*Joan Tollifson. Nothing to Grasp.

As I shared recently with an acquaintance, who seemed not to have understand this prior, in Contemplative Prayer, from the Christian tradition, God as object drops away in Contemplation ~ this meaning no projection of God. Here, one is said to be in union with God, yet oneness negates object. Even the thought of being one with God, or anyone, negates this pure subjectivity ~ this is a reason why all talk of nonduality, or oneness, is self-negating (all ideology is self-negating): one implies another other than one, so to say one and no other is a contradiction, so, if one, really, not-one. So, here, there is pure, alive, present, boundless openness. Pure meaning nothing added to this naturalness. Alive meaning this openness is not inert, static, but teeming with life. Present meaning never of the past, always now, for timeless. Boundless for having no boundaries of this or that, inside or outside. Openness for including all, a choiceless presence, or Presence. Even the projection of God, anything, happens in this openness. One cannot rightly deny projection, for projection, or objectification, is itself an expression of the potency of the openness. Now, one could inquire, "But is this openness God?" or "Is this openness arising from God?" or "Is this openness simply openness?" I could give information, and that would prove nothing. The best we can do, is intimate. Yet, that proves nothing. Any proof has to arise from knowing, not knowing of or knowing about. I will reply simply, then, with the words of Joan Tollifson and a poem ~ "The only real answer ... is to be awake and see."

* * *

whatever, whoever, God is or would be
cannot be known through memory
which is always the past impinging on the present

if you smell a rose
you know the scent only
through the immediate experience of the scent

you could call the rose scent anything
"rock" "airplane" "raindrop" "rainbow" "highway"
the scent would still be the scent

you could say "I believe in the rose scent"
and, then, you have moved away from knowing
into belief

you could tell many details about the rose scent
from reading books about it and hearing speeches on it
that is information

you can only know
in the moment of encounter

learning who or what God is or would be
is not by accumulating knowledge
or having belief

a knower
a believer
are not the same

like God
you can only know yourself now
and that is fresh each moment

as you change, as everything changes,
God as you keep knowing God
changes too

God in the present is alive, living
God from the past believed in in the present is dead, deadening

to the extent a group discourages this change
that group is encouraging persons
not to know God

God is never in the past
always in the intimacy of this now
the only place and time you can know anyone, anything

spiritual contemplation in Silence
ushers us into this intimacy in which
we drop the past and discover an aliveness some call "God"

regardless, you discover
all naming is relative
for experience of an absolute is changing in living encounter with

at times, the with dissolves
and nothing is being encountered
for no object remains to meet with
~ only meeting ~

possibly, for some
a time comes when only
unceasing meeting remains moment-to-moment timelessly

*All material, unless another source is cited, is authored by the presenter of Lotus of Heart, Brian Kenneth Wilcox, Florida USA. Use of the material is permitted; Brian only requests that credit be given and to be notified at 77ahavah77@gmail.com .

*Brian's book, An Ache for Union, is available through major booksellers.

*Move cursor over pictures for photographer and title.

The Sacred in Me bows
to the Sacred in You