To work from within this basic force of life, this higher influence that flows into us, we must divest ourselves as much as possible of all of our gremlins, imps, and daemons... the wickedness of personality that frets and gnaws perpetually at the root of our Being.
This is a colorful way of saying that one has to come into relationship with the energy from within, the life that flows into us, and to ignore all of the other influences that routinely arise and attempts to interfere with it.
It means turning back again and again all day long towards God, towards His presence as it flows into us, and turning away from the influences of creation (cf. Meister Eckhart's sermons) that want us to pay attention to them first.
This is one of the meanings of what Christ meant when He said, “Get the behind me, Satan.” Don’t forget that what Christ was tempted with in the desert was all the influences of ordinary life; and yet in the face of these temptations—which were, and are, exactly what outer life always offers us— He steadfastly turned His heart towards his Father.
He turned towards a higher authority, and not a lower one.
We're faced with this moment of temptation at every instant of life, and it is only our own choice to serve God first that can save us from it.
He turned towards a higher authority, and not a lower one.
We're faced with this moment of temptation at every instant of life, and it is only our own choice to serve God first that can save us from it.
It is our duty always to turn ourselves towards this inner force of Grace and life, and to be perpetually and eternally grateful for the Grace that it brings us.
We live in great danger, because we live in a world that insists all the time and in greater and greater measure that the more complicated things are, the better they are. All of our technology is dedicated to this proposition. Yet this is a dire falsehood; the more complicated things are, the less we come into relationship with God.
God wants us to be quite simple and to attend to the basic force of our life and the beautiful details of the simplest things around us, not to get caught up in the machinations of endless detail.
Our Being was meant to receive the simplest and most graceful impression of life, which speaks with more words than all the books in heaven when it is received properly. This can only take place if we divest ourselves of the complexities that our personality insists are so necessary in order to move forward in life. One needs to settle down within the root of Being, quite simply, and concentrate one’s force there so that it becomes invulnerable to the interference of the day today. This is a subtle force; it isn’t meant to break down castle doors, but rather to root the foundation of our inner kingdom so firmly that it cannot be budged.
When I am available, heaven flows into me always and without reservation. It has a wish to be here within this life; it is this life. This is because one cannot separate God from life or life from God; they are one.
Yet when I’m distracted by complications, I don’t see this. It’s only if the root of my Being is firmly attached to the foundation of Being, the point at which the influence of God enters creation within me, that I can remember myself and my duty to God.
It is possible to keep turning back towards God over and over again all day long, and God will send blessings in direct proportion to how often I remember Him.
If this action is completed in me even once during a day, already, that is a big thing; yet I need to complete the action again and again, because this is what duty means, and this is what prayer and what worship mean: the effort to come into relationship with the direct influence of God as His Being flows into me.
Lee
Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.
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