The Soul Diver's Journey

Dealing With the Traumatic Past

Before the Journey

The "Perfect" World

The Perfect World is where everyone begins. It's not part of any one Journey. It's what we're born into. It is Innocence and Play in the depths of Love and Passion. Some people are fortunate enough to dwell here for a long time. Others, unfortunate souls indeed, are destined to have their Innocence shattered far too early and will have no fond memories of this Perfect place.

The Death of Innocence

Death of Innocence comes for everyone at some point in their life. Maybe it comes early, maybe it comes later. Maybe it's the very thing that pushes them into their Journey. Maybe it comes when they're already well on their way and it makes them adjust course. Deaths of Innocence are always happening to us and how we deal with them determines our Path.

Potential Soul Divers have either had a severe (re: traumatic) Death of Innocence, or it has been a long, steady chipping away of their emotional resilience.

The Broad View

The Soul Diver's Journey in 3 Stages

Wounded Navigator

The Soul Diver's Journey tends to be the path of Anarchy - or, to be more accurate, the path of the Iconoclast. It's the breaking apart of former ideals and identities built up during the attempts to make sense of the Lands of Labor. Every Soul Diver once existed in The "Perfect" World. Every Soul Diver either had World Weaver potential or was a World Weaver. Every Soul Diver was bathed in the Waters of Love earlier in their life, but at some point something happened that broke their connection with Love and with their Emotional Core.

This Wounded Navigator stage is all about beginning the Journey out of the Lands of Labor, diving back down into the Waters of Love, and rooting out the Causes of that Emotional Shutdown so you can reignite the Core.

Storm Rider

Soul Diver's need to come to Acceptance of all that Was and all that Is. They need to Accept what happened to them and they need to Accept the Lands of Labor as they are. They need to End Their War of Blame.

Master of Land & Sea

The highest point for Soul Divers is to be at Peace with their Self and comfortable in both the Lands of Labor and in the Waters of Love. Soul Divers lean towards dominance and are always ready for a fight (Love erupts as Passion), so maintaining that Inner Peace is paramount to their own Happiness.

The Soul Diver's Journey begins in the Lands of Labor and moves into the Waters of Love, later circling back to share the lessons of Shadows and Emotional Awareness with the World once again.

The Close-Up View

The Soul Diver's Journey in 17 Steps

Wounded Navigator

The "Mundane" World

Everyone is born into The “Perfect” World in the Waters of Love. No one is born into The "Mundane" World - with the exception of those who are born with conditions that cause lack of emotional response perhaps. The "Mundane" World is arrived at in one of two ways:

The person in The “Perfect” World experiences an extreme Death of Innocence - i.e. Trauma - and closes their Self off from their emotions in order to not feel that trauma any longer. They knows their world is no longer perfect, thus they climb up to the Lands of Labor to find the strength and tools they need to survive. Survival becomes the all-encompassing goal of their "Mundane" World.

The second way to arrive at The "Mundane" World is for a World Weaver to become stuck on their Journey during their "Victim or Chosen One?" step. At this point, may World Weaver may falsely believes that without such-and-such purpose and without such-and-such label, they have no identity. They believe they are what they do. When the World Weaver is trapped in this identity crisis or in a cycle of victimhood, and believing they can’t move without losing all that they think they are, the World Weaver's Journey "mirror-hops" (imagine you're suddenly on the opposite side of the mirror and everything is reversed) to The "Mundane" World of the Soul Diver's path.

Call of the Sea

In order to begin the Soul Diver's Journey and recover the lost connection to Love, our potential Diver must know that something isn’t right about their Mundane World. It’s certainly possible that they may be perfectly content in that place, but most people aren’t satisfied with Routine and the Mundane. The Call of the Sea is that still-small-voice within us. That little tap-on-the-shoulder that makes us look up and wonder what’s beyond the mountains in the distance.

What happened to our carefree childhood?
What happened to our dreams of becoming firefighters or astronauts or marine biologists or artists?
How did we get stuck in marketing and our once-passionate design skills are now used to sell hemorrhoid cream?
How did I, an actor of supreme talent, end up dancing in the desert in a toothbrush costume???
How did I end up married to someone I hate?
How did I end up in a job I hate?
Why can't I find a good person to take care of me?
Why does no one ever treat me with respect?
Why do I never get what I deserve?
Why did my child die?

The Call of the Sea forces the Potential Diver ask their Self these and/or other hard questions that are pertinent to their life. It makes them wonder if there are answers to those questions and what may be beyond those answers. But finding answers requires taking the first steps of the Adventure, because only those who seek, find and only those who listen to that still-small-voice or that tap-on-the-shoulder can begin seeking.

Noose of the Pretender

Unfortunately, answering the Call of the Sea is going to be difficult. Our Potential Diver gets comfortable in the Mundane World. Even if it’s unpleasant, it’s familiar and familiarity means everything is predictable and relatively safe: better the enemy you know than the one you haven't met yet. It's easier to wear the Mask of the Pretender than to show the World you have no idea who you really are (or you do know and you're afraid the World won't like it).

If the Potential Diver's life is okay and they enjoy parts of it and don't want to change it, that's absolutely fine - as long as the refusal to move isn’t blocking someone else’s growth as well. We all have to be mindful of that. It's easy to become a Devourer and consume someone else's Energy to avoid creating your own.

The real problem comes when the Potential Diver knows deep down that they have to make changes in their life and they continue to refuse to make those changes. The Mundane World will become intolerable and they will be left with two choices: one way or another they're going to begin their Soul Diver's Journey or they're going to hang and strangle to death with their Pretender Mask intact.

Destroyer and Healer

The Destroyer is an archetype that may seem like an enemy, but is actually the Potential Diver's friend and ally - although they may royally piss you off or appear to be attacking you. They love breaking Pretender Masks and forcing you to look at the World and your Self in new ways. Some Destroyers may follow you your entire life and break every identity you attempt to wear. Some Destroyers may be just there for a time to get you out of a current rut. Some Destroyers are mean and petty and will make fun of your Pretender Masks. The best Destroyers are also Healers. They break the Masks and they show you the the next steps in the Path.

The Dive into the Deep

This is the moment of commitment for the Soul Diver. Once this step has been taken, there is no turning back. Unlike World Weavers, Soul Divers cannot cross the boundary between Land and Water at will...yet. For this first while they must completely immerse their Self in the Waters of Love in order to revive and restore what once was lost.

The Witch's Forge

Witches are funny creatures, much maligned, and treated with fear and contempt. You never know what you're going to get when you meet a Witch. Perhaps they'll be loving and soothing, perhaps threatening and abusive. Perhaps they show you the ways of nature and growth, perhaps they show you darkness and death.

The "Witch" can be anything that makes you question your preconceived ideas of who you think you are or who you've been told that you are.

Whatever it is you truly need at this moment, the Witch will be your Teacher. The Witch will first Unmake you and then Remake you into the Soul Diver you need to be to face the tests that are coming your way.

Of important note here is the possibility that the potential Soul Diver in question could be a child and their emotional shutdown could be a temporary setback and not a life-long, childhood-killing ordeal. Upon entering The Witch's Forge to face their problems head on and with proper guidance from parents or mentors, this child could return to The "Perfect" World from this point, but with Wisdom and Experience replacing their Innocence. Thus, said child will have the chance to become the World Weaver they likely should have been from the outset. Specifically consider Riley from Inside Out to see how this very scenario plays out.

The Neverending War

This is the test. This is the Test of Tests. You've let go of everything that you believed in. You've let go of everything that you were conditioned to be. You have nothing left except for the Nothing. You may suffer during this time, you may deal with worry and anxiety and fear. The memories that assail you may be difficult to endure. Life itself may become unbearable and seem pointless and futile.

This is the battle with Nihilism that must be overcome or you will spiral down into Darkness and Villainy.

Without the hardship of the Neverending War, you will never reach the most important Goal and you will never be able to build anything new. Fighting against the World is easy (and unending). Fighting for your Self is hard.

Standing in the Moonlight

Thankfully, there is always respite. Rest and healing are always at hand. This place is where your Emotional Core lies and it's here where every option is available to you. Everything you want to feel, you can feel - and everything you don't want to feel is also here, waiting for you to feel them as well. The question is, will you?

The Joker

Neverending War, Standing in the Moonlight, and The Joker are one cyclic step in the Soul Diver's Journey. They are a continual loop. There is War, there is Rest, and there is Joker bringing Truth and Chaos your way. Joker is both a Friend and an Enemy and it will probably take you a long time to realize which Face you're looking at.

Joker never lies to you, but they may not tell you the entire truth either. They will show you Truth, but perhaps not all of it. The Joker will show you the pointlessness of existence and all of ways that humans and society have failed you - and all of the ways that you have failed humans and society.

If you get too down on yourself, Joker will tell you nothing is your fault, you just have to keep fighting. If you get to high and mighty, Joker will remind you of everything you've done wrong.

None of it is a lie. It's all "true", but you have to learn that there is a Deeper Truth.

Storm Rider

Acceptance of What Was and What Is

This is the Deeper Truth. Nothing can be changed and nothing can be prevented. The Past and the Future do not exist, there is only NOW and in the Now you may choose to continue the Neverending War or you can Accept all that Was and all that Will Be, exactly as it Was and exactly as it Will Be.

Without Acceptance, there is no moving forward. Without Acceptance, there is no Future because there is not even a Now, there is only the Past. Without Acceptance, you only exist in the Past. The Neverending War is a neverending cycle of Blame and Shame over things that are already Done. None of it can be changed. Ever. Only Now can change.

The point of Life is to LIVE and to experience Living in the Now.

Death, Rebirth, and Treasure

While the Witch's Forge was certainly a time of Death to all the things you thought you were, the time after Acceptance is a true transformation. This is only the beginning of a ongoing process of deaths and rebirths, but this is the big one. What's really happening at this stage is the beginning of a "reset to what you always should have been". Had the major trauma and/or emotional shutdown not happened, you would have been a different person than the one you became. This time of Death and Rebirth brings that Treasure of who you always "should have been" into reach. You get to begin to "grow up" again.

Just remember that this is a process. It's a Treasure that's constantly unfolding and revealing itself.

Bliss Within the Castle

It's time to rest and enjoy the Self you've reignited. Have fun! Be happy! Play! Realize that you're the Ruler of your Inner World and that no one can ever take this place away from you. Learn to trust your Self.

Try not to live in Fear or Distrust at this point. It's going to be tempting and easy to be over protective of your Self or of Others. The desire to "stay safe" will be strong. There is nothing wrong with this, but taken too far it can prevent further growth and the Pit of Tyranny lies in that direction. You could unintentionally create someone else's "Perfect" World, but holding onto this Bliss time for too long and too hard.

Abdicating the Throne

Every good ruler should know when it's time to hand over the Power. In this case, we are talking about your Soul, your Inner World, and you certainly don't give that up to an outer source. However, there is no point to reigniting your emotional core or all of this inner work if you don't utilize in the Physical World.

Allow your Self to stand guard over your Inner World without having to watchdog every little thought/feeling/desire/etc.. Trust your Self and allow that Self to begin to explore the Outer World as well.

Understand that there is now no Barrier between your Inner World and the Physical World any longer. You burned that away when you took the Dive Into the Deep. There was never any Barrier other than the one you built. You can now traverse between your Inner and Outer Worlds at will (just like World Weavers can).

Mantle of the Mentor

It is often emphasized that we should take the lessons we learn and bring them to others, that we should aid and guide them on their Journeys. This concept is certainly not wrong, but I don't believe there is enough emphasis on Mentoring and Guiding our own Self. Consider your Self as two people at this step of your Journey. Consider the possibility that there is an Old Self that has already walked in the Outer World and there is a New Self, that Inner Child, that is "Leaving the Waters of Love" for the first time. Consider the possibility that you are raising up your own Inner World Weaver and you are responsible for guiding this new person.

Be kind to your Self because you already know that the Outer World may not be.

Master of Land & Sea

The Time of Finding (and of Letting Go)

The hard-working Soul Diver will eventually realize that everything they let go of will come back to them in an elevated form. They let go of who they thought they were and who they really are found them once again. They let go of their perceptions of the World by Accepting it as it is, and the Beauty of the World finds them. The Soul Diver lets go of trying to control everything and the Peace eventually finds them.

If all of this "letting go" brings new understanding to the Soul Diver, what happens when One "lets go" of the Journey itself? What happens when you simply look back and focus on what you have already Found along the way instead of constantly Seeking?

When you stop Seeking, what will Find you?

The Balanced World

This was the true goal of the Soul Diver's Journey: to live in the Balance of Labor and Love. Labor is soul-crushing without Compassion. Love is useless without Action. You, the Soul Diver, were forced into the Lands of Labor. You lost touch with Love, with your True Self. You dove in and learned how to Navigate those Waters of Love once again. You brought the energy of Labor to work on your own behalf and once you had done that Inner Work, you brought that Love back out into the Lands you were already familiar with. You are now at Home in both worlds, easily able to cross the boundary between the two and utilize both Energies at will.

Tao of the Benevolent Overlord

The ancient philosopher Laozi explains that the Tao is not a name for a thing, but the underlying natural order of the universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe and impossible to describe due to the dual nature of physical existence. You, as the Benevolent Overlord of your Self, have come to understand this via your Journeys - you see the Oneness in all things and the necessity in all things, good and bad, wonderful and horrible alike. This doesn't mean that you "like" the "bad", but it means that you understand it and can see your Self in it. You work towards the "good", but you acknowledge the draw of the quick and easy path. Your fire and temper still have their bite, but you make amends, forgive, and aim for Peace above all.

Reaching this step is a long process and likely took more than one Journey to achieve. Arriving here means you truly have become a Master of Land and Sea.

The Soul Diver's Journey begins in the Lands of Labour and moves inward to the Waters of Love, later circling back to integrate all the lessons of Labour as Wisdom and Compassion in Action.