I remember my first undergraduate classes at McMaster University when we began to study - and I mean REALLY study the words of Jesus as they are found in the Gospel materials ... I was blown away at the radical tone and blistering content of his words when they are understood in the context of his time.
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His words were at times harsh and comforting.
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He was unapologetic and unabashed in his condemnation and criticism of the authorities of his day.
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He challenged everyone from priest to pauper to revision the world around them and live their faith in a more open common senseical way.
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In short, Jesus was a wise and wonderful radical voice calling on those around him to envision the way things COULD be rather than simply shrugging their shoulders and accepting the way things ARE ...
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This week as I've drawn into a quiet reflective place in my journey, and spent time intentionally focusing on THIS MOMENT, I've come to appreciate the power that lurks behind Jesus' words.
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Over and over his teachings offer a short and pithy reminder of what we should be focusing our energy and time on, and HOW we can fill our life with the abundance that Tolle speaks 0f (see my previous posting here) when he notes Jesus offering the gift of life in ABUNDANCE.
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This week as I've come to acknowledge my pain body and begun breaking free of its power over my reality, I've come to appreciate what Jesus really meant when he said - "How can you pick the speck from your brother's eye when you have a LOG in your own?"
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It is a concept I've struggled with for a number of months ... but this week I've come to appreciate how debiliating AND common a phenomena that really is ...
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I can see in the lives of people around me the places where they need to focus their attention and do work to heal themselves and move to a place of wholeness ... I could inventory with names and dates the places where their respective pain bodies have lead them to lash out in fear and anger, rather than enter a refelctive place of healing and wholeness ... I could cite example after example of how and where THEIR pain bodies are active and brutish ...
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But to what end?
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To do so, would be to point out the speck in THEIR eye, while the log in mine remains lodged and untended ...
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Instead, I need to focus on the log in my own eye, and find ways of lessening its control over me and my journey ... I need to quiet the voices that continue the cycle that serves only to feed the negativity that the pain-body needs to survive and grow ... I need to be present to THIS moment and release myself from the power and control my ego and my negative story have over me ...
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I wonder if the related quotation from Jesus in this moment is his counsel to "turn the other cheek" ... instead of dwelling on the nasty things that have been done to US, we instead need to be present to the moment and draw from those incidents the lessons and learnings that have brought us to THIS moment and recognize that there is no positive or negative in those actions by others ... they simply are what they are, and it is what we decide that makes them positive or negative or neutral ...
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To point at the speck in my brother's eye serves only to feed my pain-body and provide an "a-ha" moment that boosts my ego (negatively) and feeds a desperate pain-body ...
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Today I won't consciously chose NOT to feed my pain-body, but instead I will chose to live present in THIS MOMENT and let the other - the past - the present - the stories - simply go ...
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There are those who WILL continue to point to the specks in my eyes, and pick fault with me, and take offense to the things I've said or done ... I can't change that ... I can only entrust them into the keeping of God and the Cosmos and know that one day they will have a transformative experience where they not only acknowledge the presence of their pain-body, but they may begin to experience the space around their pain-body that will allow them to fully expereince the need to begin embrace their own journey of healing and wholeness which will bring them to a place of being present to THIS MOMENT!
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As for me - Today I'm alive ... and this moment is pretty good ...
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In this moment, nothing else matters ...
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Wise guy that Jesus character ... he knew ALL of this 2000 years ago ... maybe someday we'll finally start to listen ...
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