The contemplative mind can see things in a non-dualistic way, without being rebellious or enmeshed, neither reactionary nor hateful. Whenever you move to a higher level of consciousness, you always include the previous stages. That’s what makes it a higher level of consciousness! You do not hate previous stages, you do not dismiss them, and you do not split and say that the previous group or stage was all wrong, as was done in almost all reforms and revolutions until recently. Only in the 20th century did a few catch up with Jesus and re-discover the very possibility of non-violent revolutions and reforms (Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. being the most visible examples). The very word non-violence was not in our vocabulary because we didn’t understand it (despite Jesus’ clear teaching in his Sermon on the Mount). When you finally come to maturity, you can look back at your life and forgive every bit of it. You can let go of everyone who hurt you, even your first wife or husband. You don’t even need to hate the church that hurt you. Wisdom is where you see it all and you eliminate none of it and include all of it as important training. Finally, “everything belongs.” You are able to say, from some larger place that even surprises you, “It is what it is” and even the “bad” was good. These are the people who will change the world. These are the people who will transform history. We call them “larger than life” because they are living more than their own life. As Paul says, “I live no longer, not I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Non-dualistic people are able to be fully present to the now and trust God with the future and the past. God can use them because their small and petty self is finally out of the way. -- Richard Rohr: Adapted from Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening, and The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics, and Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life,
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 08:44:39 +0000
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