An extraordinary thing happened one day not too long ago. Out of the primordial ooze, out of the ancient everything, you were born. You took a breath and claimed this life. You became a unique and blessed gesture of creation, to live and move and have being.
The chance of your birth is so infinitesimal that it boggles the mind. The sperm-egg combination that came to be you had a chance of one to ten or fifteen million. And of course the chance of your mother or father being born was equally small, extending back through your ancestors, making the possibility of you so rare that it cannot be measured. You arrived. You arrived with a particular body and way of being, immediately met with stimuli from the world. And so you began your journey of feeling and experience, thought and understanding, being taught what your world was teaching you and navigating what your life was telling you.
The knowing of our original source, still present in each cell, is soon overlaid with the mechanics of being and the logic of material life. We often forget that we are all connected, and bit by bit we see ourselves as separate, not only in space and time but in being and spirit. We then feel alienated from the source of all life and assume we have to fend for ourselves. In enters fear and the need for power to feel in control. In enters comparisons and competitiveness, marking of territories and systems of security. In enters distrust and denial, distortions and defensiveness. All in an attempt to feel good and whole, something we were when we were born, something we do not need to make, something we need to recognize.
You are unique. You are worthy. You are conscious being. You are embodied life. You are also with life, a response of life intermingled with all life.
When we come to that recognition, when we allow the awareness that our breath is an exchange with trees and connected to the majesty of wind, when we open to the understanding that the pulsing of our blood parallels the flow of rivers and streams, when we come to know the truth of our interdependence and, so, our belonging in all life, our response-ability to all life, then we are nourished and emboldened by two things: One: that the gift of life is ours to recognize and honor, and Two: the wisdom of well being for all life is in each of our cells and all around us in the messages of nature and intuition. When we summon the presence of being and allow the feeling of interconnectedness, we are helped out of our loneliness, gentled away from our confusions, lifted from our fear and guided into our joy. It takes humility and courage. It takes gratitude and acceptance. You are not alone. You belong. You are all that ever was and ever will be in a momentary dance of life.
May my feet rest firmly on the ground
May my head touch the sky
May I see clearly
May I have the capacity to listen
May I be free to touch
May my words be true
May my heart and mind be open
May my hands be empty to fill the need
May my arms be open to others
May my gifts be revealed to me
So I may return that which has been given
Completing the great circle.
– The Terma Collective
How often do we sabotage ourselves, thinking we need to be other than we are to get things right? How often do we compare ourselves to others and measure our worth or theirs through our judgment? How often do we feel unworthy or like damaged goods because of some failure or mistake that we just can't forgive ourselves for? We are so quick to think that something is missing or wrong or not enough. We tend to judge our pain as a negative sign, a comment on our life. We tend to judge our vulnerability as weakness. "If only I were somebody else my life wouldn't feel like this." Or, perhaps, "If only I had a different job, or partner, or boss, or salary, my life wouldn't be like this."
Our culture is set up to encourage this way of thinking. It's what drives marketing and celebrity. It's what sells magazines and air time. It feeds on our feeling of lack, our need for an answer, our rush to judgment.
A child's letter to God reveals how quickly this mindset is communicated, though in this boy, not quite solidified. "Don't worry if you are having trouble making me a better person," he writes, "I'm having fun being just the way I am."1
You are. You are … before any judgment. You are … before any comparisons. You are … before any opinions. You have being … and in your being is a truth that belongs to no one else, a truth that is part of everything else. It is a truth that, for your lifetime, is being expressed uniquely through you. So on a soul level, on the level of inherent worth, our comparisons have no merit. We can learn from one another, broaden our understanding of life with one another, be challenged and encouraged and tested and embraced by one another, but we cannot truly be anything other than ourselves. And when we try, we are bearing false witness … we are getting off track.
At some time most people come to a place of asking "who am I?" "What is my purpose?" "What is the meaning of my life?"
These questions follow the thinking that our life journeys have one destination, one definition that we are reaching for. But in fact, we have already arrived. All that we need to come to fullness is within us. We simply need to remember our true selves, our resonance with Being, and live the truth and beauty of our lives. So instead of trying to fill what we think is empty or lacking, we need to shed the distortions and distractions that keep us from this soul knowledge. So questions that could help us in the journey might be: "What attitudes do I have that keep me from my joy?" "What blame or shame, pride or envy keeps me from love of other?" "What addiction or compulsion keeps me from my natural strength and wisdom?"
These are not easy questions, but they are based on a trust in our connection to the original source within all being and the truth of the fullness that you are. And this is not something that we can readily do alone, but in relationship to one another's glimpses and willingness towards wholeness.
When we are free we are in vibrant conversation with life which is ever transforming. When we are free we choose life as we no longer fear death. When we are free we come to know the well being of others is the key to our well being.
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains," remarked Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison protesting South African apartheid, "but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."2
We can feel shackled by many things: the state of our body, the circumstance of our work, the pull of relationships, the oppression of governments, the power of emotions, the lack of physical resources, the threat of violence, the fear of making mistakes.
We can avoid our freedom to keep our choices limited. We can deny our freedom to skirt the responsibility of being fully alive.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate," wrote Marianne Williamson, "Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
For with freedom comes responsibility, a natural calling to shared being and conscious choosing. We can choose to be kind. We can choose to be true. We can choose to be present. We can choose to be grateful.
It takes practice and discipline to unshackle the mind. It takes the courage of trust to know we are free. It takes a willingness to love life. It takes humility toward the grand scheme of things of which we are apart and the wisdom within it that can guide us.
And here, in this faith community, as we encourage each other's blooming and support each other's being … here, in this faith community, as we structure an inviting presence and challenge the longing for connection … here, in this faith community, as we honor our living principles and train for beloved community we can come to know the power of our choices and the need for our participation in the well being of the world.
We Have Not Come to Take Prisoners
We have not come here to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.
Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.
Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.
We have a duty to befriend
Those aspects of obedience
That stand outside of our house
And shout to our reason
"O please, O please,
Come out and play."
For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits,
But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom and
Light!
~ Hafiz ~
So may it be. Amen.
Copyright © 2010 Lisa Ward. All Rights Reserved.