One of our beloved students Juana, introduced me to the writings of Richard Rohr. ‘Just This’ is a beautiful collection of his works for when you want a little shot of inspiration. I like to read a little before I meditate in the mornings. This morning in the dim light of beeswax candles and a paper lantern, with smokey incense whirling about me, I crept about trying not to wake my sleeping family and elderly dog. I then picked this little gem up, as he continues from, ‘Your life is not about you. You are about life’, with, ‘you are an instance of the Universal, and even eternal, pattern. You have never been seperate from God, except in your mind’.
I used to get all uncomfortable and fidgety about the use of the word God, having been raised as a Catholic. Now it’s just a word, interchanged for Divine, Universal, the Tao, truly it doesn’t matter what it’s called for me anymore.The point is not to get distracted about this kind of thing, and go for the energy of it. It’s this very distraction of the mind, snagging us on so many unimportant things, that mean we miss the whole point. When are making life about us, our opinions, our thoughts, our biases and prejudices, we are missing the fleeting, stunning beauty that is life. We have to drop the conditioning of the mind, and see the elegance and grace that simply being alive is, and connect with that. And remind ourselves every morning on waking, to connect again. Every night as we lie upon our pillow, to connect, yet again.
With love,
Jac x