Saying For Today: We are like ones pointing to the Sun, when one sees the Sun, no one needs to say anything about the Sun. One becomes intimate with the Sun, by the Sun.
*Brian Wilcox. 'A River Dressed in Winter'.
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Everything is magical but also, somehow, seemingly ordinary.
*Mooji. Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space.
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Today, I felt joyful... got up earlier from sleep than usual, drove to a nearby town. The Sun was shining brightly. On the way, looking to my right into the Sun, I laughed with joy, as my heart delighted in the welcoming epiphany. After stopping for a latte, I drove to the historic Androscoggin Swinging Bridge. I stood, latte in hand and basked in the coldness, 18 degrees, further awakening the body and sharpening the mind to receive the beauty and quiet all around. Standing on the bridge, over the Androscoggin River, to my right was the Sun shining in its glory, saying, "Hello! Welcome to a new, bright day," and to my right the Moon, saying, "Goodbye! I'll return later to welcome you to the solace of darkness." I stood, several times, staring into the Light of the Sun, smiling at such a glorious manifestation ~ not just the Sun, but Life, my life, our life, Earth ~ such a gift, another day, every day a grace. I feel blessed to be here, in this now, the only now, and to imbibe daily of the sweet Silence moving everywhere, reminding me of the larger Life we live within, that breathes us within Itself.
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Yesterday, you said we would return to the same matter we shared about, that you had something more for us to share about the love story from the Gospel of John. And I wonder how that might relate to your experience this morning, since I assume you related it for it does.
Yes. Let us look at one thing regarding that today: epiphany. I mentioned we are all epiphanies: on that bridge I was an epiphany happening, part of the epiphany of all arising into the sense-world there. This is like Robert Sardello reminding us in his book Silence, "Silence is autonomous. It is beyond us; our task is to coordinate our being with the greater Being of Silence." So, on that bridge I was engaged with what he refers to as a "feeling-sense" of being part of something so much more than my self. That feeling-sense is of the something more, so near, but not able to be within the grasp. You could say, on the bridge, the happening was ritual, as much ritual as any ritual in a religious gathering.
I don't understand the link with silence?
Every manifestation, or epiphany, of the Totality here-and-now, it arises from Silence and returns us to Silence. The heart is the link between the Silence without and within. Even if we are laughing with joy, as on the road to the bridge, there is a quality of silence, for the ecstasy and expression of it arises from the Silence and leads us back to the Silence. Yet, too, there are different feeling-tones to this Silence-manifesting, having, say, a different quality in a deep, shaded wood alone, or on a mountain under the open sky, or lying alone in your room, or when meeting a dear friend for conversation and coffee. Yet, Silence is always the one Silence. Silence does not have different qualities, the experience of Silence, that has different qualities. Yet, even then, Silence-felt can shift. You can see this in meditation, as in even one hour, many diverse feelings-of-Silence may arise in the same Quiet.
When a Christian clergyperson, my congregations and I celebrated what in the Christian faith is called Epiphany. Epiphany was a day, Epiphany Sunday, for celebrating the manifestation of Jesus (a Jew) to the Gentiles (all non-Jews) ~ this implying the unity appearing in this child, Jesus, this Word speaking forth oneness without having to say a word about oneness. The story of the magi, or wise men, apparently Persian astrologers, visiting the boy Jesus is in the Gospel of Matthew. Often this is associated wrongly with the nativity, or birth of Jesus, in Bethlehem. In many nativities and Christmas celebrations, we see the magi and the shepherds with the baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The magi would not have been at the birth, only later. Then, likewise, we celebrated Epiphany as a season in the Christian year, beginning January 6, ending Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
Such days and seasons are a formalization of what is in our daily lives and in nature, in ourselves. This does not mean such rites and rituals are not helpful, that they are somehow unnatural or wrong. What this does mean is we can engage in belief and ritual without realizing it is an epiphany of what is to happen now within us and is happening all about us now, not just something that happened in the past. Ritual puts in formal action the eternal moment, while belief tends to freeze it in time. This is a reason belief can be so deadly to our lives, while ritual, if engaged with clarity, can be so enriching, even when we do not understand how. Ritual has a logic not of the mind, but of the heart. Persons who oppose ritual, they do not appreciate the timeless quality of ritual, its power, in bypassing mind, to express and inspire the heart.
Are we rituals? I ask, for I seem to recall your saying that sometime ago.
Yes, you could say that, and being so, we can be a living witness to the Truth. As a wordless witness, we remind others of who they are and their potential to be manifestations of the Light. In reality, however, you ~ the person ~ cannot be a witness, for the Truth witnesses through Truth being Truth. We are like ones pointing to the Sun, when one sees the Sun, no one needs to say anything about the Sun. One becomes intimate with the Sun, by the Sun.
What does epiphany mean?
Epiphany means, from Greek, "to reveal, manifest; to appear." All nature reveals the Sacred, appears as the Sacred. You and I are revelations of that Sacredness, as we said yesterday.
Some persons say, such as, "He had an epiphany," which means a sudden insight. This is not what we mean by epiphany. Epiphany is not something we have, or get, even be it a wonderful insight. Epiphany is Life revealing itself, the Holy appearing, Grace getting our attention. So says Ilie Cioara, in Life is Eternal Newness ~ again, reminding us of what I said yesterday, that there is no staleness in Life itself, in this ever-fresh revelation of our one Self through the diversity of the myriad of selves:
If we live in the now, in union with the moment, Holy Action manifests itself.
In the story of Mary recognizing Jesus, from yesterday, Jesus is this epiphany, this Holy Action manifesting?
Jesus, the man, we could say was only a means of the epiphany of the one he called "my Father." In the story, one can claim he is the epiphany. The narrative is shaped so that one could read it as affirming that he is the manifestation: but he, as man was only means of the Holy Action, as we can be too. In Christian terms, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, the Son, Jesus, has been viewed and worshiped as a manifestation of God. These kind of stories can gravitate around some persons, for they were sensed to embody qualities to a degree well beyond the normal. We say of some persons, for instance, "He, or she, is larger than life." The statement literally makes no sense, metaphorically it does. Also, we have likely met someone whom we sensed lived, so to speak, on a different spiritual plane than us.
Last winter, in Maine, I drove to the Kennebec River and took a photo of the icy waters. After returning to my cabin on Georgetown Island, I wrote the following poem, knowing there is and cannot be a concluding answer to what the Mystery is and that is appearing. Any answer, thankfully, leads onward deeper into the bright darkness of not-knowing. We learn to reverence and enjoy, and wonder, not wanting to know, relishing questions and, finally, relaxing quietly in the Silence free of words about Life, in-love-with-Life. Here, we bask in the perfume of Silence, and Silence becomes our worship.
And, if someone were to say, "And, Brian, okay, but what does that mean?" My reply would be that of that day, last winter, "I don't know." I smiled and laughed then, sitting in a chair and musing on "I don't know." The smiling, the laughing, Holy Action manifesting, Silence appearing inside the sound of holy hilarity.
epiphany "manifestation"
moment-to-moment
everything a witness to something More
but no one can say Who or What that Something is
dressing up in the myriad forms
that both reveal and conceal
like our being born in a cosmic game of hide-and-seek
enticing, seducing ever right here, and out-of-reach
Did Mary awaken to this Jesus was calling her to through announcing her name?
She recognized him. That was a beginning. To the one awakening, that one keeps awakening. Where is the first? The last? No where. In-reach, always out-of-reach.
So, for Mary, for us, the search goes on and on?
Until the search dies in the contentment, the joy, of what has been given. Then, discovery arises free of the search, in playfulness. Pure availability is the naturalness of the heart. Sardello writes, rightly, "Silence bears the wholeness we keep looking for while we do not know exactly what we are looking for." Yet, this looking is not the previous looking. This looking has no effortfulness, no desperation, no hyper-focus to it. And your question brings to mind words that rencently struck me as so very true, when reading Alan Cohen, in The Grace Factor, "Probe, challenge, and grow beyond any belief system that does not acknowledge you as already divine and Grace as already present. Don’t stop until everything you seek is already given." Those words ring out: "Don't stop until everything you seek is already given." So, the search fulfills itself in knowing there is nothing you do not already have in potential in God, in Christ, in Love. Then, we are postured to receive, for Life to surprise us, always. We know any more seeking is only our posturing to get, not be given to. Do you have to do anything for the Sun to give itself to you? No. So, Grace freely gives, and Grace seems to hide when we try to get it. Actually, our trying to get, to manipulate, hides Grace, but Grace never hides. So, relax, and prepare to be surprised, all along the Way. Let Love lead in the Way, for Love is the Way.
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*Brian Wilcox. 'Fall ~ the colors of change'.
*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.
