Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Give me a candle of the Spirit

O God,

As I go down into the deep

of my own being.

Show me the hidden things.

Take me down to the spring

of my life, and tell me

my nature and my name.

Give me freedom to grow

so that I may become my true self

the fulfillment of the seed

which you planted in me

at my making.

Out of the deep

I cry unto thee,

O Lord.

- George Appleton, Anglican bishop

This sounds, of course, like a paraphrase of Psalm 130. Personally, I would probably have been a Gnostic in some sense had I lived 2000 years ago – and I even have a friend who lives in Texas who IS a Gnostic! I certainly believe that everything that exists is made of the same energy and matter, spewed out by the Big Bang and all the exploding stars and galaxies that came to be and still are so doing! “The Seed” that was planted in us at the making of all things.

We think, most of us humans, that the greatest forays of exploration, of new knowledge, are “out there” – space, the oceans, atoms, etc. I think rather that the greatest Journey of Knowledge is “the deep of our own being”. I, and the other human beings I know, are without question the greatest Mystery to be explored.

Often I think that religion has been used to prevent us from doing just that. So many people are so afraid of the Mystery of who we are as persons! Much of religion does not want us to have “freedom to grow ….. to become my true self”. Christianity would be a great religion if it followed the example and teachings of Jesus. He lifted all the shackles, and gave every opportunity for freedom, in the hopes that we would find our divine identity. I think other great teachers have done the same. Alas, religion understands the “danger” of such freedom to it’s power, and often seeks the opposite.

Jesus is reported so often to have said, “Fear not”. With his encouragement, may we all go fearlessly into the deep of our own being. And may our religions be true “candles of the Spirit”.

Brian+