Embracing Our Humanity

Note: I am traveling this week, visiting family and warming my bones in Texas. I’ve pulled this article from the archives to share with you today. It speaks of being gentle and welcoming of all that arises on our spiritual journey. May you find validation and acceptance of your humanness in the grace-filled embrace of Presence.

Do you sometimes wonder if you are actually making real progress in your spiritual growth and development? I certainly have my doubts at times and I’m guessing you’ve had moments when you doubted your own progress. For me, the moments when I am most likely to question my spiritual advancement are when I’ve burst forth with some raw emotional reaction. Like getting really frustrated, ticked off, impatient, judgmental, insisting on winning a petty argument….shall I go on? You get the picture.

Even when we are assiduous in spiritual practice, it can happen. I can come out of a beautiful meditation with such a spacious, generous view of life, and in a moment of unconsciousness, I’m tripped up by an old resentment, upended by reaction, or fully hooked by some nagging fear. When I find myself in these uncomfortable states of mind and heart, my initial reaction can be more frustration, resistance, and battle readiness. I impulsively take up arms against these invaders, like a spiritual warrior defending a castle of consciousness. Wanting to get back to that place of peace, I assume that vigilant protection is what I need most. When I judge, rather than embrace the challenges of life, I never find the peace that I’m after. My efforts to hold back the unwelcome guests are actually counterproductive to my goal. Wisdom reverses logic and reveals that what I try to control, controls me, what I resist, persists.

“Of course”, you say, “I knew that!” Well so do I. But alas, I do forget! So in the oscillating awareness in which I remember and forget, I must reclaim the ground of this truth and face life’s challenges with an embracing and spacious heart.

Love leaves nobody behind; excludes nothing from its compassionate embrace. Since it's all an expression of the One, it all belongs. What we push away, distances us from God, and what we embrace brings us closer. Being present with whatever is in front of us is a prerequisite of authentic spiritual practice. If I cannot worship at the altar of this moment, regardless of what is here, then I have taken myself offline from the Divine.

Perhaps Rumi in his inimitable compelling poem will say it best for you:

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi ~

Rumi alludes to the secret of transformation. By embracing life challenges, even the adversarial stuff, welcoming them as great teachers, we might awaken to a deeper sense of who we are and enlarge our capacity to become conscious human beings. There is such great spiritual power hidden in difficulty when rightly seen. As Jesus told the disciples about the reason a man was born blind – not as a punishment, but so that God might be glorified through him.

May you find the capacity to embrace all of the guests in your household this week until they reveal the gifts they have brought you.

Namaste, Rev. Larry