His disciples said to him, When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come? He said to them, What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.
*Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri). The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening: A Commentary on Jesus' Sayings as Recorded by the Apostle Thomas. Trans. of No. 51 Saying, Thomas O. Lambdin.
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Someone said to the Sage, "I find it amazing that you claim to see God." The Sage replied, "I find it amazing that anyone could claim they don't see God."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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Two common mistakes in religion are the following. First, interpreting something as only external that is wholly internal or both internal and external. Second, interpreting something to be only in the future that is wholly now or both now and in the future.
Jesus' students speak of a future resurrection at the end of time, when the final age would begin. This understanding is logical to them, seeing, as Jews, their religion had long anticipated a coming Messianic age as future. Jesus corrects his student's - and our - futuristic outlook with it has already come.
Jesus says you do not recognize it. Ignorance is the problem - ignoring something present. Many in religion are trained into this ignorance, as I was in my evangelical upbringing. The Sun is shining, and devotees are told, "Wait, one day you'll bathe in the glorious Light." Jesus says, "Don't wait."
In the traditional Gospels, Jesus addresses this failure to see. He says, "The kingdom of the skies (or heavens) is all around and within you." The Presence is everywhere. All of God rests at your feet. He says, "Don't wait." Seeing is now.
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How to recognize? We grow spiritually to sense the Presence through the Qualities of its manifestation in the material realm. For example, any manifestation of presence is a sign of the Presence. Any seeing of love is the seeing of God, Who is Love - as I John 4.16 (NLT) says, "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them."
I often recognize God through music. If I had a favored setting to meet the Light, it is when the Light shines through meeting with someone, a friend or stranger, in a casual sharing, and often unplanned. Frequently, I look into the sky, and God is looking back. I can sit in prayerful silence, and God sits with me, in me, and all around me. Until I learned how to see, I never saw God. I met God in many places, but I did not recognize God anywhere. I was trained in my religious upbringing how not to recognize Christ, not to see the Sun shining here, and here, and here ... .
Hints of the Presence of Life are all about us through the varied forms of life. We learn how to see. We learn how to recognize what is already showing itself, what we do not need to wait for. Spirit is never somewhere else.
We are not on a delay plan spiritually. You can enjoy as much of the Sunlight now as you are prepared to tolerate and, possibly, at times, more than you can tolerate.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2024. Permission is given to use photographs and writings with credit given to the copyright owner.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
