When reading the Gospels, I see the wise Teacher Jesus as unpretentious, so natural being. When he says, "I am the Way...," this arises out of the spaciousness of Sacredness, yet an entirely natural, innate Sacredness. Jesus does not seem interested in impressing persons with a Jesus-holiness-show. There is nothing phony about him.
The early churches began being referred to as of the Way. "Way" was prior used outside Christianity, as in the Tao Te Ching. The Way speaks of natural virtue, innate wisdom, what some persons might now refer to as natural law. Yet, the Way cannot be put into words. One knows the Way only by experiencing the Way.
The wisdom of how things work is intrinsic within creation, not imposed from outside by a higher being or humans. Human law and religious and spiritual teaching is valid to the extent they are in sync with the Way.
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If Nature flows from a Source, Nature participates in the Source and intimately expresses It. To align with this Way is, for theists, to align with creative Spirit.
Jesus often spoke in paradoxes of this naturalness. He exposed the contrived, unnatural way of so much religion of his time. Have things changed? How much damage have we done to our environment by creating religion that splits Creator and Created, God and Nature apart?
Is it not true religion often preaches a contrived way of being? Hence, to be as one ought to be, so it says, one must be against Nature and one's nature, or at least see these as opposite to Spirit and needing to be sublimated to be holy, spiritual, or enlightened.
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Spirit shines in and through flesh. The temple of the Immatural is matter. Intangibility dances with tangibility.
Godliness is not anti-Nature but in sync with the created and creative order. Hence, I conclude there are many deeply spiritual beings who are within and without religion, and many of them may have no idea of their being spiritual or holy.
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When one is spiritual, they think not of their being spiritual or not. The wind blows, not thinking it is the wind or not; it is one with itself, its created and creative essence, so it is in harmony with everything. In being in harmony with all things, it is in harmony with itself. This is the Way, the manner of beings radiating Light.
We, among all creatures, might be the sole ones feeling a need to appear impressive rather than just present as ourselves. Humans often seem unable to trust the God-within-us-all is most impressive by not being impressive.
The Danish contemplative monk Henri Nouwen visited Cistercian monk Thomas Merton, known worldwide, at the monastery that was Merton's home in Kentucky. Nouwen wrote of that first meeting. He had never met Merton and was surprised at how ordinary this celebrated monk was. When getting to the monastery, he was told Merton was down at a pond. He walked down, and there stood a man in common clothing, among it jeans, and a beer in hand. Nouwen had his idea of Merton's holiness shattered but realized Merton was a holy man precisely in being the man he was - impressive in being plain and human like the rest of us.
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Eckhart reminds us how blessed it is to become like the stone that falls off a cliff. That fall is spontaneous. No one can say it is unnatural. The stone falls like ripe fruit from a limb. The stone being a stone, falls in accord with Nature, as it had sat for many years stop the cliff in harmony with Nature and itself.
Eckhart says we can become like that stone. We can live in sync with Nature, which embodies the Will of God, in an unselfconscious, uncontrived manner. The Way includes growing to live the Will of God and love God without thinking one is doing so. In doing, one does that Will and loves.
That is possible, and it is natural. So, we grow from being unnatural, thinking it to be natural, to being natural. It is like breathing. We do not think to breathe; breathing happens. So, it is to live in Spirit, which is to live in accord with the Way.
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Tao Te Ching 70 -
My words are very easy to understand
and easy to practice,
Yet the world can neither understand
nor practice them.
My words have only one source:
the subtle truth of the universe.
My deeds have only one master:
the natural virtue of the universe.
The people of the world have no knowledge of this.
Thus, they have no knowledge of me.
The fewer the persons that know me,
the nobler are they that follow me.
Therefore, the one of whole virtue
wears coarse clothes superficially,
but holds a precious treasure within.
*Lao Tzu. The Complete Works of Lao Tzu: Tao Teh Ching and Hua Hu Ching. Hua Ching Ni, Trans. and Elucidator.
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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.
