~ The Drum in the Deep ~

“Often in this life, if you listen carefully, you hear a faint noise beating somewhere distant inside of you. It is not your heartbeat or your pulse, but rather a haunting sound which beats occasionally, and beats louder at certain times. It beats louder when you are passively drifting through the days and weeks. It beats louder when you are surrounded by people who make you feel alone. It beats louder when every ounce of your being knows you are living a life that is false to your real self. That beating noise is the entire universe shepherding you away from the swamp of a sterile existence and guiding you toward the shores of your own destiny. It is the drum in the deep; the call of the wild summoning you into the lands where your true purpose and fate reside. The sound is unpredictable and can come at any time. Sometimes the drum can beat early in the morning; sometimes it can beat in the middle of the night. Sometimes it can beat when doing the dishes or the grocery shopping or staring out of the window of a train on the way home from work.

I believe that as human-beings we all recognise that internal call into the wild. There are many people out there who ignore the sound their entire life – who stick their fingers in their ears and suppress their natural instinct towards doing what they were undeniably born to do – in going to the places they were born to explore. And it is clear to me that the more it is suppressed and ignored, the more it drains and decays individuals from within. One only has to walk the sidewalks of life to see the people who have totally ignored their innate calling, and as a result have become bitter and jaded individuals with eyes empty of any lust or wonder for life. For me, I could spot that sad look from a young age, and consequently I knew that as soon as that drum sounded, it was time to put on my boots and chase down the sound ferociously over the horizon.

Because the truth is once you are called there is no way to ignore that drum in the deep without letting it gradually destroy you from within. The only way to deal with it is to follow it curiously over the horizon; to venture into those unknown lands and search for the source of the sound. You have to accept it is your master, and that you are its slave to be summoned. Sure, the journey it can take you on may be dangerous, tiring – even painful – but to ignore it totally is to commit some kind of spiritual suicide; it is to starve and suffocate your soul slowly to certain death. Such a fate was never an option for me, and I guess that is why I sit here alone tonight: writing these words, plotting my next adventure – still following that haunting noise ferociously wide-eyed through the universe. The drum has called me into the wild for many years now. It has been an epic adventure – an epic voyage into the unknown. And yet I have still not silenced that drum in the deep. But, truthfully, as I continue this magical journey toward the source of the sound, as I feel my veins burn with adventure and passion – as I look back on a path that has set my soul on fire and made me fall in love with the overwhelming beauty of existence – a part of me hopes that I never do.”

 (taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)