given the circumstance and the belief system within which we’re currently operating. In this moment we are at an ending and thus have arrived; perched and prepared for a new day’s adventure.

Each day brings an opportunity to acknowledge the Zenith of our choice-making, a moment that reveals the manifestation of what we make important or essential. We can look around and observe how we’ve made a difference in the office, in our community, in the world. In this moment we can choose how to step into the paradigm shift that we are creating. I guarantee, your flight will have you soar beyond your wildest imagination.

In regard to your career, what has been your Zenith thus far? How would you define this point; what are the qualities of the experience that has this to be the highest level of professional development for you, yet?

Or, your Zenith may be that moment when you realize that everything you’ve ever accomplished, all the money you’ve acquired, the promotions, the power and prestige has no relevance to the quality of fulfillment and meaning you’ve experienced in your life. The culmination of everything thus far has brought you to this moment when you decide that this is your moment to begin anew – LEAP!