How Will You Ride The Horse?

“When god created the horse, he said to the magnificent creature: I have made thee as no other. All the treasures of the earth lie between thy eyes. Thy shalt carry my friends upon thy back. Thy saddle shall be the seat of prayers to me. And thou shalt fly without wings, and conquer without sword; oh horse.” Anonymous

This piece is in honor of the horse.  After all, it is 2014 . It is the Year of the Horse!
In doing my research, I was astounded to find the unfading nature of this symbol that spanned across centuries and influenced cultures across the globe. Ancient wisdom traditions have used symbols to communicate between the two worlds: the seen and the unseen. The horse has been used as the super highway between them.

Why? perhaps, they are a projection of our dreams about our higher selves – free-spirited, strong and beautiful. They remind us to nurture our spirit the dwells the flesh, to emancipate ourselves from our mental slavery and possibly to inspire us into thinking that we are not prisoners of this three dimensional world but "voyagers through it."

In the Hindu scriptures our 5 sense perception has been compared to the horse.
"Know the self as a rider in a chariot,
and the body, as simply the chariot.
Know the intellect as the charioteer,
and the mind, as simply the reins.
The senses, they say, are the horses,
and sense objects are the paths around them....
When a man lacks understanding,
and his mind is never controlled;
His senses do not obey him,
as bad horses, a charioteer." ... Katha Upanishad {translated by Patrick Olivelle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996

To know the self that dwells the flesh, curb your sense perception. Journey inwards, explore the richness that is you. It is beyond time, space and all material consumerism. "The internal universe, the real, is infinitely greater than the external, which is only a shadowy projection of the true one. This world is neither true nor untrue; it is the shadow of truth. It is imagination – the gilded shadow of truth." Swami Vivekanada
This eternal truth is reflected in the sentiments of Harvard neurosurgeon: “Our eternal spiritual self is more real than anything we perceive in this physical realm, and has a divine connection to the infinite love of the Creator.”
― Eben Alexander, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife

In buddhism the horse is a conduit of the mind. It symbolizes the energy or "prana" that runs through the channels of the human body.
In the mountain hermitage which is my body, In temple of my breast
At the summit of the triangle of my heart,
The horse which is my mind flies like the wind
He gallops on the plains of great bliss.
If he persists, he will attain the rank of a victorious Buddha.
Going backward, he cuts the root of samsara.
Going forward he reaches the high land of buddhahood.
Astride such a horse, one attains the highest illumination
[Milarepa's "Song of the galloping horse of a yogi." Translated by Losang P. Lhalungpa]

"Pegasus the winged horse will appear and gallop aloft in the heavens. It will bring forth people endowed with swiftness of movement and limbs alert to perform every task." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.350-353.]
In Greek mythology, Pegasus carries the divine thunderbolts of Zeus. It unites the heavens and the earth. It carries the treasure of the mind. It was his hoof pawing the ground that the Hippocrene (horse-springs), the inspiring fountain of the Muses sprang forth. "Everywhere the winged horse struck hoof to earth, an inspiring spring burst forth"
The 'ancient midddle-men' of culture - the Phoenicians were also known as the 'horse people' by the Greeks. These astute sea seafarers adorned their mighty ships with horses’ heads in honor of their god of the sea, Yamm. These horse heads were purposeful tributes to the might of Yamm and were used on the ships to reign in the chaotic force of the sea.

The great Pharoah Ramses II glorifies his horses for the victorious battle against the Hittites.  In utter devotion he proclaimed, “Henceforth their food shall be given them before me each day when I am in my palace ....”  The horses were loved and adored for their unshakable spirit. It is said that the warriors of the desert when "mounted on their finest Arabian steed, proved to be invincible as Islam's power spread throughout the civilized world.".... “They spurned the sand from behind them – they seemed to devour the desert before them -- miles flew away with minutes, yet their strength seemed unabated . . .    

Over the ages the horse has been cherished for its loyalty, speed and unyielding valor. Because of their sensitivity, consistency, and patience, the various creation myths have endowed them with elegance, poise and mysticism. They inject us with unshakable strength and assures us that “we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The Labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. And where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.” Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

With your "beauty unsurpassed, strength immeasurable and grace unlike any other"– it is up to you to decide as to how you will ride the horse.

Illustration inspired by Andy Scott.

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