'Winter in Maine... at the Canadian Border'
in the act of creation, we die
in creating, we live
so we are always dying and living -
that is the only way we can live
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Jesus, Gospel of John -
I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me.
*Gospel of John 15.5, CEV
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There is a passive aspect to the spiritual life. For this, one learns humbleness and, hence, surrender. A branch receives, while the vine provides - this is the natural order. The vine-life-energy flows into its offspring. Persons in calling Spirit "Father" or "Mother" signify this recognition. One is saying, "I am not my Source. I am reliant on Another. I am childlike."
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A hymn from my childhood came to mind recently. We often sang it in our little Baptist church - "Make Me a Channel of Blessing," written by Harper G. Smith in 1903. The refrain is:
Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my service blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today.
We are made conduits of blessing. Such being made a channel of blessing means I cannot make myself that. Grace makes you that conduit for Grace. Hence, too, the flow is sustained in continued receptivity. So, "make me a channel of blessing today" - today - means one keeps becoming a conductor of divine qualities. We need daily spiritual practice to sustain this connection with Life; in fact, our whole life is to become the practice.
Like recently, in reading instructions of proper breathing - "If you stop Breathing you will Die!" If we do not remain in intimacy with Life, we cease communicating Life; we die spiritually. We are kept alive by the Life-energy flowing through us. We inbreathe Life to outbreathe Life. If we are dead, we exist, but existence is not living. We are more like ghosts walking about - no Breath in us, no inbreathing-and-outbreathing.
I have been in religious gatherings with ghosts walking about, sitting in pews, singing hymns, and praying. When religion prioritizes morality and belief above communion with the Vine - often ignoring the latter -, the result is a fellowship of shades.
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"I am the vine" announces "Jesus" as a conduit of Spirit for his followers. He is a sacramental presence. Sufi teacher Kabir Helminski, in The Knowing Heart, defines contact point: "A person through whom we gain access to Higher Self." "I am" can refer to the intimacy between Teacher and disciple, Jesus being a contact point. Anyone through whom we receive spiritual guidance and nurture becomes such a point-of-contact for us. Anyone can be a Jesus to us. Jesus of Nazareth is the only Jesus of Nazareth, first century CE, but anyone can become a Jesus. There are many Jesus's walking among us, and there are Buddhas everywhere.
"I am" can refer to the Christ. In the Christian Scripture we read of "Spirit of Christ." Jesus would be saying, "That Spirit within me, not I the man before you, is your vine."
Jesus was prophetic. Prophets in his tradition often spoke as God. At times, they spoke, noting they were speaking for the Divine. At other times, they simply spoke as the Divine without any notation they were doing so. Hence, "I am" here can, also, refer simply to the One Jesus spoke of as "My Father." The vine, then, is the God-in-Jesus - in you, me, everyone.
"I am" in reference to the man Jesus, or the Christ, or "My Father" does not have to be seen as mutually exclusive. This "I am" can be understood as a unity of Being. To see Jesus is to see Christ and is to see God; to see Christ is to see Jesus and God. They are not the same, and they are not separate. Yet, Christ is more than the man, as Buddha is more than Siddhartha Gautama, and as you are more than your appearance.
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Gospel of John 15.5 implies an active aspect of spiritual growth alongside the passive. Jesus says, "But you cannot do anything without me." This statement signifies we act. We are co-creators with Spirit. We do; we give. The fruit is the giving.
That is our work here - embody and serve as a conduit of Presence. How does one know we do that? One looks at our lives - how we walk, speak, treat others and ourselves, ... What is the produce? If one were to ask me, "How do I know if I'm growing spiritually?" "Look at the fruit." That is simple, and that is empirical.
Hence, to continue in fruition, one remains in communion with the vine. All spiritual practice is an act of receptivity to grace, what the Eastern churches have called the divine energies. Hence, we guard against habitual distractions from this daily life of intimacy with Life. For Life is the source of Life.
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A woman dreamed she walked into a shop. She saw a man behind the counter. She asked, "What do you sell here?" The stranger said, "Everything your heart desires." Astonished at what she heard, the woman decided to ask for the best things a human could want. She spoke, "I want peace of mind and love and joy and wisdom and freedom from fear." As an afterthought, she said, "And not just for me. For everyone." The stranger smiled, saying, " I think you've got this wrong. We don't sell the fruit here, only the seeds."
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And when we act, we act in a certain way. Shunryu Suzuki said, "When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself (Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind). When we become one with what we do, doer and that being done dissolve in do-ing, and no trace is left. So, when the done is done, the doer is no more. Hence, there is no one looking back with a sense of ownership. One cannot say strictly, "I did" or "That's mine." Again, we live realizing that whatever good comes through us is through us. We do not claim credit, and we feel blessed to be graced to be a channel of blessing.
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Last, fruit bears witness to the nature of the branch and, so, to that of the vine. The principal witness is not what one confesses but the fruit. Jesus says, Gospel of Matthew 7.21, "Not everyone who addresses me, 'Master, Master' (or, Teacher, Lord), will enter the Reign of the Heavens, but the one who does my heavenly Father's will." Hence, we are not prone to speak of the fruit. We let the fruit bear witness. If, for example, you are kind, kindness will speak. We do not need to say, "I am kind." No, the fruit does the talking.
So, be reticent about talking about what you do, have done, or plan to do. Beware of self-promotion. Just do it and, then, leave it. Promote your work only when necessary to fulfill its purpose. Otherwise, be silent. There arises a new self needing to be burned up in self-giving, for the fruit embodies you, as it could not be without you. You are in the fruit, and the fruit in you, and you were burned to ashes in the doing. Who is left to claim, "I did that"?
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, especially Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the teachings and imagery in the poetry.
*Resource on breathing from Pat Philbrook, RNC,NP, Celtic Trinity Health Care. See https://celtictrinityhealthcare.wordpress.com/ .
