Jun 25, 2017

 

Follower of Jesus (24)

Blessed are the meek,

For they will inherit the earth. (4)

                     Matthew 5:5

It may seem strange that I say that often doing “good” is an addictive action. When we find ourselves needing the “charge” that doing “good” gives us, rather than seeing the pain in another and giving our love to support and lesson the pain of the other, that is the indicator we are hooked on the addiction of “doing good”. But when we find ourselves spontaneously acting in a situation of another in any type of pain, that is a blessing. Do we feel good afterward? Of course. But it is the recognition of the pain in the other, and the goal of lessening of pain in the other as our primary goal that changes the addictive behavior to a blessing.

The basic problem arises because the persona that we project in our life is not who we really are, at the soul level. Our persona is a projection that our ego adopted very early in life, where we built that persona because “it worked”, and we would achieve our goal of the moment. We all do this; and studies have found that in a multiple-sibling family the order of birth most generally determines the type of personality or persona that arises. The oldest is the dependable person and who achieves well, etc., the next is the warm and loving child, and so forth.

Our real self is a much deeper and broader person, a true “face of God” that was meant to be the “light of the world”, as Jesus put it. “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Mathew 5:14-15). That describes you. That describes me. We are meant to be the light that gives light to everyone in the house. Each one of us is meant to be a light to all others around us; together we are meant to be the “Kingdom of God that lies within” (Luke 17:21) whose light would blaze with the glory of God to heal our world.

This heady vision of who we really are is describing a nondual person who knows deep within their being that we are all one being in God permeated by eternal love to be Love: God Itself, made visible in the cosmos.

We are a reflection of the universe; even out brain physically resembles the patterns of the physical universe. Even more so: our persona we wear like a mask is only the surface of our being. Like the universe, where all we see makes only 5% of the forces of the universe, and dark matter 25%, and dark energy 70%, we see only the top 5% of our being hidden under our persona. As we begin to see our true selves we uncover layer by layer who we really are, and we will spend all of our lives discovering new facets to add to the light on the stand. Jesus came to tell us that we are so much more than we know, so that indeed we were created to the that “Light on the lampstand to bring light to everyone in the house”, as Jesus put it so well.

It starts by recognizing and accepting who we are as we can see at this moment, warts and all. Our shadow is a very important part of our present being, and defines us to ourselves and to the world. We will spend our lives discovering new facets, both positive and negative, of our hidden selves. Each layer requires us to accept the truth of this part of us, and this continues until we transition from this life. No one is immune from this process, and this process is the one thing that keeps us grounded and “meek and humble”. Indeed, if we follow this path, we will “Inherit the world”, as Jesus put it so clearly.

The shadow side of us masks our strengths until they become our dominant weakness. This occurs because our strength is the basic foundation of our being, and when we (not if, but when) latch onto that strength we milk it beyond what it was designed to do and becomes our greatest handicap. This occurs in our childhood, as we see that certain natural actions get rewarded causing us to repeat those actions or similar ones until we overdo them and they become our weakness. Only when we reclaim these strengths and apply them to the level that reveal our Light, as Jesus put it, will we begin to shine as God created us to become.

Then, because we have seen our devastating these strengths can become through misuse, we begin to become “meek” as Jesus meant the word, recognizing how damaging we can become when we allow ourselves to run wild. Our strengths become our “Light unto the world”, and we can stand on the mountain top as a beacon of God’s Love.

Meditation

O Beloved Wisdom and Shelter, I shudder at how often I have allowed my strength to belittle others, force the direction to please me, and in general been a pain in the neck. I know that I too often fail to live at the level I was created to become, and humbly strive for the next level of honesty and gentleness that I need to become who I was meant to become. I am grateful for all the opportunities and loving situations that I have been led into. I place myself in Your care so that I may respond with love and care to the cry for help that rises before me. Continue to grant me that inner peace and joy that always seems to flow through me, and keep the light within me burning bright in Your flame and brilliance so that may be that beacon in Your name and presence.