A retreatant visited with the Sage. The Sage asked, "So, what led you to come here?" The man said, "To seek God." "Interesting," replied the Sage. "When did God get lost?"
The urge for Presence is because Presence is present. You thirst for the Water is very near. Your longing for Love is from Love. Shadows appear when the Sun is there. Seeking God shows God is the source of the seeking ... is seeking in your seeking. The search drops with realization of Spirit-here-now.
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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Where do we live? "We live in the Presence of God," writes the late Emmet Fox (1886-1951, Around the Year with Emmet Fox).
In the Christian Scriptures, St. Paul writes, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring'" (Acts 17.28, ESV). The ending quote goes at least back to Aratus, a Greek poet of the 3rd Century BCE.
A story widely told tells of a party of shipwrecked sailors drifting on the Atlantic Ocean. The sailors are suffering from thirst. Another boat comes along. The shipwrecked mariners call for help. The other sailors yell back, "Let down your bucket!" This sounds ridiculous. After hearing the same instruction several times, a sailor drops a bucket overboard into the water. To his surprise, he draws up fresh water. The thirsty crew had been sailing on fresh water for several days. Though out of sight of land, they were still within the freshwater carried by the Amazon many miles into the ocean.
You can experience the Beloved by simply opening your heart to what presents itself. Why? Spirit is present with whatever and whoever is present with us. Spirit is equally, for example, with you through one you see as a friend and one you see as an enemy. The Sun shines equally on an overcast day and a sunny day.
Remind yourself often that you live in Presence. Spirit is our home address. You do not have to feel some particular feeling of Presence. In fact, through spiritual contemplation, we learn to appreciate living with Presence without feeling we must feel some special sensation - holy, enlightened ... - to have that enjoyment. In fact, the spiritual Way might include many times, even extended seasons, of what Christian contemplatives have referred to as aridity. Yet, in these times, Spirit is Spirit. Streams of living water flow in the desert.
Let go of expecting special feelings to confirm you are companioned by Life. Those very expectations block the subtle sense of Spirit. Affirm living in the Presence, equally present everywhere and to you... always.
How might you encourage yourself to live more awake to the Sacred in your daily life? Consider a daily time alone in prayerful silence and spiritual reading can enhance your sense of Presence.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photograph.
*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.
