The Light in the Woods

1/5/09 Reflections        How desperately we think we are searching for peace – peace among families, peace among neighbors, peace among nations. We feel this need interiorly, and think “If only . . .” But something intuitive tells us this kind of peace won’t happen because it’s never happened to us before, or it’s come close but always turned out to be conditional.

The trouble is that we’ve been searching for peace with other human beings, when what will actually benefit us most is peace with God. That dream is not only possible, but not even all that hard to achieve. It’s God’s desire as well and backed up by His full power; our contribution is true and faithful desire to match what God wants, whether we understand what this entails or not.

When you are at peace with God, it affects every atom of your being every second of your day. It is your natural state to which you long to return. That’s why it’s offered; not given. God wants you to have a part in the peace process — if it were not that way you would not appreciate the satisfaction of deep peace achieved. We know this is true from the dissatisfaction we feel with everything we use as its substitute.

God’s peace within you doesn’t necessarily solve your problems – those problems are there for His reasons until He no longer wants them there. But inner peace does give you what you need in order to cope with those problems instead of struggling helplessly without guidance.

There’s not much difference between not having a difficulty and not having the difficulty prey upon your peace. Once you feel the full power of God present with you constantly and unfailingly, then you will be able to be effective in seeking peace with others.

1/4/09 Inspirations               There’s something that needs to be done in my life, and in the night I struggle with an answer that pops up through the muddled surface of my sleepy mind. But I just can’t seem to grab it and pluck it out of hiding – it’s there but illusive and every time I grab for it, it sinks out of sight.

Towards dawn, as the light from the distant sun begins to clear my vision, God’s light also comes into focus. I realize the game of hide-and-seek isn’t at all necessary; that all I need to do is to watch quietly how God handles my struggle. The answer I came so close to, and even the situation that demands the answer, is God’s business.

If God wants something done it will be done, and no amount of worrying and fretting on my part would change that in the least. I not only construct the problem, I also get in the way of the solution – until God smiles on me and reminds me that I don’t have to be in control. I’m much better off with recognizing and accepting God’s control, but if I didn’t have the dark to struggle in I may not appreciate the light when it comes to warm me. In that light I know what I need to do – not worry, not struggle, but pray.

12/30/08 Inspirations             Many scientifically-minded people discount faith because they think we are naïve to believe in something that can’t be proven. Yet what keeps science itself going is the faith that something previously unknown can eventually be studied and measured.

For example, science can’t deny the universe because it knows the universe exists, but science must go on faith that the universe can give up its secrets, or else there would be no reason to pursue such knowledge. Faith is the feeling that there is truth unrevealed – no different for scientists than for spiritual contemplatives.

Scientific fact is absolute, but it’s the potentiality of new experience that is not only the goal of science, it’s also the mysticism that is so reviled when it comes to a spiritual person dealing with the Creator instead of the created. No one would think of preventing scientists from studying the universe just because it’s beyond our imagination that science could affect the universe even if we did know it. But when mystics seek to experience the Creator of that universe, suddenly faith is delusional.

The universe is truly an awesome entity. Man may know all about it eventually, but he will never stop its course or create a new one. In the end, we are only observers, and the answer to all questions is “Because God wants it that way.”

12/29/08 Insights from Study          Religious fundamentalists deride mysticism because it says that divine knowledge and grace can be instilled in other authority than just the Bible. Atheists scorn mysticism because anticipating divine infusion into the human spirit is the greatest leap of pure faith possible. The enemy opposites of fundamentalism and atheism can find common ground in the ridicule of mystics in that, with their heads in the clouds, mystics have nothing to offer the real world.

Mystics, who know that the real world doesn’t exist in our temporal realm at all, quietly go about doing what they do — not trying to please or convince their detractors from either side so much as to hope that the peace and joy evident in themselves draws others to want what they have. It is that very intuition of the will of divine reality, so different from what passes for reality here, that elevates mystics above the fray. Nothing we can do will convince the immovable. Fundamentalist exclusivity is just as much a denial of God’s will as atheist pig-headedness is a denial of God’s existence.

The irony is that the open-minded tendency of mysticism is the very thing that allows its faithful to “catch” the favor of divine reality when others are busy belittling the mystic’s experience of God. The double irony is that through their welcoming of communication with God, mystics are far more likely to trigger definitive proof of God than either biblical faith or science. So far only mystics, by definition, are privy to the direct experience of God that would offer inarguable proof to the scoffers on both sides of the God controversy. Yet to mystics there is no controversy and no need to offer a defense.

Mystics know they will not be the ones to enlighten others as they have been enlightened. That is a function of God’s master plan; we will know exactly what God wants us to know, and no more, for our own good. From Moses to St. Paul to Mohammed to Dawkins, no book in the hands of a seeker will enlighten him to the truth without a personal, specific, inspirational visit from the Creator. It is this miracle that introduces a person to reality, and this truth comes from God, not any human being no matter how deeply inspired or object-oriented.

Only God can prove God – He does it all the time in subtle, loving, beautiful ways. If you can see His effects, you’re too far advanced in your relationship with God to need any proof of Him. As for unbelievers, even religious unbelievers, God will provide proof when and how He wishes. Nobody receiving this gift will any longer ridicule the gifted – the great proof will be mystical; all who receive it will be mystics.

12/24/08 Insights from Prayer               Dear Lord, when I tune out what I know and gaze upon You alone, I see at first only darkness – I’ve put my salvation on You and You’re too wonderful for me to know. There’s darkness in my world, but the darkness of You in which I hide is more of a clean slate than darkness. Because I see nothing on it, I don’t see what’s troubling me on Earth. I see instead the pure promise of reality.

When I get used to the dark, I begin to make out the life that You meant for me. It’s all the more clear in the backdrop of darkness – little pinpoints of insight through which a beautiful beam of light can emerge, making me know that beyond the darkness all is bright and familiar. The more pinpoints to appear in the blackness, the more I will know and the closer I will be to what I long to reclaim.

How many times I’ve gazed at the night sky – the darker it got the more stars I could see. With the whole sky eventually scattered with stars, I could feel clearly Your presence and Your promise of full light. How wonderful the Christmas tree lights are when darkness descends to show them off the way they’re meant to be seen. Without darkness, I would never truly experience the light.

You have arranged all this, and now that I understand it better, Lord I can thank You for knowing exactly what’s right for me. I still need Your help, but the first thing You do has already been done – You have made Yourself available to me. Your love, hope, understanding and grace, extended to all mankind despite what we do to one another, is the promise of experiencing Your presence which defines the Christmas celebration as well as anything can.

12/23/08 Insights from Prayer         Dear God, I sought to keep society with the just and have been called high-minded by others, as if that were a bad thing. I tried to follow Your precepts, but other men’s laws have taken precedence over them without my permission. In trying to elevate my thoughts to You, I’ve been called deluded by others, who don’t believe You exist since they know nothing of You. I’ve been forced to support abominations committed by others and to accept these sins as normal behavior. My love for You has become offensive to others. Others are determined to undermine my opportunities to spread the joy of You. I’ve been accused by others of hating people when I’ve only hated their sins. I’ve been upbraided by my own kind for aspiring to communicate with You on a higher level than others have dealt with You.

Lord, at first I began to draw within myself because I was seeking. Now things have become so bad in my society that I’m living inside myself because I’m hiding. How could I bear to watch others slap the face of God? How much longer could I allow others to intrude on my purity through their unbridled power and greed? How low can others debase my culture without fear of retribution? How will I remain Your child when others insist on interfering with my freedoms and downsizing my individuality?

My Father, if I must draw away completely from the world in order to receive Your spirit, I’m willing to go it alone. If You must destroy my society in order to bring it back to what it should be, then I quietly, humbly and obediently accept that despite the harm that may come to me in passing. If I must suffer along with everyone else because my culture has been grievously defiled, I will suffer with patience and compassion. I know I should pray that others will be able to use the trials of the world as the impetus to come to You as well.  But this time let me do this, Lord God, for You, as I want to do everything for You, and You alone.