Vain breathings and lies can't be joined with Truth. O friend, you are as you think. As for the rest of you, it's only flesh and bone.
If your thought is a rose, you are a rose garden; and if your thoughts are thorns, you are just kindling for the bath stove.
*Rumi. Mathnawi II, 277–78. Trans. Kabir, Helminski. In Kabir Helminski. The Mysterion: Rumi and the Secret of Becoming Fully Human.
Christian Scriptures -
In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable. Put into practice what you learned and received from me [Apostle Paul], both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace [or, God of peace) will be with you.
*Philippians 4.8-9 (GNT)
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My diet has changed a lot. As a farmboy, I came up on a meat-and-potato diet. I am vegetarian and have been much of my adult life. I would not have dreamed that someday I would be eating Gujarati Dal and a wide variety of other Indian dishes. Yet, Gujarati Dal it was today, and almost daily, one meal is an Indian dish. There was a time I would not have drunk coffee without sugar plus half-and-half or something else to make it tastier, but I have for many years. I would not have thought I would drink hot tea at all, and indeed not every day, but it transpires daily. I would not have eaten foods regularly without salt - often lots of it. I enjoy a low-sugar diet, and using herbs instead of salt is how I prepare food now.
As we draw closer to the Light, our life-diet changes as our life-tastes transform. The diet of our thoughts and activities reconfigures. We say and do things we had never dreamed of saying or doing. We are no longer attracted to thoughts, things, and actions we were once comfortable engaging. Some things remain a part of our lives but we do not invest the same importance to them.
This transformation does not mean what we thought or did before was wrong. These changes may or may not be moral, as in abandoning what we come to see is bad or displeasing to our God.
We shed things, for they lose their attraction. They lose their appeal as we are drawn more into the Truth. Our attractions become more attuned to the purity and wholeness of the Light.
As Grace spiritualizes us, our life reflects a more graceful, more sacred, even reverential, way of being. Even things we once did and continue to do take on a fresh presence, mirroring the change in us. So, sometimes, the transformation is not to, say, a new behavior, but the behavior changing in quality. Thoughts and actions become sacramental, become enlightened, with less of self. We become more peaceful toward others, for we feel more peaceful within ourselves.
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This transformation entails three steps -
First, we feel the transformed attraction. Suddenly, we are awake to a new wish in how to live our lives. We are drawn to different thoughts, actions, and attitudes than before.
Second, we go with this newness. Sometimes, this happens quickly, and sometimes, it involves more of our conscious choice and entails struggle. The heart is saying one thing, the mind another; the heart is in the present, the mind in the past. Trying to remain attached to something previous is likely due to fear of living without what we were accustomed to. We feel safe thinking and doing as we have - it is familiar. We might even try to hang onto something bringing us unhappiness - like complaining about others-, for we continue to believe the illusion that it will give us some good, even though it does not. We are being derailed by ignorance.
Last, we settle into the new attraction. This, now, is our new familiar - the old attraction has died, meaning it has finally fully transformed into a new attraction. In time, and with this transformation into having new interests that bring you fulfillment, you look back and see what you think, say, and do is much different than it once was.
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This conversion of tastes is the way of spiritual wisdom. We grow in spiritual intelligence and spiritual perception. We shift from living based on what is right to what is wise, from avoiding the bad to choosing what is loving, kind, and wholesome. We receive spontaneous insight into the intelligent way to think, act, and live our lives. We sense more closeness with Divine Presence. We enjoy peace from the Beloved of the Hearts.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2023. Permission given to use photographs and writings with credit given to copyright owner.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
