Inner Work

For the week of August 11, 2008

Reaching Toward God, The Center of All Centers

(Part 7 of 9 in the Inner Work Series: Stages of Inner Unity: I )

In moments of strong and extended presence, when we quite definitely and clearly know that “I am here,” the higher worlds may “leak” through the veil and into our direct experience, carried by our I. This possibility exists because will reaches throughout all the worlds, from the lowest inanimate levels to the highest and most sacred.

When we become ourselves, our I, in presence, and maintain that state, we become the channel connecting the worlds. Higher energies may spontaneously descend to and through us. But we need not wait for that. We can intentionally reach upward, reach deep within our core, through our innermost self, to contact the aspect of our will that dwells in the higher world of creative, sacred light. Opening to that level, though not the Ultimate, certainly takes us a major step toward the Divine.

To reach toward God, we reach by means of, toward, and through our innermost Self, by means of, toward, and through our I, our center. And there, to quote an image from Plotinus, we “hold through our own center to the Center of all centers, just as the centers of the great circles of a sphere coincide with that of the sphere to which all belong.” [1] With Plotinus, we recognize that God is the Center of all centers, including our own. By coming into and staying in our center, we approach the Center of all. Only through our own center can we come to the higher worlds, to love, and ultimately to God.

A key factor in reaching toward God is to allow for a two-way action. Even as we wholeheartedly aim and extend our Self through our center toward the Divine, we simultaneously allow God to reach toward us. We are both active and receptive. We reach upward beyond ourselves. We reach with our mind focused on the Divine and our heart full of love and longing. All the while we leave room for the sacred to flow downward to and through us. And because the higher constantly reaches toward each of us, this action of ours, this deep prayer proves both effective and repeatable at will, once we understand it experientially. The world of sacred light constantly awaits our opening to its infinite abundance and to its proximity to God.

But how do we reach upward? We turn our attention and intention inward, beyond thought and emotion, beyond the stillness of our cognizing consciousness, through our Self, and into the sacred light. Perhaps we engage one of God’s names as a stepping stone to the Reality behind the name. To the rare few this entrance to a higher world comes easily. For most of us it takes decades of practice, of contemplation, prayer, and meditation, of becoming familiar with the inner landscape, of experimenting with alternative approaches, of gradually deepening understanding, longing, and love. The dedicated effort itself, however, brings meaning and expanding vistas to our life from the very beginning, even as it gradually transforms us.

Having discovered our Self, we turn to this stage of directing our I toward true prayer, the path of ultimate unity. For this week, practice being in your own center and reaching toward the Center of all centers.

[1] Plotinus, Enneads, VI.9.8, trans. by Stephen MacKenna

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