I, the
fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the beauty of the meadows, I
gleam in waters, and I burn in the sun, moon, and stars.
Hildegard of
Bingen
God is a choice. In order to know God,
you have to choose God. Many make a decision to join a church or sign up for some
training in the hope to find God there. If you look outside of yourself, even
if you find solace in community or excitement in the adventure of spiritual
exploration, without going deeply enough within yourself, you will not know
God. The heartfelt light and love that is your birthright, however, keeps
urging you forward to find your way.
To succeed, you must bring the fire of
will into your daily practice. Wanting to succeed without knowing how to
succeed, gets you nowhere. There are always steps to take in order to be
successful. If you choose God, God will automatically choose you, because God
knows you are able to be contacted and used.
If
a young child is inspired to become a gold medal athlete and does indeed grow up and win a gold medal, he or she has been
successful because a choice was made. At some point, the child felt the
inspiration and then did whatever it took to bring about the fulfillment of the
dream. My point is that when you choose God, God contacts you through
inspiration. Whatever speaks to you, whatever inspires you, whenever you say, Oh, that is great, I love that, I have this
great idea, that is God speaking to you and inspiring you. God wants for
you, what you want for yourself. The deepest yearnings in your heart are seeded
there by God. When you are in touch with these inspirations you become united
with the fire that dwells within you.
Receiving the inspiration is half of the
equation. The other half is what you choose to do with the inspiration. You
have to act on the inspiration that
was given to you. Acting on the inspiration is an active principle, not a
passive one. You might be inspired to follow a spiritual practice, but without
the will to practice, which is fire, your practice will go nowhere. Many
spiritual traditions have a flame on the altar that never goes out. That
perpetually lit candle is the signal to God that you are here and ready to be
contacted. Then the doors are open, and the inspiration floods in, no matter
what it is. It can be something very simple. I need to paint my bedroom a
different color. Painting your bedroom takes fire, right? You have to go
out, get the paint, and move everything out of your bedroom, as well as put in
the effort to paint and finish the job. You use spiritual will, or fire, to
pull it through because you feel the pull and the inspiration to make the
change. In essence, you have to say “yes” to the inspirations that come to you
in life. Saying “yes” to life allows you to be contacted and inspired to live
an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.
Once you choose God, because you have
said “yes,” your journey to God begins. The journey is metaphorical because you
are both the beginning and the end of the journey. There are different ways to
make the journey. Sometimes you have a beautiful altar that you visit daily. When
you go there, you call forth your guides, and understand that you are having
spirit time, or time together with God. You open up your heart, give thanks,
and make prayers. And, there is always fire
on the altar. It is the light.
All the various spiritual traditions
have different practices and ways of building the inner fire. You have to build it, just like you would
build a fire outside. You create a container consisting of a circle of rocks
where you will build the fire. You must gather the right elements for the
fire. You need wood that is light and
dry so it will burn quickly. You need some paper and smaller dry sticks and
twigs that quickly ignite the larger pieces so you will have a good, strong
fire.
The same process is used to build your
inner fire. First, you have to begin to consciously breathe. The breath is the
light, the light is the fire. When you are sitting and meditating, the breath
is the beginning stage of gathering the simple, raw material to start the fire.
As you continue to sit, the fire grows bigger, and you journey deeper within. You enter tapas.
Tapas
is the inner, alchemical transformation that takes place when you use witness
consciousness. You may have thoughts in your head; you may be analyzing, making
judgments, or drawing conclusions. All of these are like sticks that you add to
the fire. Emotionally you might be distraught about what is happening in the
world, or having a reaction to a friend or co-worker. These too become sticks
for the fire.
From the higher and deeper planes of witness
consciousness, you see whatever is arising within you, all the thoughts and the
feelings. Even though you are sitting, the conscious breath becomes the active
principle. Focus on the breath. You are not talking about a problem, you are
not acting out your frustration, you are just sitting and breathing. The breath is now the spark that lights the
fire to burn up the sticks. You are not suppressing anything and you are not
trying to deny anything you feel. You are building an inner fire, and if your
breath is strong and you build the fire well, it will generate the heat of
transformation within you.
Stay soft and open, neutral to the
sensation. Do not judge anything. Now, the fire is burning. How long does it
take? However long it takes. If there is nothing actively bothering you, continue
to breathe and stay focused on the breath.
If something is actively churning within you, continue to breathe and
stay focused on the breath. It is the same action. Be in the witness
consciousness. Witness consciousness is your inner furnace, your ring of stones
that contains the fire, as you actively breathe into what is. It is, it arises, and it dissolves.
Build a strong fire every day. In the
morning, breathe in the golden light of the rising sun as your fire. Breathe it
into your throat, your heart, and your solar plexus. Do the same thing at noon
with the noon day sun. At the end of the day, when the sun sets, breathe the
golden light of the setting sun into your throat, heart and solar plexus once again.
So God is a choice, and you have to
open to God to meet God. Give God a signal that you are open, want to be
contacted, and then through inspiration, through a sense of knowingness, and sometimes
through dreaming or actually hearing, you enter into a deeper relationship. The
quality of your fire is held within the seed of your choice, and the quality of
your fire to know God is everything. If you know God is there, but you do not
make any effort, then your relationship with God will be whatever you bring
into it. It might be damp, or disjointed, or it may not be as palpable as you
would like. Maybe you have a rational response to your inspiration, and you
think, “Well, right now I can’t really do that . . . maybe later.” Or perhaps
emotionally you feel resistance for some reason—“I’m not smart enough or
spiritual enough.” These reactions and responses are like pouring water on the
fire.
Remember the metaphor of the effort it
takes to build an outside fire. Remember to ignite your inner fire and get it burning really
well so you build up a strong bank of embers. The embers are the key to the
continuum of a steadily burning fire. As you reflect upon the steps you are
taking in life, think of it as a beauty road. It is not an effort; it is beauty,
and you are choosing God. How beautiful is that?
And by the golden light of the sun,
moon and stars, as one, and it is done. Amen.