I am so excited about this work that I want to try to say everything at once, and,of course, everything I have to say right now is simply a refection of where I am at this moment—Alas! That might change tomorrow, in fact it is changing right now.
I was going to plug in a quote from the Buddha here, but I just discovered that there are some people who think Buddha didn’t really say it, that the idea originally came from the Hindu scriptures , the Kalam Sutra (now don’t get all excited about that, it’s not the Kama Sutra, its the Kalam Sutra!) So not to bore you with quotes or misquotes, the essential message is to LISTEN TO YOUR HEART.
When your ego speaks, the message or directive will always be tainted with a sense of guilt, fear, coulda/woulda/shoulda, "what if I make a mistake, I’m probably not doing it right." You know the drill.
The heart speaks gently, quietly, without judgment. It leads; it guides; it offers.
Just as a for instance, many of you felt drawn to this gathering on Sunday morning, you might not have known why intellectually, but there was a sense of “rightness” for you about it. Then in the natural course of events, since we are still connected to our limited ego consciousness, we might find ourselves falling into doubt or fear or even just “spiritual laziness.” Then I have to go inside again—not to look at or analyze the struggle, but to listen to the voice within that will guide me. We might get a hint of “be patient, no one gets it all at once;” “relax, take in what you can take in, there are no rules here; there’s no test at the end.” OR you might genuinely decide “this is not for me right now.” This is not just about our Sunday School. We are encouraged to use this kind of discernment all the time.
We can probably look back on our lives and notice times when we listened to our inner voice (which I truly believe is the voice of The Holy Spirit) gently guiding and leading us to a certain book, or workshop or encouraging us to call a friend on the phone. It’s happening all the time.
There are always positive results when we listen to the wisdom of our hearts.
Here is an excerpt from the e mail I recently sent out:
I am on this journey just as much as you are. I am struggling with the same things and being challenged by the same questions. I am always willing to share any of my own journey if you would like to ask.
I realize this work can be a little frightening. I would encourage you to recognize that fear is just part of the process. Essentially we are moving from a comfortable identity, which we have worked on forming for years, to a deeper reality of who we truly are. For much of our life we have identified with this little self, and know we are being asked to begin to peel back that layer and to look more deeply. It’s a process—we are all moving with it.
Although no one really reinforced the message, one of the things we learned very early on was that “we were made in the image and likeness of God.” What a beautiful thing! But then we leaned we were bad and good, and smart and dumb, and that money and success, and why people think about you is impotent, and all sorts of other stuff—-And so that became our focus. Now we are focusing differently.
That’s it—we are NOT becoming Christ or the Christ Consciousness, we are simply being asked to begin to recognize that I already exists within us and within others.
We are not becoming God in an egotistical sense, we are becoming Love, because that is the substance that we were made from and that is the substance that we are.
There is really no difference between what we are exploring and experiencing here, and the Unity Prayer we say so often:
“The light of God surrounds me; the love of God enfolds me; the power of God protects me; and he presence of God watches over me; wherever I am God is.”
and other expressions of truth we have heard all our lives.
“I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
“God is Love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in Him.” (1 John 4:16)
I am not separate from the Power and Source of Love, and because I am not separate from it, I Am in It and It is within me. (Please note the “me” we are continually referring to is not my self-centered little ego self; it is the me that loves, that forgives, that lives in compassion, that is willing to s-t-r-e-t-c-h in order to embrace and be embraced by even more Love.
The fear or anxiety we might feel is a natural result of consciously moving these principles from our heads to our hearts. This is a HUGE transformation for all of us. Our poor little ego is frightened that it is going to be discarded or thrown away.
This is NOT TRUE, or ego or our little personal self will remain, we will simply realize that is not who we are, we are much more than that.
Take this book in tiny does if you need to, savor, digest, assimilate.
As I was thinking about all this I recalled a favorite parable from Richard Bach:
Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all -- young and old, rich and poor, good and evil -- the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self.
Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current was what each had learned from birth.
But one creature said at last, "I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."
The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed against the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"
But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the messiah, come to save us all!"
And the one carried in the current said, "I am no more messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure."
But they cried the more, "Savior!" all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a savior.
-- from Illusions by Richard Bach
Next blog this week, I will address what we read together on Sunday.
Peace, Gerry
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