The Sacred Ground Beneath Your Feet: Why Normal Is the Biggest Lie We Tell Ourselves

"I sat down quiet, no screens, no sound, and I found the way with my feet on the ground"

There's this moment that comes to all of us - when the shovel hits solid ground and we realize we've been digging holes just to hide in clouds. For me, it happened after years of chasing what I thought success looked like, measuring my worth by society's golden ruler, only to discover I'd been looking for treasure in all the wrong places.

You see, we've been sold this myth of normal that keeps us running in circles, believing we need crowns and diamond rings to prove our value. But the truth that Alan Watts spent his life trying to wake us up to is this: we are already whole. We've always been love from the start. The very thing we're seeking is the one who's doing the seeking.

The Ego's Parade of Distractions

I've spent decades watching people - including myself - get caught in what I call the ego's parade. It's this endless march of achieving, accumulating, and performing that promises fulfillment but delivers only exhaustion. The news screams loud but says no truth, measuring men by the size of their boots rather than the depth of their hearts.

Ken Wilber taught us about the different stages of consciousness, and there's this beautiful moment when you realize that most of what we call "normal" is actually just one level of awareness - and not even a particularly conscious one. It's the level where we believe our thoughts are reality, where we think our problems are permanent, and where we've forgotten that we're spiritual beings having a human experience, not the other way around.

But here's what I've learned through my own journey from the darkness into the light: you can't think your way out of this trap. You have to feel your way out. You have to sit down quiet, no screens, no sound, and find your way back to solid ground.

The Sacred Space Within

Jon Kabat-Zinn revolutionized Western understanding of mindfulness by stripping away the mystical language and showing us something profound: presence is medicine. When we stop running from this moment, when we plant our feet on the ground and breathe, we discover that what we've been chasing has been buried in sacred space all along - right here, right now.

I've seen this transformation happen thousands of times in my own work. People come to me feeling broken, lost, carrying what they think are burdens but what I know are actually blessings in disguise. They've been taught to fear their sensitivity, to medicate their awareness, to dim their light so others feel comfortable. But sensitivity isn't a weakness - it's a superpower. It's what allows us to feel the whisper in the soul, the voice in the dark that says, "Come on home."

The beauty of this awakening is that it doesn't require you to become someone new. It requires you to remember who you've always been beneath all the conditioning. It's not about joining another parade or following another set of rules. It's about recognizing that love ain't loud - it breathes within.

From Broken Dreams to Sacred Fire

My own journey took me from council flats to understanding sacred fire - not through escaping my circumstances, but through finding the divine right where I was. There were times when I ran so far, trying to escape the pain, the grief, the overwhelming sensitivity that made me feel like an alien on my own planet. But every time, I circled back, tired of chasing what I already had.

This is the beautiful paradox that mystics throughout history have tried to explain: you don't need to go anywhere to find what you're looking for. You don't need to scream to feel alive. You just need a truth that won't divide - a truth that includes all of you, even the parts you've been taught to hide.

Watts used to say that we're like waves thinking we're separate from the ocean. We've convinced ourselves that we're isolated beings struggling to survive in a hostile universe, when in reality, we're expressions of the same fundamental consciousness that moves the stars and grows the trees.

The Courage to Stop Performing

One of the most radical acts in our performance-obsessed culture is simply sitting still. Not meditating to become enlightened. Not practicing mindfulness to optimize productivity. Just sitting with your feet on the ground, letting yourself be exactly as you are in this moment.

This isn't passive resignation - it's active presence. It's what happens when you put the fear down and let the real begin. Because here's what no one tells you about spiritual awakening: it's not about transcending your humanity. It's about fully embracing it.

We live in times that are hard, where the weight feels loud and overwhelming. But when that shovel of seeking hits the solid ground of being, that's the beat of coming back around. That's when you realize you don't need to fix yourself, improve yourself, or become a better version of yourself. You need to love yourself exactly as you are.

The Holy Place Where the Brave Don't Cry

There's this sacred space - and maybe you've felt it - where all the striving stops. Where you realize that open hearts and simple presence are worth more than all the crowns and diamond rings the world could offer. It's the holy place where the brave don't cry because they're too busy being grateful for the gift of feeling everything so deeply.

This is where real strength lives. Not in the ego's armor, but in the vulnerability of an open heart. Not in having all the answers, but in being comfortable with the mystery. Not in being invulnerable, but in being authentic.

Ken Wilber calls it "waking up, cleaning up, and growing up" - this integration of awareness, healing, and maturity that allows us to show up fully in our lives. But I call it something simpler: coming home to yourself.

Your Catapult Heart

If you've read this far, chances are you have what I call a catapult heart - that restless, seeking, sometimes broken but always hopeful part of you that knows there's more to life than what you've been told is normal. That heart isn't broken; it's breaking you open.

Your sensitivity isn't a bug; it's a feature. Your questioning isn't rebellion; it's wisdom. Your refusal to fit into the myth of normal isn't stubbornness; it's authenticity.

The world doesn't need you to be normal. It needs you to be real. It needs your open heart, your willingness to sit in the silence, your courage to let the spirit rise on whatever wings you've got - battered or otherwise.

Because at the end of the day, when all the noise dies down and the performance stops, what remains is love. Not the hallmark version, but the raw, real, transformative kind that says you've been enough all along.

So put the shovel down. Plant your feet on sacred ground. Listen to that whisper that's been trying to guide you home.

You've been love from the start.

Be love and give love,Julian