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the space between us
The Cabin. Bath, Maine
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In walking the Way, you come to a point and realize to be free to obey means to be free to disobey. If you cannot disobey and remain free, you cannot obey and be free. Uncompromising obedience is not freedom, anymore than unbridled disobedience is freedom. Obedience is in disobedience; disobedience is in obedience. Few persons experience this higher-order consciousness.
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A disciple was initiated into the lineage and given a secret mantra. He asked, "Teacher, what will happen if I share this mantra?" The Teacher said, "All who hear it will be liberated, but you will be damned."
The devotee rushed down the hill and into the village. He called to himself a large crowd. He taught them the mantra.
The Teacher's other disciples heard of this. They, too, had received the same instruction when given their secret mantra, and they had never shared it, not even among themselves. They asked, "He's damned, is he not, for this flagrant disobedience?" "No," replied the Teacher, "he's shown he's an enlightened being on this Earth."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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A follower said, "That George makes a real mess of things, doesn't he? I guess you get tired of all his mistakes?" The Sage said, "No, not really. He acts from love. If making more mistakes made you more like George, I'd like you to make more mistakes."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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As we grow spiritually, we emerge into wisdom whereby through compassion wedded with insight, acting in love replaces the external teachings of society and religion on what is to be done and not done.
We learn the wisdom of these words of St. Augustine, from his Confessions: "Love and do what you wish." In compassion, we do not wish to be either obedient or disobedient, for we want only to follow the promptings of a free, liberated heart to give and receive love.
Love's promptings are not located in the duality of do or don't do. Love can act within the rules, norms, and expectations or outside them. Love transcends compliance or dissent.
Have you ever acted from a spontaneous, inner prompting and, thereby, disregarded what you had been taught was right and wrong, or proper and improper, to act in compassion? What was that like for you? How did the other(s) respond?
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2023.
*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.
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