By Mary-Anne Rabe
The beauty of wisdom emerges in us, not just by amassing more knowledge but by knowing with more of ourselves. We are not just part of a story, we are a story. May we be fully aware and fully present in our own unfolding.
We are convinced by our certain perspective of reality, for it is our window through which we see our world. But why does that reality look so different when seen through different windows? We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.
Each one of us not only has a unique way of viewing reality, but also how we go about getting what we desire and then, if we don’t get what we want, we have a unique way of handling it. Spiritual transformation is an inside job, we don’t have to go anywhere or accomplish anything, but we must learn to stop running from ourselves. It is a matter of subtraction, of letting go, rather than adding anything to what is present.
We meet one another in our various life situations with so much already going on in our personal stories and perspectives and too often we don’t experience quiet and peace within ourselves. Without self-knowledge, it is difficult for us to really hear one another or pick up on what is going on beneath the surface. When people speak, we hear words, but do we hear what they are really saying. When someone for example answers, “I’m fine, thanks,” are we so busy formulating our next answer that we don’t pause to ask the kind of questions Jesus asked, those that annoyingly, get to the core of the matter and reveal the heart? Are our minds and lives so cluttered with what we think we desire and who we think we are that there is no space for us to show up as ourselves?
Clearing by Martha Postlewaite
Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to this world
so worth of rescue.
We can say farewell to our ego projects, with gratitude for how far they have brought us and as we let go of our inner restlessness, we are free to accept the most precious gift of all – the immeasurable mystery of our Being, our very existence.
The deeper we look into ourselves the deeper we look into God; the deeper in love we fall with ourselves, the deeper in love we fall with Love; the closer we embrace ourselves, the more deeply we embrace God…and I think this is the way of Love, for any journey inward, leads you to God and the discovery of how immeasurably loved and desired you are, and how much the Divine community of love is enriched by your own unique life and perspective. For we are inextricably woven together, intimately intertwined in the very heart and life of God, in the middle of this glorious circle dance of love. We are part of something larger than a single perspective, and until we know ourselves, we cannot show up in the larger story.
Do we know what we desire, or have we ignored our inner voice for so long, simply repeating, regurgitating, reflecting the many voices we are surrounded by, the incessant noise, the diverse opinions, and then, before we discern their value, we pass them on. Do we place our trust in the loudest voices ignoring the small, still wondrous voice within us and around us, hidden like yeast in dough, like the kernel in a seed? Sometimes we need to let the outer husk ( the dry, hard, stale rhetoric ) die so that new life can emerge. Can we question what is not giving life, inspiring joy, and peel away the tough skin until we can taste the succulent fruit.
In all that we face, that would try to define or confine us, nothing can restrict the space within us without our permission. Let us live large in love, friends!
Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively! (2 Cor 6:11-13 MSG)
This is from Bernardo Kastrup’s book “More than an Allegory” Do you know everything? ‘Potentially yes, but I only truly know what you or another living being ask me.’ Think of it as a light of a match: until you ignite the match, it exists only in potentiality, in the form of energy chemically stored in its phosphorus head. But when you ignite the match, it’s light becomes actualized. Only then can it be seen. My knowledge is like the match: it exists complete, but only in potentiality, until you or someone else asks me about it. Your questions then partly ignite the match of my limitless insight, so its light can be seen. (End of quote) Love this as much as your teachings along the same lines…truly shows how we are all connected! Keep asking the questions 😊 God bless, Michelle
Love it Michelle! Thank you for your feedback. May our questions continue to ignite one another to actualize the beauty and wonder that is possible for us!
Much love,
Mary-Anne