*Grace, Glauco Ulcigrai, Flickr
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God has no religion.
*Mahatma Gandhi
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And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
*Mark 8.34 (ESV)
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The ascetical aspect of work and life means a self-denial. This self-denial is, however, an affirmation - an affirmative-denial. That this denial is not merely a denial means that what appears repressive is, actually, expressive.
So, what happens, when I in dialogue with someone, remember, "This is not about me"? What happens when I recognize inwardly that I am part of what is happening, but I do not personalize what is happening? What happens affirmatively in that space created between the other and me by self-denial? Love happens.
If self-denial is merely a moral mandate or a rigid rule to please a deity, then self-denial is unhealthy. In self-denial as an act of morality, the end result is a subtle selfishness. One affirms the self by submitting the self to a lifeless rule of "ought to" and "ought not to." If self-denial is merely to please the deity, then that deity is an objective deity that takes pleasure in being pleased, apart from its practical value in our daily lives. The prior makes the self more selfish, the latter makes the deity to appear selfish.
An irony of Jesus' teaching, and in accord with much teaching in Buddhism and Hinduism, is that self-denial is of an illusory self. These traditions play a trick on us, which goes something like this: "Please, self, do all you can to control yourself, to decenter yourself?" We come to get exhausted with this self-effort, then, we see there is nothing substantial about that self we are seeking to deny. That self, a construct only, is itself the source of our faith in separation from Grace and others, and ourselves.
Prayerfulness, then, is a practice that may be seen, initially, as a de-centering of that self. But, later, Prayerfulness leads to recognizing that self is not the Self at all. The Self is who I am in Oneness with God and others and, therefore, the Self is who we are in Oneness with God and one another. The self cannot be the Self, for the self is personalized as a self separate from others and God, even separate from myself as I am truly - a Being-in-Union. This Being-in-Union is Love. We are Love.
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*Kindness, Jan Lakey, Flickr
* * * CLOSING BLESSING * * *
Grace and Peace to All
The Sacred in Me bows to the Sacred in You
*You are welcome to contact Brian at briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
The presentations at this site cover a long time period. Each one represents part of an on-going Pilgrimage, and the writer's ideas, practices, and experience have changed over time. This change is the quality of any living Journey. Please read with this in mind, allowing the inner Teacher to speak to you as you need at this particular time in your own living Journey. Thanks!
