“Although we speak in terms of “taking the path of healing,” that is certainly not the only way to put it. The great Sioux shaman Black Elk speaks of “walking in a sacred manner.” To walk in a sacred manner is to make an art of life, to attend to each moment as though it were the last, to take each step as though it were the first.
To breathe love and awareness into this tiny body, entering the greater body we all share. Seeing that each step must be taken lightly, not with force, not creating more SELF, becoming more of a “doer,” more of a separate identity, which draws suffering upon itself. To walk in a sacred manner is to let go of our suffering and allow the scintillating “thusness” of each moment to nurture and direct the next step.
When we walk in a sacred manner, nothing throws us off balance for nothing is identified with as self, as the walker, but instead all is experienced as the sacred, as process unfolding, as the divine moment provided for our healing. In open body, in open mind, in open heart, the possibilities are endless. Healing is to be found everywhere. Each step so precious. Each step a new healing.”
by Stephen Levine, Healing into Life and Death