The Key to Life

We have all heard the question before, “what is the key to life?”. Presented with many different answers, many different theoretical concepts that that spark the imagination. We construct a mental key in our mind’s eye. Yet, it never seems to fit the lock. This lock symbolizes each individuals own life question. The answer given to that question, our one true purpose. Each lock is custom made to fit its owner. Every key an exact fit to each customized lock. Being human, we can’t create such a key. You see, we did not create the lock. We don’t have the depth of self to do so until the lock is opened. Thus, we can’t construct the key. Since we know the lock is there, within ourselves, we know there is a key to open it. This key will reveal our self purpose. The secret is, the key has already been made! It is hidden in plain sight for you to find like an Easter egg after the bunny has fled. What’s the old adage, seek and you shall find? Seems like a good place to start.

From a young age of four I pondered the theater of life. Never finding a comfortable seat to watch the show, I remained on the outside looking in. An outcast, I see things differently from others of my kind. When you look at the clear sky, you will see blue. When I look, I see the blue sky too but, I see more as well. I see tumbling ghosts of gray, like an asteroid belt but not solid, caressing the sky in a rhythmic pattern. If I watch the sky for a while, a tunnel appears in front of my eyes. It is made of the same components I see in the sky. Trying to explain this as a child only brought laughs at what was thought to be a young boys imagination. Instead of answers and acceptance, I received only more questions.

Questions for me are like a deep festering splinter. One that can’t be tweezed, it must be cut out. I know the blade is the answer to the spike that will surely turn gangrenous. But, fear keeps the blade from my flesh. So, I muster courage, set the blade to the oozing wound…and cut deep. Sometimes there are tears, sometimes anger or hope, but with every cut made, every splinter removed, an answer is given. This answer has to then be accepted to become a truth. In these truths, I found the key to my lock. In fact I gave you the answer to find your key already as well. Can you guess what it is? No? Well, I reckon you are in the right place then.

When I was in my mid teens, I was a mess to say the least. Still questioning, still searching, still not understanding. I would lose myself in TV or movies. Believe it or not, the movie City Slickers gave me the question I needed. I would spend the next decade pondering it to find my answer. It took another decade after that for me to have the courage to accept my key.

In the movie, Mitch (Billy Crystal) and Curly (Jack Palance) are in deep conversation. They are talking via horseback on the old dusty trail. Curly asks Mitch “do you know what the secret to life is”? Holding up one finger to Mitch. Mitch reply’s, ” You’re finger”? With a crooked grin Curly said, “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit”. Mitch states, “that’s grate but, what’s the one thing”? Curly tells Mitch, “That’s what you got to figure out”. Curly’s gloved finger and powerful statement to a man confused in life struck home with me. It had narrowed my search.

My question morphed from, what is the secret to life, into, what is the key to life. Now were talking! If there is a key there must be a lock. Visa versa, if there is a lock there must certainly be a key. The lock now fully visible, where the hell was the key? I had a needle in a haystack situation going on here. I was desperate for the answer. Desperate enough to defy the world. Both middle fingers in the air, I made peace with the bloody end that was sure to come my way. Trudging up the shear cliffs of desperation, I looked to the sky. There I found my oldest companion. The ghostly asteroid tunnel! Like a telepathic wave to the beyond. I finally accepted it was truly there. With everything mustered of my self, I hurled everything I was into it.

Standing there with no one and nothing, I felt like a fool. Nothing had happened. Nothing at all! What was the problem? I accepted the tunnel was there. I needed it to be there…and then it happened. I had accepted the tunnel was there… accepted…accepted…accepted….acceptance. That was it, THE ANSWER. The key to life is acceptance! Like manna from heaven, the skeleton key for my lock fell from the tunnel, gently landing in my hand. Without hesitation I inserted the key into the lock, turned it and opened the door. There was no passage beyond the door, just a mirror. In that mirror the only reflection, my-self.

Startled, shaken to the core, I wept. I had been looking at this ugly mug in the mirror for over three decades. I no longer wished to see the self I was. The image I was looking at was slightly different then the one I was used to. Accepting the knowing look I was being given by my new counterpart. I looked hard at my-self. So hard in fact, my inward journey began. I guess the tunnel works after all!

So, there you have it folks. The key to life is acceptance. Through this act, we can travel deep inside ourselves. We become a person who is not a cog but, a human being. Development of compassion and understanding flood our veins. We breath in hope and exhale peace. We are now okay with being who we are. The limitlessness of human self can now grow like a redwood reaching for the sky. All you have to do is put acceptance in your heart and turn the key.

After all of this, finding the purpose you have been looking for becomes quite easy. Where do your natural thought and talents lead you? Walk that path and your on the road home. Me, I was built for service. To willingly and consciously give my self to you, my Human brethren. I am at the beginning of my journey to help ease the suffering put in my footsteps. It will be a treacherous path to be sure. It is my path though and it must be walked. As must yours. Agape, Anthony Jumeaux