Inner Work

For the week of July 4, 2005

Opening to the Divine

Beyond and behind the world of the Divine light, lies its beneficent Source, the Source of all, the One in Whom we live, the One Whom all life and all religions serve, the One Who lives in us all. To our minds, that Greatness seems so far beyond our daily experience that we dismiss any notion of actually opening to or having contact with the Divine Immanence. We live with the assumption that, while certain great people of the past had such contact, we cannot. Against that assumption we pin our hope, our faith, our love, and the realization that what is possible for some must be possible for all.

One avenue of contact with the Divine begins with standing in simple prayer, asking for fulfillment of true needs, both our own and our neighbor’s. If we make prayer a regular practice, be it ritual, communal worship or individualized and free-form, the very repetition of the attitude of praying gradually does its subtle work on our soul. We begin to have a sense of the sacred, of standing before the Ineffable, in awe, in humility and in love, during our time of prayer.

This dim but growing awareness of the truly sacred draws us to reach beyond ourselves, beyond everything, toward the Divine. In such moments, our soul looks for ways to breach the familiar and behold the Immeasurable. Our deepening faith spurs us on. Again and yet again, we search for release from our ordinary self to arrive in the Sacred Presence. In these times, we engage our entire being and every last ounce of our will in seeking and opening to the Divine.

And then one day, seemingly by accident, the veils drop away, and there beyond all things, beyond space, time, and consciousness, even beyond the ecstasy of the Divine light, we find ourselves before the Greatness. We stand transparent and empty-handed in awe, wonder, and love.

The event ends. We return with renewed fervor to the prayer of stillness, peace, and reaching beyond. Slowly, in an attitude of selflessness, we find the means of returning to the Sacred Presence.

But even that stops short of complete transformation, for we need to surrender. Instead of seeking to live in the Divine, we seek to allow the Divine to live in us. With the core of our will, we repeatedly and joyfully engage in opening and humility, surrender and love.

Because that Sacred lies beyond time, the amount of time devoted to deepest prayer does not matter as much as the strength and purity of our intention. Even a few minutes a day completely dedicated to entering the sacred place works a profound and beneficent influence on our soul.

An open and inviting road stretches before us. For this week, take your next steps.

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