Waves
upon
the ocean.
Worry
not about
where they go.
Nor from
whence
they come.
They are
one with
the ocean.
Moved
by the moon
and stars.
They eddy
rise
and flow.
Be as
the wave
upon the ocean.
Worry
not about
where you go.
Nor from
whence
you come.
You are
one with
the universe.
Moved
by the moon
and stars.
You eddy
rise
and flow.
Truth
is the
gateway
to love.
Through it
passes
ultimate
reality.
Vulnerability
is the key
to the
heart.
Through it
we unlock
intimacy
with god.
Sanctification is not about self-denial. It is a love story. It is about falling in love with the deepest and truest aspect of our being. It is about falling in love with god. After that, everything that separates us from god simply starts falling away. Sanctity does not require us to deny anything. It asks us only for our attention. It asks only that we love god and our neighbor more than ourself. Sanctity does not call us to self denial, it calls us to be the truest version of ourselves. It calls us to ignore distractions and shed our false self.
Self revelation is the first step to knowing god. Only when we accept and acknowledge all of our little “I ams” are we able to begin to understand the great “I AM” that is all things. Loving, knowing, and accepting the self is our first initiation into loving, knowing, and accepting god. As long as we reject or fail to acknowledge those aspects of ourselves that cause us shame, embarrassment, or pain, we reject and fail to acknowledge our own particular manifestation of divinity. The only way to enter into communion with infinity is through our own finite beings. As long as our discomfort, fear, and lack of self-worth blind us to the totality of our being, god will remain hidden.
Beloved community, it is you that I seek. It is you that I have always longed for. It is your absence that has led to every neurotic and compulsive thought I have ever had. We were made for one another, you and I. Apart, we all went mad. But together, we will be well. Held together in arms of unconditional love and mutual care, we will be healed. Beloved community, it is only within you that I am whole.
Drifting
together
then apart.
Riding
currents
of fate.
Destinations
unknown
and undetermined.
Lost
together
then alone.
Arriving
together
or apart.
Drifting
towards
destiny.
My karma predisposes me towards asceticism. That may have been a virtue in a different culture and age, but in this world it has made me a slave. I grew up poor, in a poor community, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. I have never prioritized pleasure or happiness, because I was taught those were luxuries we could not afford. That fidelity to joyless duty has followed me into the middle class, and along my spiritual journey.
Even after awakening to my true nature as an infinite being of love and bliss, I have remained in some ways impoverished. I have passively accepted things that serve neither my happiness nor that of others. I have retreated into inward bliss, as the inertia of a middle class life set in motion before my awakening consumes most of my time with things that serve a life I do not desire.
This world rewards those who doggedly pursue their desires to the exclusion of all else, no matter how misguided. I have seldom had strong desires beyond my desire for union with god. Before awakening I did not know yet what I sought. So I set about building a safe middle class life designed to alleviate the condition of material deprivation.
Then within months of starting that middle class life, I awakened to my true nature, and realized the worst poverty is that of the soul. I now wistfully reflect on the freedom of that materially impoverished child from the mountains. He wanted to seek god, but had no one to show him the way. I now know the way, but have less physical freedom than ever before. How long will I continue serving a middle class life designed to alleviate a poverty I no longer fear?
