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A spiritual seeker heard of a holy man who lived high in the Himalayas. He was informed meeting him could change a person’s life, even if one spent two minutes in the sage’s presence. This seeker traveled the long journey to meet the holy man. He traveled halfway around the world, scaled enormous mountains, labored through howling winds and blinding snow, went without food for days, narrowly escaped wild beasts, and, at last, came upon the sage's humble dwelling atop a remote peak.
There, this seeker found a long line of people waiting to be invited in the home. He, standing in line, enthusiastically waited. When having reached the door, a lowly-looking servant greeted him. "I've come to meet the holy man!," said the pilgrim. "Yes, please come in," said the servant.
The seeker scanned the house for sight of the sage. He was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, the servant tried to share conversation with him. He asked the traveler what had motivated him to come so far and at such effort to meet the sage, and how he would like the wise one to help him. Anxiously anticipating his time with the sage, the seeker gave the servant brief, perfunctory replies.
The servant patiently, kindly led the man through several rooms and, at last, to a door and opened it. To the visitor’s alarm, the door led outside. "Thank you for coming," spoke the servant. "But wait!," the traveler complained. "I've come all this way to see the holy man. May I see him for just two minutes?" "You've been with him since he met you at the front door," the servant said, and he closed the back door behind the seeker.
He totally missed him.
Yes, totally.
This story, it seems, could apply to the nature of holy beings, as well as anything or anyone in which God seeks to meet us.
It can. We associate the holy, the sacred, with persons and things and happenings with, say, neon shines. One sect of the Christian church does not even assign anyone as being a saint unless he or she has performed a miracle: translated, something very, very, yes very spectacular. According to it, a single mother or father raising a family, while working two jobs, well, that is just not special enough, miraculous enough. The sect I grew up in held dearly to the teaching called the priesthood of believers, so we were all esteemed priests, and saints as well. Yes, just ordinary farmers, factory workers, homemakers, teachers, mechanics... all priests, all saints.
We are much attracted to the spectacular, that which fascinates, the exotic, the otherworldly, the afterlife. This life is too ordinary for many of us, for us to enjoy as sacred, absolutely holy. We want to be captivated, the attention-grabbing something. Most of us do not begin to appreciate how we judge things based on how we have been conditioned to judge them. We may wonder about the so-called next life, and we miss the glory of this life. There must be, we think, a more sacred experience, place, or happening, of course, somewhere else at some other time, maybe even after death. This here, this now, just cannot be the time and place where Christ speaks with us, Buddha shows up, Love offers Itself to us, a saint meets us in the check-out line at the grocery store. Or can it be the time and place, right here, right now? When your eyes can see, you will see angels everywhere, I mean that ~ everywhere.
God is already here and here and here... I guess the question is, "Am I here?"
God is becoming, showing up all the time, and we are with God, like the man was with the sage in the house. And, yes, often we are not here, we are in the dream of where we would like to be, or where and how we expect the spiritual life to be. This whole world is the House of God. One of the meanings in the story of the Christ, or Word, being born in a stable, placed in a manger, is this humble appearing of Life. There is nothing ostentatious about Grace, Grace is shy, Grace is humble, Grace is modest. Move away from the showy, associate with the lowly. Pray to be humble, without your making a show of humility.
Everyone is the House of God. I can accept that, but find it problematic to accept I am. I often do not feel like it.
Everyone is the House of God. Few recognize this. They may see another as embodying Grace, but they do not feel they are worthy to do so. They have been taught, often by religion, that they do not, at least in the measure that so-called special beings do. There are many persons appearing, there is only one Soul, one Life, in each, in all ~ one God in all, even that you call the criminal, the godless, the enemy, the evil person. God is in all, or God is in no one, God is not. The Sun is always shining, even when hidden by clouds. The degrees of Light differ person-to-person, but the Light is the same.
Reminds me of how the Christian story of people executing Jesus, while others recognized in him the Sacred.
Jesus, Buddha, anyone holy will not show up in our lives in the way we have been conditioned to believe. Do not expect Jesus, for example, to appear in your life dressed up like the Catholic Pope; do not expect the Buddha to show up garbed like a Tibetan Buddhist Lama. Do not expect a lowly, light-filled saint to appear as one of those television evangelists with expensive wear and rings on the fingers. Grace is showing up all the time, trying to get our attention, and spiritual practice is about waking up to Grace and not missing how we are being blessed each day, each moment. Likewise, to see Grace, we need to be able to see what is not graceful, what is graceless. How can one who claims to follow the humble Christ, for example, parade around in clothing most of us could not begin to afford and go to meetings in a jet plane, while children are dying due to lack of medical care and nutrition? We need to use common sense, not go with the crowd or be fascinated by the popular, in discerning the Holy from the mere appearance of holiness.
What would you most recommend, so we do not miss this appearing of the sacred?
Begin each day with time in your devotions, or spiritual practice. Do not rush into your day. On awakening, let your first thought be of the Holy and, then, give gratitude. And prayers are good, spontaneous or read. Reading beautiful prayers slowly, quietly or silently, the words can sink into you. You can feel the truth of holy words like that. Sometimes a word or words might strike you as with an energy infused in you, and you may want to linger some in thoughtfulness. Regardless of how you engage in these devotions, what you include, this is the best way to be prepared to recognize God in your daily life.
As an example, recently I awakened several hours before daylight and rested for a time in bed, then I got up. I read this prayer, a prayer to begin the day. One may even choose to recite such a prayer, daily, so that over time it sinks more and more deeply into you.
I have come to You to take Your touch before I begin my day.
Let Your eyes rest upon my eyes for a while.
Let me take to my work the assurance of Your comradeship, my Friend.
Fill my mind with Your music to last through the desert of noise.
Let Your love’s sunshine kiss the peaks of my thoughts
and linger in my life’s valley where the harvest ripens.
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*The theme of "Lotus of the Heart" is 'Living in Love beyond Beliefs.' This work is presented by Brian K. Wilcox, of Maine, USA. You can order Brian's book An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, through major online booksellers.
*Morning prayer is from Rabindranath Tagore. "My Friend,' in The Heart of God.
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