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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. I hope persons of varied wisdom paths will find inspiration here.
Blessings,
Brian Kenneth Wilcox
MDiv, MFT, PhD
Interspiritual Teacher, Author
You are invited to join Brian at his fellowship group on Facebook - OneLife Ministries – A Contemplative Interspiritual Fellowship.
Evidence plainness
Embrace simplicity
Reduce selfishness
Live with few desires
*Tao Te Ching: 19.
Is the word in the Tao Te Ching 19 wise? If so, then, are we living wisely? Are we not given messages continually from varied directions that we need to be more ornate, more complicated, more self-centered – even in our religion and spirituality -, and pursue many desires?
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Chuang Tzu (369-286 BC) was fishing in the Pu River. Lord Wei from Chu sent two ministers to invite the sage to run the affairs of state, an important public position. Chuang Tzu, holding the fishing rod in hands, said:
I've heard that there is a sacred turtle in the state of Chu, which was dead for three thousand years. The lord keeps it in a bamboo case covered with a kerchief. Would this turtle prefer to be dead and kept in such a grand style or to be alive and drag its tail through the mud?
The ministers replied, “It would prefer to be alive and drag its tail in the mud.” Chuang Tzu spoke, “Please go away, then, I'd prefer to drag my tail in the mud, also.”
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What truly lives? What gives you life, spiritual life and vitality? Look around you, at all the things around you. Look now, wherever you are. Look, pose this, “Does that give me life?” Pose the question to anything: the chair you sit in, a potted plant, a family picture, the wall, a nearby book, - anything. Do this for at least one to two minutes.
Now, think of things you have “had” and no longer “have.” Where are they? What now do they give you? They are gone. Are they not? Did they give you anything lasting?
Do you recall a time when you had little, much less than now? Does having more give peace, joy?
Everything around us is fleeting. We are fleeting. And this exercise of sane awareness can guide in varied ways: to be more wise in use of time and energy, not to attach our joy and peace to anything, to cherish each moment and what we are blessed with as a gift to be a good steward of, to give more time and attention to relationships – instead of things -, …
The next time you consider buying some other thing, you can question. You can pose the query: "Do I really need this?" And, "Will this lead to time and energy I would rather be investing in something else?"
Jesus the Nazarene spoke in Matthew 16.26, “What shall a person gain if he or she gains the whole world, but loses his or her soul? Or, What shall a person give in exchange for the soul?” Let us not lose connection with our True Self, the vital Life Within, by selling ourselves to desire of things. Let us keep our mind-heart directed toward the blessings that will last and enhance us, and others.
©Brian Kenneth Wilcox, and OneLife Ministries. 03/19/2010
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis. Brian is a member of United Communities of Spirit: A Global Interfaith Initiative, for advancing the cause of understanding and peace among persons of different faiths and beliefs. OneLife Ministries seek to share this spirit of unity among all peoples of faith and humanity as a whole.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.
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