As tensions and conflicts in the outer world continue to escalate, fears and anxieties intensify inside each of us. Increasing polarization leaves us deeply uncertain about the future, increasingly disoriented and further divided against each other.

While the poles of a polarity appear to be irreconcilable opposites, they can also be seen as parts of a hidden unity waiting to be found. The true aim of oppositions is the revelation of a “hidden third” that not only relieves tension, but also renews the spirit of life. Thus the unity missing in the outer world must be sought within ourselves.

Each soul enters the world with a core imagination, natural gifts and an inner purpose that makes each life meaningful. At each critical point in our lives this inner story seeks to unfold and become more conscious to us. The process of awakening and unfolding our inner story was known as the second adventure of life. The first adventure is to get a life, to grow up, to step out into the world. But the second adventure is to step onto the path our souls would have us take.

At this chaotic time when the outside world seems to be falling apart, the soul’s great adventure becomes more important as the way we can each find inner unity and creative ways to contribute to the healing and renewing of the world. The second adventure aims at things beyond the concerns of the daily world, and yet the transformations it can produce are essential for sustaining human culture, for reconnecting us to great nature and for determining the fate of life on Earth.