rumitoid

Our sense of separation from God is the fundamental sorrow at the root of all earthy woes.

Back in the mid-eighties, I was blessed with sobriety after fifteen years of problem drinking. Those early years felt like my first introduction to life as it was really meant to be lived. I was gradually waking up from a long sleep and nearly everyday seemed to bring yet another startling epiphany. One of the grandest "awakenings" during that period is this quotation I want to share with you as an illustration. I wish I could remember where I read it, but here it is verbatim: If you wish to change the world, first change yourself. And if you have changed yourself, you have done your best to change the world. Those words shook the very foundations of my soul, and it took a few years before I could see a slight yet nonetheless devastating error.

For me, the subtle diversion, that misplaced step, comes in the line "change yourself." No one has done this. No one can do this. It is not up to us to change ourselves; we are to seek surrender to God and his principles and allow those to work on us through our meek assent. Working on our character defects is just an unctuous rubdown for an achy ego. It is not my work on me but God's work in me that draws forth and manifests spirit. Such attempts are as Henry James put it: "just rearranging our prejudices."

Fundamental change comes in becoming who we already are in essence. Any self-improvements we actively pursue and install are barriers to the innermost t***h of our soul. This was stated clearly back in Ancient Greece by the poet Pindar: "Become what you already are." As grand, necessary, and gracious those difficult and costly "improvements" we make may appear, there is something far, far better within that only require us to let go of our busy-ness.

We allow what is best to come forth. We discover T***h, our unique expression, we do not create it. In the end those attempts to change ourselves are just another venue of social reform: ways to better fit in, deal with, or succeed in society. Ego--the hub of worldliness, not the center of The Eternal--is still in control. Taking control will always take away what is best...no matter what precious good it seems to bring.

Nothing happens to us and nothing happens for us; it all happens within us, either at the hub of our worldliness or in the kingdom of God. Cruelty and injustice are not "out there." The enemy is us, the "self" we have created. Our bondage to "self" is the only cruelty and injustice in this life. Once we are free from this sincere delusion, nothing can harm us and we are at complete liberty to lovingly serve and give to the needy, experiencing our greatest freedom and deepest joy.

Looking for innovations in religious, political, and educational doctrine, looking "out there" for the problem, distances us from the kingdom of God within. Being in control of ourselves is one of ego's primary weapons in the fight for its survival. This is insidious. It is based on the inner struggle for survival by the ego over the pull towards "death" by the kingdom of God within. Letting go is literally seen as suicide. And so it is, but it is a just and merciful "death."

Self-improvement? We are made in the image and likeness of God, partakers of the divine nature: what's to improve? Lay down that sword. Stand ye still. You do not have to fight this battle. Surrender to the kingdom of God within you. What is for your ultimate well-being is all there within simply awaiting the acceptance of your inheritance.

The many belief systems in all their endless variety: These are truly a form of righteous insanity. The freedom of belief is contrary to the t***h of who we are in essence. We have no such freedom in reality. We are not simply a unique expression of God, we are a precise expression as well. Clinging to beliefs blocks this expression and burdens the soul. Real freedom is the perfect s***ery of following the Heart's core intent.

The test of our T***h is not standing up for what we believe but simply standing in the kingdom of God within us, allowing the unchanging and immovable Eternal witness solely for Love. Love is beyond belief. Love is the end of all belief. It alone stands for T***h, for Love is the whole purpose of T***h. Beliefs are, at best, like seeds for our t***sformation; each must die to draw forth out of our earthly soul the actuality of our divine potential, the flower of our being. No seed can grow if we do not let it go. It is not to trust in the seed as life but in the new life it can bring with its death. Surrender is the soil of t***sformation, where we drop the seed, for it alone has the necessary nutrients of change. And if the seed is good, Love will take root.

But the vast majority of beliefs are not seeds. Many are no more than pre-approved judgments about the nature of life based on past experiences, the most jaded of views. This is a severe form of spiritual myopia. But in the "small" world of this mindset it seems like they are seeing the big picture, albeit a re-run.

Geography takes up the largest portion of nearly every belief, a mere happenstance of birth the largest determining factor for what is thought of as T***h. Seeking to overcome loss, failure, and disillusionment instead of opening to these things and looking deeply, discerning the true source of all our earthly woes that these tools of awareness actually seek to un-earth. I will stop here for the list is nearly endless.

PhilosophyMan Loc: Washington state.

This was an amazing piece, thought is what we breathe and sleep, I will further think on this, this has made me think, and that is always worth something. do you mind if I share this with others?

rhomin57 Loc: Far Northern CA.

You first actual paragraph gave me goose bumps. So glad you shared that quote!

rhomin57 Loc: Far Northern CA.

Dearest Rumi, I have longed to share something with you, a tragedy actually, involving someone I dearly love (a son) who is in a bad alcoholic way. Ever since you openly spoke of your past alcoholism, I have wanted to share this. Beings it is someone else, I don't want to broadcast it. Can I talk with you about this somehow? A PM maybe. If it's to much to ask, I respect that, but am truly lost as I've never drank and don't know how to communicate with him or his angry mindset.

rhomin57 Loc: Far Northern CA.

So sorry I asked, now I'm very embarrassed.

rumitoid

I would be glad to do wh**ever I can to help. Why are you embarrassed?

rumitoid

Thank you very much, share away as that is a great compliment.

rumitoid

My thread is actually speaking to the radical nature of grace, one that few Christians are ready or willing to accept. To most standard bearers of Church doctrine, and what amounts to being "real Christianity," what scripture actually says about the true nature of grace has been practically neutered over the centuries as far too dangerous for the usual follower. Better to have a firm structure within which to dwell in faith for most than what can only be described as the dangerous uncertainty of living in real grace. The tradition of Mysticism calls us repeatedly to this radical nature but the mainstream Church seems to feel or believe that such a dependence on radical grace are for a select few specially anointed by God and not all believers. This is the biggest dumbing down in the entire history of humankind.

rhomin57 Loc: Far Northern CA.

Good comment! and I fully agree. We, as Christians, all live under the anointing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Anything else that religious people do outside of that, like anointing each within a church for a position of power, is ridiculous to me. We are all sheep, and there is only 'one power' that our spiritual strength come from: Jesus Christ. He is the Head of those that believe in Him, individual, church body, Pastors and Ministers, all. No matter what the churches name is as far as denomination or affiliation, etc.
Only our Lord Jesus is able to see within the depths of anyones heart, to the trueness and sincerity of their repentance in order to give Grace.
The word "Repent" means some heavy duty stuff actually. It means to totally change ones thoughts, their very heart, regarding a matter they've committed. Then as the Lord himself judges, he gives Grace.