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Wisdom Quote
"We must become like ourselves,
and stop living 'beside' ourselves."
*Thomas Merton
Musings of a Modern Day Contemplative Mystic
The other night I read Thomas Merton's words, "We must become like ourselves, and stop living 'beside' ourselves." Sometimes we read some words that speak to our core. They become a transformative Word to us and shape our lives for a time or always. These words are like a mirror suddenly put before our True Face at just the time we need to listen to them. Such has been the power of those words of Merton.
I feel, know inwardly in an embodied way, that I am growing into those words. They are Word to me, by the Grace of Christ. I am coming to realize wonderfully, incarnationally, sacramentally ~ my own flesh being the offering to the Godhead ~ that the only way to God is through the person that persons call Brian. That Brian is a gift to this world, in all his apparent and subtle particulars, as is, not as some ideal of what he should or could be.
Then, a few days later, I read Gerald G. May begin his book The Awakened Heart with words that impress upon me the words of Merton, words the Holy Spirit is working into my soul. May quotes from the classic The Cloud of Unknowing: "In the interior life we must never take our experiences as the norm for everyone else."
So, I embrace and celebrate my freedom to experience God in a way that fits me, even as I celebrate the many ways I see others know God. Possibly, I live in a Christianity whose greatest challenge now is just this ~ to see God in ways the Church has historically refused to celebrate, to repent of its astigmatic vision. To repent of confusing the ways of Christianity with the Way before Christianity, historically speaking.
This moving into myself, body, mind, soul, spirit, is a deeply felt sacramental experience for me. To accept myself fully and celebrate all I am may be the greatest offering I can give back to God, as well as the most gracious gift I can give to those who live around me. Possibly, by my sacramental movement into the particularity of my life, I will be an invitation for them to do the same.
Suggested Reflection
In what ways do you need to grow into who you are? To live with yourself, not beside yourself?
Are there parts of yourself or your life you have rejected, for they do not fit the norm? Explain. Do you need to pray about that? If so, do so.
Suggested Spiritual Exercise
1. Consider an innovative ritual to celebrate your self and life in God ... to welcome into your life those parts of yourself that you have not included to this point. Invite one or a few friends to the ritual and to participate with you in the rite.
2. Join or start a spiritual support group that will encourage you in living with yourself and devoting yourself and your life to God. Make sure the context is confidential and bathed in shared prayer and meditation.
3. Write a letter to any part(s) of yourself that you have not accepted fully.
4. Compose an affirmation or prayer to begin each day, or return to during the day, affirming and dedicating to the Living Christ your divine particularity.
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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