Have courage for the great
sorrows of life,
and patience for the small ones.
When you have laboriously
accomplished your daily tasks,
go to sleep in peace.
God is awake.
Victor Hugo
“God is awake”. Only someone
like Victor Hugo could make that happy phrase! A poet. In my view, poets are
the guardians of and the voice of the Mystery … and as such they are invaluable
to any society and culture.
The concept of “God” is
essential to any healthy human society … whether it is a “religious” concept or
a philosophical or metaphysical or
mystical one. Remember, “God” is not a human being. God is a “spirit, without body,
parts, or passions” (in the phraseology of the Anglican “Articles of Religion”). God has no gender …
and I am committed to affirming this truth as I think it would greatly expand
our concept of “God”.
Allow me to tell you what I
think Mr. Hugo was saying.
We have a Life to live. We
awake each morning to it … if we do. But if
we do … and there is no guarantee … our lives have many tasks. Eat. Share food.
Do our work. Anchor ourselves in Compassion. Offer our love and generosity to
each one we meet. See the anxiety or the joy in the eyes of those we meet. Feed
the hungry, tend the sick, comfort those in pain or loss. Remember how
completely we are loved … and pass it on.
Do you think you are
unconditionally loved? Do you think you are valued? I believe that such
knowledge is what each and every one of us needs
to know in order to face down fear and anxiety and take the risks to live our
lives fully in Love.
This is how “God” works. God
is the great Mystery of Life itself … and Life reverberates in the core of
every atom of our being. Any religion that is authentic will sense and reach
out to this Presence. “God” is not a tyrant. As Hugo understood, “God” is in
the simple reality of Being. Religion that “works” will teach us this.
Go to sleep in peace tonight.
If you awake tomorrow, the mystery we call God will ask you to walk the path of
Life.
Yes … we know not how. But.
God is Awake. Let is not be asleep.
Brian+
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