There are many discussions about the aim of inward work, spiritual disciplines, and so on. We also discussed the aim of one’s existence, which takes on many aspects.
Yet there is one essential aspect about the aim of life that comes before any other aim.
The aim of one’s existence is to draw one’s life as deeply as possible into one’s Being.
Of course one must understand what Being is, what Presence is, first, and yet even with that knowledge — which must become an understanding, not just a collection of facts — one must inhabit that being in order to draw one’s life into one’s Being.
Life is subordinate to being, and all of the events in it, after Being. So one needs to be present within one’s Being first, then draw one’s life in through an active relationship with the heart. Being draws life into itself through all of the parts, but it gradually coalesces around the heart. There is a still, perfect, and silent place here that draws life into itself from the outward action and events.
As a beekeeper, sometimes I think about the way bees collect honey. There is an analogy here, but it isn’t in the building of comb and the storing of honey; those are essential, but they come later. Before any of that happens, when the bee encounters the flower, it enters a relationship with the nectar of that flower and drinks it in. It is the presence of the Bee and its relationship to the nectar where everything begins. If the bee doesn’t drink the nectar in and make it a part of its own Being, it has nothing to bring back to the hive and make honey with. Nothing to offer the community, nothing to share with it. The bee’s first task is to draw the nectar into its Being.
Later, all of the good results that obtain from that emerge.
Wishing the best for you on this day,
Lee
Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.
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