Posted by Roberta Grimes • August 14, 2021 • 37 Comments
The Source, Understanding Reality
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your desires with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
– David, Third King of Israel and Judah (1035-970 BC), from Psalm 103
I hear from many people now who are leaving Christianity. Most are in their fifties or sixties and have lived their lives as religious Christians. They haven’t lost their faith at all, but rather they have simply outgrown Christianity’s pathetic promise of a get-out-of-hell-free card so long as we keep warming the pews. Most of them are devoted to Jesus and believe in God sincerely, no matter how they feel about the religion; but they know there has to be a lot more to God! They seek to better understand what is true. They often seem to me to be touchingly like teenagers, people who have lived their lives as spiritual children and are only now wondering how it might feel to become real spiritual adults. Perhaps they’ve found YouTubes from the period when I was making YouTubes, or they’ve found my interviews with George Noory on Gaia TV; and whatever I said made them think I held a key to the door they have been trying to open. So they write and ask me various questions that generally include their wanting reassurance that God won’t smite them for having had a few independent thoughts.
The fact that people earnestly trying to follow the Jesus of the Gospels might ever worry about God’s wrath is a sharp indictment of Christianity! We have talked here at perhaps tedious length about the pagan roots of the Christian God, the burden of human–made Christian dogmas, and the fact that, like all fear-based religions, Christianity as it is being practiced can be spiritually counterproductive. We have talked this topic to death! But as I answer questions from Christian seekers who keep circling back to their deep-seated terrors of a God that is nothing like the genuine Godhead, I realize I still haven’t done enough to help you understand the breathtaking chasm of difference that yawns between the God of the Christians and the genuine, eternal Godhead that Jesus first introduced to us.
The Christian God is a benevolent king. What other sort of God could ancient people have invented? God is powerful, but God is fair. He expects us to submit and to toe His line, and in return He will supply our needs; but if we disobey, we will feel God’s wrath. And since He is God, that is right and just. The Christian God is a ruthless totalitarian ruler. And for millennia, most people have been glad about that. We knew we needed to be kept in line!
But Jesus in the Gospels frankly tells us that He came to reset our image of God. He introduces to us the genuine Godhead of which He is an integral aspect. Only think about that! God entered a human body so God could personally introduce Godself. We cannot imagine any greater love! Jesus tells us that the true God is perfectly loving Spirit, and that God never judges anyone. He urges us to think of the Godhead not as a powerful king far above us in rank, but more as a Daddy who dotes on us. That is the point of His repeatedly referring to God as “Father.” Let’s look at just a sampling of the many wonderful things that Jesus says about God:
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (JN 4:24).
“When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (MT 6:6).
“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father” (JN 5:22-23).
“If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (JN 12:47).
“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (MT 6:3-4).
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (LK 6:35-36).
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (MT 5:43-48).
And this is just a partial list of the wonderful things that Jesus says about the genuine Godhead! He was living at a time when speaking against the prevailing religion could mean a death sentence, so it is remarkable that He got away with doing it for so long. True, three-part gods were in fashion shortly after the Lord’s death, so the church councils simply added the Spirit and Jesus Himself to the cranky-king God that the Hebrews had been worshiping, and thereby they made their own triune God. We might think of it as a marketing gimmick, since in fact there is no Big Guy god, the only Godhead is Spirit, and Jesus is an aspect of that genuine Godhead. But still, the Lord’s precious teachings were preserved. Any Christian can simply read them now and promptly know the truth! Jesus even flat-out tells us to “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (MT 7:7-8).
But still, there are so many Christians who are afraid of God’s wrath if they ask a question. I am told, too, by hospice workers that the people who are most fearful at death are often the most ardent Christians. They say that church-ladies who have spent their lives serving others will tragically often die in terror, worried that they haven’t been quite good enough to escape the pit of fire that yawns before them.
I can see now that I have been failing you. Simply talking about God as loving hasn’t been enough to counter the two-millennia-long Christian terror of an angry and judgmental deity! And wonderfully, the Godhead that Jesus revealed to us is both the same God that we are finding as we come to better understand the physics of the greater reality, and also the Godhead we have been learning about from those that we used to think were dead. There really is a genuine God Who loves us infinitely! So in the epic battle between science and Christianity, does this mean that Christianity actually wins? Of course not. The genuine Godhead is nothing like the humanoid God that Christians worship. Both science and Christianity are going to lose their long argument. Neither of the institutions that we most trust ever has developed much of a clue about what actually is going on.
So I have been trying of late to think how we might cleanse our minds of the fear-based Christian God to make us better able to come to know the perfect love-based genuine Godhead.
The word that keeps coming up is “Grace.”
The standard Wiki definition of divine grace is that it is “a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptation; and as an individual virtue or excellence of divine origin.”
And what is especially wonderful about the term for me is that God’s grace has been a prominent strain in Christian thought from its beginning. The word is used in ways that fit the modern definition of divine grace at least ten times in the Old Testament, showing that as an idea it dates back that far; and the Psalm that we feature this week is from David. Psalm 130 dates back some three thousand years, and yet it is a song of praise to God that could be happily sung by those who know the genuine Godhead today. In fact, it is apparent upon a close Bible reading that even during the Old Testament period there were prophets in contact with the genuine God, including Micah, Isaiah, and King David himself.
A word that means “grace” appears just four times in the canonical Gospels. But it is used in Paul’s letters at least eighty times! And John the Baptist, prophesying about the coming ministry of Jesus, neatly sums up the relationship between the human-made God of the Old Testament, who survives as the Christian God to this day, and the genuine perfect eternal Godhead that Jesus was born as God on earth to introduce to us. John said, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (JN 1:17). Amen!
From this day forward, please know that the word that most applies to the genuine Godhead is “grace.” God doesn’t judge or condemn us, never lets us down, and in all things is as close to us and as perfectly loving as the ultimate Daddy. Jesus says to us now, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom” (LK 12:32). And Moses was inspired to say more than a thousand years before Jesus was born, “The eternal God is a refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut 33:27).
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who revere Him.
– David, Third King of Israel and Judah (1035-970 BC), from Psalm 103
Hi Roberta, hi everybody!
Quote from above: “…introduce Godself.” Between last post’s phrase referring to the Godhead seeking Humankind, and this notion of Godself, we have a powerful epiphany here. The message is we all have Godself—this is our true nature, the truth of which Jesus introduced. Now what will we do with that truth?
My dear Mike, this is quite profound. I am still struggling to understand the extent to which we are intimately related to the Godhead, but it seems to be not wrong to say that we actually are inextricably part of the Godhead, with no way to create any demarcation. It has been my custom not to comment on comments here for a day or two, since that allows people to explore the materials without having the teacher walking up and down the rows (with ruler in hand?). But some of what has already been said feels a bit dismaying. I still am failing you all! The genuine Godhead bears not even a passing resemblance to any religious version of God, and yet the true Godhead is the only God. It is people who have gotten God all wrong! But that seems to be perhaps too big a thought? And especially since more and more the evidence shows it to be true, but I don’t yet understand it well enough to speak definitively. How do you describe what is infinite and ineffable? I don’t even know how to form the right sentence!
There are two frames of reference possible for what Jesus has told us. The one is what happens here on Earth if the material world of hardship, with its potential for courage and soul development. The other framework is about existence of our spirit in Heaven in which the presence of God is actively experienced, unlike here on Earth.
Here on Earth, carnivores and omnivores must devour others to stay alive. We appropriately think not to criticize a Mother wolf or tiger, for example, for killing other animals for their food value. Likewise, we have bodies that crave needs and desires to which we succumb, especially when we do not consult our conscience for its moral value. BUt when our spirit is back in Heaven, we are free of the seduction of any mortal vices.
Much of what Jesus tells us is about how things are in Heaven, and about how we suffer on Earth in ignorance of our unrecognized eternal spiritual nature.
Dr. Hiller: I never looked at it that way before,, but you are absolutely right. There definitely are two frames of reference for what Jesus said. That is the reason, I feel, that some of what he said seems confusing. Most of us are unaware of our eternal spiritual nature. However, these two frames of reference just about eliminate any confusion (at least for me).
Lola, Where I caught on that two contexts needed to be recognized was when I tried to reconcile what New Agers were saying that it’s OK to do whatever you care to, and were seemingly supported by reporting that God is non judgemental during the NDE life review. Well, the life review is conducted in the framework or context of our spirit having returned to our Heavenly home in which we no longer have the passions and temptations of the physical body, but instead exist in bliss with God’s love felt.
For Earth life we were given the Commandments which by their nature assert that it’s not true that we are free to do whatever momentarily pleased us. Instead, we are commanded to respect each other–really to love each other even when hurt by others, and practice the Golden Rule. By contrast, in Heaven there is no need for us to have to work at the Golden Rule, because we exist there in bliss. Whereas in our Earth life, with its inherent stresses and passions of the body and ego, we are thereby provided an opportunity to strive to be noble, courageous, and even loving when attacked.
So, in our Earthly existence we are stressed and God hopes that we will grow spiritually, but back in Heaven, and during a life review, God accepts our frailties as mortals, and does not need to judge us in our spirit form where we are free from temptations and feel God’s love. .
My dear Jack, I know it’s much harder to think from the Godhead’s perspective rather than from the earthly perspective, but I don’t think we can make any sense of the Godhead unless we will stretch and do that. Nothing on earth or even anywhere in the universe actually is in any sense real. it is all mere vapor! We have no memory of having lived in eternity, but eternity is where we came from to very briefly have these strange experiences that we will realize afterward were in no sense real. I do agree with your last sentence! But to remain in that reality that we cannot consciously remember while we are here, and to live as if we always know that this is the place that is unreal, turns out to be the greatest trick for mastering rapid spiritual growth. I think, the more I study the Gospels, that this empowering turnabout was really what Jesus was trying to teach us.
Please excuse me for I tend to try and simplify the issues. First individuals aren’t going to wake up to the truth of the current religion until the HEART has been made ready. If readers don’t understand what I mean then they are not even nearly ready for your message Roberta.
What individuals have to realize and understand is there is nothing outside their body, everything is within, and until they learn that, really learn that aspect of themselves they will be stuck in a Religion that was written by MAN… Control is the operative word….
But my dear wonderful Skip, even our own minds are not in these bodies! As is true of all the matter around us and throughout this universe, these bodies are part of the illusion. Our minds are connected to them, but not actually in them, which is why the experiments we discussed last week that make scientists think we have no free will always turn out as they do: the distant mind makes the decision to move and starts to move the body, and only then does the brain register that it is happening.
But yes, religions are man-made and are based in controlling people through fear. Which is why all the man-made gods are petty tyrants.
Referring to a Godhead as a Father seems to raise some interesting and unclear questions to me.
The followers in the Old Testament seem to be clearly distinguishing the difference between their God and other false gods. If there is a Father, then that God would be true to them which made their God unique and almighty. Of course, it is not clear to me what their true perception of what God would be like(one or many)?
Another interesting note to me is that Jesus seems to make distinctions that there is a God the Father, other than himself, of whom he worships as well? Once again, not really clearing defining the nature of God other than it being Spirit and Truth.
Dear Terry, Jesus referred to God as “Father” to help people think of God as more personal, more warm and loving, and not to tell us that God is actually father-like. He came to us as part of the Godhead – He makes that clear, especially in John – so it’s clear that He was trying to help us feel more warmly toward God, and more beloved, but He wasn’t calling the Godhead His own daddy too. In reading the Gospel words of Jesus, it is always important to remember that at no point in His ministry could He simply tell us the truth flat-out, since for Him to speak directly against the concepts of the prevailing religion would have been blasphemy punishable by execution. He used some very clever tricks to get around that, and He got it all said pretty well, but it can’t have been easy!
You know, you make me think that perhaps a post that outlines His various verbal tricks and what He actually was saying might be helpful??
I think this is a great idea – I’ve actually talked to people who had no clue that Jesus was so carefully monitored and watched. He was so clever at what he did that it is not always easy to discern when he was actually doing it, which is probably why he got away with it for so long. We are so used to free speech, it is easy to forget that the prevailing religion at the time was so heavily guarded.
Dear Lola, one reason why I haven’t made more of this is that Jesus actually got around the policing so well that I think what He was saying comes through pretty clearly. I don’t want to diminish people’s respect for His message. But some of what He clearly seems to have wanted to say really does have to be teased out, and He does tell us to ask and to dig for ourselves, and I suspect that you’re right: most people don’t realize how difficult His mission really was.
It was both difficult and risky. The “Father” part of his messages for instance was taken so literally that I feel it is how the concept of him being the “Son of God” began. Most people back then would never try to “read between the lines” when hearing his messages. They just weren’t sophisticated enough to do that. Even until recently, the Catholics celebrated the “Feast of the Immaculate Conception” which was deemed a “holy day of obligation.” Any thought of him coming into the world in a normal way was considered blasphemous
If what you say about Jesus can be regarded as truth, then can the Bible really be interpreted literally, not to mention it’s numerous translations? There have been so many interpretations of what the Bible is saying that it seems to be subjective material. I often wondered what inspired Moses to write the first five books? As for the case of Jesus, would a person know it was him if they met, how would they know?
Dear Terry, the Bible as a whole is a collection of materials assembled from widely scattered sources and over a span of more than a thousand years. It is emphatically NOT all the Inspired Word of God, since it is in places barbaric and in repeated ways it is internally self-contradicting.
I think it’s time to again talk about how we can know that what Jesus says (but not all of what He is quoted as saying) is true, and also why He had such a difficult time teaching in the benighted period in which He lived on earth. Good suggestion!
Roberta,
There is one word that I have not been able to completely understand: Worship. What does it mean? Isn’t faith/belief enough?
Thanks.
My dear AC, of course you are right! Worship is an ancient human response to the fear-based gods that human beings had created. We made the gods as powerful and cranky rulers who had to be placated, and then we developed various forms of worship to placate them. Through the words of some of the Old Testament prophets and also in the words of Jesus, we clearly see that the genuine Godhead doesn’t need or want our worship, but instead wants our loving attention and our zealous efforts at spiritual growth!
Dearest Roberta,
Some of us, You, me and many others, frequently find ourselves in a Christian church. We were asked by a friend or a relative and we don’t have the heart to turn them down. Then as the service starts we feel a little hypocritical about some of the prayers, psalms, etc. We could, I suppose, come right out and say the truth, however, this most likely will not lead to a positive outcome. Could you work on this dilemma for us, please?
Yours,
Cookie
My dear Cookie, I have found that the only thing that works is telling people the truth. I am married to a Catholic, we eat fish on Fridays, and he would never dream of missing a Sunday Mass. I have told him that after extensive study I reject every bit of Christianity later than the Gospels, since the religion was created by Constantine as a means of control and it isn’t based in the teachings of Jesus. It took him awhile to get over his worry that his wife was for certain going to hell, but nowadays when he comes home from Mass he often complains about the dumbing-down of the modern priesthood and the stupid homily that was preached. I consider that to be progress!
In general, if people ask about my religion, I might say that I am an “Originalist Christian.” I don’t get proselytized, and they never ask a question 🙂
These posts here today are so fantastic that I can’t think of anything else to say except “thank you, gentlemen.”
Roberta, I have been feeling so frustrated and sad about the situation in Afghanistan in recent days, the way women and very young girls are treated as sexual objects to be .,’utilised’ by thr Taliban fighters! Forcibly taken from their homes and their parents killed for trying to protect them! What can we do and how is this being allowed to happen? If God loves us all how are these poor people seemingly abandoned to this horrific fate?
My dear Linda, all of us are sad and horrified, but there is nothing we can do. Our federal government has gone off the rails so completely that it is no longer capable of protecting children abandoned at our own border, and never mind children half a world away. I am old enough to have seen the fall of Saigon, which looked bad at the time, but it was nothing compared to what is happening now! Afghanistan was being well managed and we hadn’t had a casualty there in more than a year – not a great situation, but at least much better than what is about to happen. The Russians and the Chinese will move in, they will mine the rare earths in the country and allow the Taliban to once again become a force for terror that will infect the whole world. And the weakness this nation is showing now may very well mean that Taiwan will fall next. A weak American president means that no one in the world will be safe for the next three years.
And no, this is certainly not God’s will! I am comforted to know that spiritual forces resolved in 1945 not to allow human being to explode another atomic bomb in wartime, and for the past 75 years they have somehow managed to keep the worst from happening. But they also planned for Trump to have a second term, and that didn’t happen, although it may have been foiled by rampant cheating. I express no opinion about that. But I only hope that our spiritual guardians will continue to protect us through the next three years from any kind of atomic disaster!
Hi Linda Goatly. I admire your compassion for suffering people. I think of the horrors Syrian prisoners experience; boiling water poured on them, eyes gouged out. It’s hard to fathom how this comes from a Source of love.
Dear Ray, the entire history of humankind is one of appalling cruelty to one another. The negativity of this planet is hard for us even to fathom, and impossible for us to understand! But it is what we come here to experience, and in ways that we don’t entirely understand it is actually what helps us to achieve the most efficient possible spiritual growth.
And it will get better. Even now, there are more and more people at last rejecting fear and hatred and turning toward forgiveness and love. The only way that I can even take another breath here at this point is to keep that fact foremost in mind: this is the worst, and it won’t be forever!
Dearest Roberta,
Your point of the Godself as our true nature that Jesus introduced, is absolutely telling. (Also ref. Mike J-R’s comment above.)
Our deep true self is already with God, but we have a human self that is both charmed and repulsed by the things of this earthly world. And our human survival program defines much of our view.
We, here in this blog family, are tuning into the deep self, while walking this path as our lesser, earthy self. We are Spirit and human at once. Therein lies the ‘tension’ that we experience. Our Jesus came to show us how to transform into the Godself while we are having this human experience. Thus we become unified. (What a marvelous thing that is when you think about it!)
Yes, it’s often hard to see the ‘soul view’ of our higher self when beset by the problems of daily living – not to mention the terrible things that happen in this world. However, as our vibrations rise by becoming truly loving beings, the soul viewpoint seems to become clearer to see and sustain.
Life is not always easy, but as Skip says (above) the heart must be made ready. (Does God ready the heart from deep within us?) When our core is ready we can indeed distinguish religion from the truth of Spirit. Maybe it is like one of those 3D images that were so popular in the 90s; the inner picture of the butterfly starts to emerge from the mess of design, when you look at it long enough…
Sometimes Roberta, I stop during the day and say inside, ‘I am soul conscious.’ I stop thinking and pause for a moment, then proceed with the task at hand. This ‘reset’ makes a heck of a difference when used regularly as a gentle prompt. (Another person might find a more comfy word cue perhaps.) Also, like your good self, I say the Lord’s Prayer as I proceed through the day a couple of times.
Perhaps it is simple, heart felt things that really help. Jesus lived so simply while on earth and He is the heart, so we can be likewise and resonate with Him. And if we ‘let go and let God’ then there is nothing but Grace enveloping us. 🙏🏼❣️🕊
Oh my dear Efrem, I share your wish to be always living and working in God, to never forget for a moment that there is nothing that is not-God. It’s a whole new way of thinking! And as you make it more and more your constant setting, so many of what used to be daily cares fall away. It makes you happy-for-no-reason, and that’s a feeling you’ve got to have a handle on! But more and more, this bent toward joy leaks even into my professional life. This morning I was having a serious phone discussion with a legal client, and I called him “sweetie.” Not for the first time. I hug people I don’t even know very well, Covid or no Covid. The joy that comes from really beginning to get that everything and everyone is God is amazingly hard to manage!
Efrem, that is such a wise habit to form–to break any current stream of behavior mainly motivated by out mortal body, to then reflect that we are eternal souls who are only visiting here in a mortal form, but will be returning to Heaven when life is done. When greeted with hostility, that becomes a cue to do a reset, and then following the Golden Rule becomes easier.
And then, dear Jack, you begin to get to the point where someone being hostile to you begins to feel not hostile at all, but instead some version of silly. I got a nasty email this morning from someone who was now rejecting the whole idea of learning and growing spiritually because I had remarked above that Spirit had told us in 2015 that Trump would get two terms. And I was evil in her eyes, I guess, for having mentioned that? I grinned and answered her with a big written hug and a wish that she will have a wonderful life, and just went on with my day. What could be more foolish than letting something so trivial matter to you so much?
This raising ourselves spiritually feels more and more like having a lock on life, and like the biggest secret of all that you want to shout from the rooftops. There is no death! There is only joy!
Well said Dr Jack! You’ve expressed what I was trying to say better than I could. And to deeply know that we are eternal souls who go Home after earth life is done is, as you suggest, truly worthy of reflection.
By the way I do enjoy your poetry, it is wise and resonant my friend. There is an authenticity about it that suggests your understanding has been hard won by living through some very tough experiences. Thanks for sharing it.
🙏🏼🕊
Can’t we just get a break?
Oh my dear Ali, we all will get a break when we eventually go home! And we don’t want ever to feel the need to come back here again, so the wisest way for each of us to handle this life on earth is to simply buckle down, reject fear and hatred and always choose forgiveness and love, and thereby permanently re-set our minds at a consciousness vibration that is high enough that we will be able to continue our spiritual growth in the astral eternally, without ever needing to come back to this spiritually stressful place! It isn’t even very hard to grow spiritually. It doesn’t need to take very long. It just is essential!
Hi Roberta. Your quote in a response above, “to remain in that reality that we cannot consciously remember while we are here, and to live as if we always know that this is the place that is unreal” sounds very much like descriptions I have read, especially in the Eastern traditions, of “enlightenment.” We can have glimpses, intellectual ideas, even be “awakened,” but ideas and awakenings can be ephemeral. To be enlightened is to maintain that state from moment to moment, to shine our light, no matter what is going on – no easy task. Grace to me is another word for that state – always remembering that at the deepest level we are rooted in peace, that we are love, that we are all one (as part of that Godhead) and that no matter what happens we are ultimately safe and death is an illusion. When we can stay in that state we will certainly handle the trials and tests of this world more “grace” – fully.
Dear Scott, I hadn’t thought about it before, but after years of my having always reinforced that sense that Home is real and this illusion is not, I find that now I actually do live this way all the time. Among many wonderful aspects of this glorious new truth is the fact that nothing here ever upsets me now! I can spend all day of every day either helping my legal clients or working for the progress of eternal truth in the world, but no seeming setback ever bothers me. And rather than feeling less engaged, my living this way makes me feel both more engaged and more at peace. It’s odd, really. Such an amazing adventure!
I like that Roberta, because sometimes the Eastern outlook, such as in Buddhist or Hindu/Yogi practice can lean towards totally disengaging from the world in a Himalayan cave or whatever, but you, Roberta, feel more engaged, not less, which is how it probably should be. I don’t think we go through all the trouble to come here just to ignore this “experience we call incarnation” as Mike so aptly puts it. Just the same, getting away from the world for a while to contemplate and go within is probably a good thing – but with the goal of coming back to re-engage at a higher level, feeling more at peace, as you have experienced. The new testament indicates that even Jesus went off at times to do just that.
Dear Scott, you are so right! All spiritual traditions have had mystics, hermits, anchoresses, traveling sages, people who set themselves apart from the world in order to grow spiritually. Generally they teach at times, but most of their time is spent privately. That isn’t wrong, of course. Each of us is on our own journey. But ultimately, it seems that the useful part of their lives, and ours, is in the engagements we have with other people. This is recent, but you’ve made me realize that now my whole life feels like a ministry!
Dear Roberta, what you wrote here warrants repeating as a goal for all of us:
“…ultimately, it seems that the useful part of their lives, and ours, is in the engagements we have with other people. This is recent, but you’ve made me realize that now my whole life feels like a ministry! “
Oh my dear Jack, do you think so? I guess perhaps you are right. It’s as much an attitude as it is what we are actually doing: after all, my daily work is practicing law! But whatever your work might be, if you get up every morning with those you are doing the work for foremost in your mind and with a fresh eagerness to serve them even better, then you are ministering to them. It’s no longer for the fees. And the work you are doing always feels like love!