what does the sun do? shine
Jim September 24th, 2008
so, let’s say you come to this point on the journey when you realize that ‘you’ are not the sum total of your physical biology or the sum total of what happens in your mind. come to think of it, you realize, your mind seems to be perpetually preoccupied with things like comparing yourself to others, acquiring something you don’t have, doing something important that others will take note of, being accepted and loved by others, proving your superiority over others, what people think of you, and an endless amount of other things that just seem to breed discontent, fear, worry, and all kinds of crappy stuff.
so you realize there is more to you than what you see in the mirror and all the craziness that goes on in your head.
perhaps you’ve been told you were created as a reflection or image of God, or as a Christian you know that the Christ life flows within you, or maybe you have realized there is something more to you that springs forth from your deep feelings or a certain intuitive knowing inside you. in any event, more and more you are identifying with that divine reflection or Christ life or deep feeling or intuitive knowing within you. more and more you are understanding these to be the real you.
it dawns on you that this ‘you’ can’t be improved, made better, enlightened, or enhanced. does the image of God need imporvement? is the Christ life within you in need of progress? do those deep feelings or that intuitve knowing need educated? you realize, this ‘you’ is all that it is in every moment, and never in need of you doing anything. it’s like the sun. the sun is the sun always. it doesn’t strive to be the sun. it doesn’t need help to be the sun. it doesn’t follow a program to be a better sun. it never fears being less of a sun. it isn’t bogged down in an endless number of options about how to be or how not to be the sun. it’s just the sun…always. it has no options…it just is.
what would life be like if we quit feeding and acting upon all that stuff in our mind, and instead just allowed ourselves to be a reflection or expression of God, be the Christ life, be those deep feelings or intuitive understanding?
so what i’m asking is, what would a life of simply being these entail? what if we stopped orienting our lives around all the head stuff, and oriented all of life around being that real you?
(photo by zoo gal)
This reminds me of a friend who likes to say, “our primary mission on earth is to… breathe.”
I tend to agree with him. Get that one down, and everything else is a piece of cake!
Thank you. I needed that. God had you write that explicitly for me today.
“This reminds me of a friend who likes to say, “our primary mission on earth is to… breathe.”
.
Couldn’t agree more! And to keep on “breathing” – forever!
It’s a big leap to say that the “real me” is the same me I am today. I agree – the Bible used present-tense phrasing like “If any man be in Christ He is a new creation.” But the way you describe it I read a danger of assuming we’ve already arrived and no longer need to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
.
It seems the Bible is fond of marriage metaphors, as am I. When I said “I do,” I meant it. But only in hindsight and by the continual working out of what the “I do” means (with fear and trembling, no less) do I more fully realize what I meant when I said “I do” and what I became and have already become, even though I’ve not yet fully realized it.
.
So the things we do are not to define us. Rather, they are to refine us.
.
Today I ate great Mexican food, and then later walked by the kitchen and saw all the ingredients that had been used. One could argue that the meal is already present in the ingredients, and the other that the ingredients are present in the meal.
.
The bottom line? It tasted great.
I think we’d want to develop, grow, keep changing, and give.
None of this would be necessary to gain approval, acceptance, or significance; it wouldn’t make us “better”; and “development” would be holistic not merely mental or emotional (in fact, all these would related: development, growth, giving all working together).
All of this would be an expression of who we are. I think what we’re infused with would burst into life in action. Yes, there would be times to stop and breath deeply and reflect, but the richness of it would come from fearless, whole-hearted engagement with life.
PS – I wrote a reflection about love and kids on my blog today. I’d love to know your thoughts. The link is in my name.
This has nothing to do with the subject matter at hand, but I feel compelled to comment on the “vision” James described in a previous post. I think REASON is the guardian of LOVE in all cases. Science has made significant strides in recent years and I feel like for James’ sake I should share what I have discovered recently–here is the comment made by James:
Jameson 22 Sep 2008 at 3:32 pm
The Vision
“The difference between a dream and a vision is presence. In a dream you are alone, even if you are dreaming of other people. In a vision you are not alone, there is presence in the vision with you.
On Friday July 26th, 1985, at around 3:00 to 3:30am I had a vision. It interrupted a dream I was having. ”
Of course he goes on to describe the vision.
I have a friend that was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was youger. Because his mother was a fundamentalist at the time, a preacher prayed for him and he was suppposedly “healed.” I don’t think he was healed. The reason I believe this is because he has had, over the years of his life, many visions of demons and angels and so forth. Science is discovering that these types of religious experiences could be caused by TLE (Temporay Lobe Epilepsy). Of course I am not an expert on the subject, but I would encourage James to research this subject. I mean this only in a spirit of LOVE.
It is temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) –I told you I was not an expert
L , I know your intentions were to be helpful to James, and I agree….People should always get checked out by their Doctor when odd sensations occur.
Im not really wanting to start anything on this, but I wonder if the “fact” that a mystery could perhaps be diagnosed as a brain disorder really matters.
Say he does go to the dr and is diagnosed with TLE, does that make his vision any less real? Maybe people with TLE have extrasensory perception fine tuned, or an opening or a portal that allows them to see things other people cant.
Ive read somewhere that St. Paul may have had a seizure or a migraine aura when he was blinded by the light on the road to Damascus, the light that allowed him to “see” Jesus.
Just a thought. I usually dont comment here but always enjoy reading the posts..
“so what i’m asking is, what would a life of simply being these entail? what if we stopped orienting our lives around all the head stuff, and oriented all of life around being that real you?”
We would stop relying on mystery, miracle and prophecy if we gave up the “head stuff”–outside sources for peace and comfort that is unsubstantiated. We would start relying on the inside stuff–the ordinary visions (available to everyone) peace, joy and happiness that is easily seen in us and around us–the benign Love of God–seen in his creation without the man-made revelation. The physical that is an expression of the unseen(God). This is what Jesus pointed to when comparing spiritual (Born again) experience to the wind–it is the same.
I think availability is important–if something is not available for all of creation–how can it be founded on the absolute TRUTH of God.
Back to KJM comment,
It does matter–religions are founded on revelation claims and visions. It would be a strange thing indeed for God to give “greater” revelation to only those who have TLE. God is in the ordinary–we keep running far away from that.
Some people have brain disorders and are considered outsiders…God is also in the “outsider” the sick, the imprisoned, the prostitutes the tax collectors…the folks that are not ordinary.
St paul was an outsider in Christian terms because he persecuted “Christians” until he had his vision of Jesus.
It was not that he was “special” ….. perhaps he just had a metanoia that changed his heart from condeming people who were differnt than he was … to spreading the good news of radical inclusion.
Like I asked the other night…
Is “being” an action or is it actionless?
A lot of things have to happen for the sun to shine or for a dish at a mexican restaurant to taste good to “be”.
I love the blog though. I’ve been thinking about it all week and somehow things have naturally just slowed down and seemed to become more peaceful.
I wrote a MUCH more simple blog about it… http://uriahministries.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/being/
[...] http://www.divinenobodies.com/blog/?p=498 [...]
[...] http://www.divinenobodies.com/blog/?p=498 [...]