Inner  Frontier
Fourth Way Spiritual Practice

 

From the Center

Physics denies the existence of a privileged location, theorizing instead that every point in space is equally the center of the universe. This radical notion also holds true in the spirit: the center is everywhere. To be more accurate, though, we should say that the center lies beyond space and time, so that it touches every point in space and time. We humans have been endowed with nervous systems whose complexity enables us to serve as vehicles for the higher energies: consciousness, creativity, and even love. These higher energies, in turn, confer on us the potential for a very different relationship with the spiritual center than is possible for other animals. Unfortunately, we remain largely out of touch with that core, which lies hidden within us, just beyond the range of our minds and ordinary perceptions. Spiritual practice gradually unearths and establishes our relationship with it.

But what kind of relationship can we have with the spiritual center of the world? Is it possible for God to see through our eyes, to love through our hearts? In deep meditation, in the silence, we may relate to the center in at least two ways. In one mode, we can turn toward the center, opening ourselves to it, letting go the shackles of being centered in our outer selves to stand ever closer to the true center, to prostrate ourselves in submission to it, with the whole of our being to beg admission to that hallowed ground, and finally to give it all up and let ourselves be brought empty-hearted into the Great Presence.

Still, there is another approach: to be from that center, to be that center. In the deep silence, we allow the purposeful will emanating from the center to move through us unobstructed. We open ourselves to the center, letting the center see through our eyes, perceive through our senses, be through our being. This act makes us whole. The movement originating from the center strengthens us like a wind at our back, affirming our steps. That movement through us reintegrates our tiny, personal, yet important part of the universe with the center, thus expanding and amplifying the center, the source of all.


     

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