Embodied Truths

One of my most treasured teachers, James Finley, often asks, “how has it come to be that you are the person you are today?” What an interesting question to ponder! How, exactly? How would you answer this question? Is it even a question we should try to answer?

I have been a spiritual seeker my whole life, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been looking for answers. So while there is truth to the phrase, “life is a journey, not a destination,” perhaps the same can be said of this and other existential questions: life is a mystery; our job is not to understand it all, but to simply to live it.

As a student of the Living School, I would say that I am learning to live in these questions, but the deeper truth is that God is gracing me with greater ease to live in uncertainty. Seriously, I may have bits of control over parts of my life, but that degree is quite small in comparison to the things I have no control over. Most of the time, I’m just trying to get out of my own way so life can happen.

I’ve been writing less lately because of how little I feel I know. My spiritual director says that’s the first sign of wisdom–admitting how little we know. It used to feel unsettling but I’m starting to get the hang of this not-knowing thing. And I’ve decided that not knowing is no reason not to write. It feels clunky yet essential to describe my lived experience, even if I can’t make total sense of it.

Today, I simply want to leave you with a few things that feel true to me. Do I absolutely know that they are true? No, but as I ponder all I don’t know, I also lean into these statements that feel like truth, internally, deep within:

• Life isn’t happening TO us; it’s happening FOR us. Whether we can see it or know it directly, it’s a truth I’ve come to embrace because, honestly, how can it be any other way?
• Nothing is truly good or bad; it all just is.
• Aliveness is possibility, pure potentiality.
• Magic is everywhere; we just have to pay attention.
• True, full healing only occurs when we accept and embrace WHAT IS.
• God protects us from nothing yet sustains us in all things.
• And finally, something I read on Instagram last night that speaks so much truth to me: “Just a gentle reminder that there’s no end to the pain in this shitstream called life, so you might as well get used to it.” (MarkManson.net)

That’s it for now. I hope I’ve given you something to ponder.

Life just IS, and we just are, and we are all just walking each other hOMe.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash