In the musical, The Further Shores of Knowing, the hero, Jack Bigabee, is guided by a precise path across the night sky to a staging area in the northern Pacific where he undertakes the final steps to re-ignite the Polestar.

We refer to this route as Jack’s Star Path. But it represents far more than a simple fold-up map because it connects the starry heavens and the earth below. That timeless fusion energizes the hero as he sings the route, calling out its main features and dangers.

In this respect, Jack’s Star Path is similar to the Aboriginal songlines of Australia, also known as dreaming tracks. These routes crisscross the entire continent, serving as navigational aids through difficult terrain, while turning the landscape into tone and rhythm, such that those who know the song can safely traverse the path. The land, the culture and its long history are preserved in these sacred songs, and when sung come alive in a timeless now.

Today, we are born into an existence that is largely mapped out. Our days are carved up on a calendar. Houses are carved up on plots of land. Commercial trails of any significance are entombed in asphalt and concrete. And when venturing outside of familiar neighborhoods, we often rely on GPS to show the way. No sacred songs are needed to empower us or serve as a guide.

Where does this leave us? Rather lost, I would suggest. Perhaps feeling a little empty, “with no direction home,” as Bob Dylan once sang. But the natural energies of the world cannot be completely contained — including our own. Inevitably, a wildflower will emerge through the cracks, while floods, tornadoes and hurricanes are more violent manifestation of nature’s reaction to our seeking to contain it. In quiet moments, if we find any, one might wonder, “Am I doing what I really feel like I should be doing?” In other words, am I following my Star Path?

That is the great opportunity life brings us — the chance to sing our own song. The question is, when you sense that some other part of you needs to express itself, are you willing to listen? To accept the opportunity? In my fifties I resigned the security and benefits of a corporate position to write a book. I had come to a crossroads. In some respects it was a matter of life and death. Continue on a comfortable, but well-worn track from which I derived little energy, or choose a new and unchartered path.  

Sound is another dimension of light. And one’s Star Path is always playing in the background, ready to light the way. That’s my contention. It’s there in the quiet moments when you are willing to listen. And it will lead you to the doorway that is open to you if you wish to enter. In many respects, that is the journey of The Further Shores of Knowing. It is both an inner and an outer journey. The reward is a new kind of awareness. An empowering Ah-ha. For the songline is ultimately a love song, for yourself and the world around you. A love that has no contrary. No enmity. Like a clear spring it has nothing to hide. Because your personal songline is aligned with a higher truth, by following it you can live the fullest expression of yourself. And nothing can stop you from getting there, because in knowing it, you already are.