Up and in

” Finally, you will have to chart your own course, find your own way, and take readings (i.e. be mindful) from time to time to check and see if the path you are following–the teachers you are finding and the community you are practicing with, if you have found one–feels intuitively healthy and appropriate to your situation and your aspirations. If not, find another path up the mountain.”
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn, *Coming to Our Senses*

If the path goes up the mountain, it matters not which path it is. Only the mountain.

If the finger points at the moon, it matters not whose finger it is. Only the moon.

If your experience brings you to the divine, it matters not what the experience was. Only the divine.

“The countless lamps which are burning were all lit at the same fire.”
~ Pseudo Macarius, Great Letter

“God is not a being among other beings, but rather Being Itself.”
~ Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance

“Just because you do not have the right word for God does not mean you are not having the right experience.”
~Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations

Names and boxes and labels and definitions.

We are creatures who categorize. Beings who draw boundaries. We are experts in our field, professional rankers and dividers. We are so very good at what we do that we fail to notice when our best linework draws a line smack dab between ourselves and God.

“The Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam. And nowhere is there a reference to his waking up.”
~ A Course in Miracles

We forget, somehow, in the midst of all our searching for God, that God is the very fabric of the universe itself. Nothing less. We are made of God and God is made of us. Reality (all of it) is the very manifestation of God. And we wander around searching.

We forget that we were made not for boxes and divisions, but for unity with one another, unity with All That Is, and thereby unity with God. Our vocation isn’t to find God, to describe God, to understand God, even to worship God, but to see God and be God.

To wake up and recognize God In All, plain and simple.

“One doesn’t have to be a Lord Kelvin or a Planck or an Einstein to find a rabbit hole to enter. A pebble can serve–if I choose to enter it. A leaf of grass will provide ingress to infinity.”
~Chet Raymo, Honey from Stone

“Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.”
~ Gospel of Thomas

“…prayer does not consist in an effort to get across to God, but in opening our eyes to see that we are already there.”
~ Thomas Merton

As we travel these many winding paths up the mountain of grace,
As we follow these multi-colored fingers pointing at the one luminescent moon,
As we allow each of our experiences to lead us to the divine,
May we set aside the ruts that we travel in vain,
May we abandon the habits that divide us one from another,
May we release ourselves from our professional myopic vision.

As we search the horizons for God,
May we close our eyes to rest,
May we allow them, when they open once again, to settle on the first thing they see,
Near or far, inside or out, flickering with life or steady as stone,
And may we there find what we are looking for.