Most lotus legends explain the ancient reason why the lotus is linked to both human and divine consciousness in this way: it has a root deep in the muddy and murky waters – but on top of the water, it floats magically – a resplendent geometry of beauty and color – a perfection that has its roots in the muck. Most images and graphic representations, however, seldom show the root. It's an omission that leads us to forget or at least "discount" in some way the not so pretty beginnings of all endeavors, whether they are the quest for a higher state of consciousness or just the beginning of a messy home remodel. It's as if we only want to see the finished perfection of something. Fair enough. Nobody wants to see the ten trillion outtakes that didn't work in a movie, or the scraps of fabric and exhausted seamstresses at a couture show...the raspy, off-key attempts at a song. But we liked this little root. It wasn’t ugly or scary at all. Maybe life in the earthy/muddy waters doesn’t have to be ugly or scary either. Maybe we need to remember to honor the whole process no matter how ungainly or frustrating, because without it there would be no state of perfection.
So our root is always visible and we think it makes the connection to the "divine" -- the pathway -- much easier to see and keeps us hopeful while we are slogging away at whatever it is we seek to accomplish. This is our way of reminding all of us that both states are part of a whole.
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