And I'm looking for space
And to find out who I am
And I'm looking to know and understand
It's a sweet, sweet dream
Sometimes I'm almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
And sometimes I'm deep in despair ( Looking For Space, by John Denver)
Many of us are acquainted with the grace that comes from perspective. Most of our human challenges do not maintain their grip on us against the diminishing effect of time and space. As we put space between our problem and us or allow the passage of time to separate us from the immediacy of our challenge, we'll likely find our problem reduced in significance and effect.
Of course, there are exceptions. Diseases that progress with time, money that runs down like sand through an hourglass, and other progressive conditions may not be outdistanced in a space-time continuum. Such are the most vexing of life's problems that often bring us to the edge of our human capacity to understand and cope with what seems hopeless. It is frequently in these kinds of desperate situations that many of us realize the limitations of the physical world's remedies. Such anxious moments can be a defining moment in our lives, when we stand at the edge of the cliff of appearances, having exhausted reason and human resources. With nothing viable to fall back on, and an intense yearning to move into a hopeful future, we reach a level of receptivity to a deeper understanding and realization of perspective.
This often is the vital first step of an inner journey into the uncharted terrain that the slings and arrows of life have seemingly led us to discover. What seemed to be a dead-end, the end of the road of hope, becomes a vast and spacious field where definitive answers give way to limitless capacities for unconditional well-being. Many of us stumbled into this realm after falling down, and despite our wits or wily ways, could not get ourselves on our feet, let alone find our way. You could say it is through a fault of our own that we discover this inner kingdom; where a crack in awareness allows the light to enter.
When Jesus advised against "judging by appearances" and encouraged us to use "righteous judgment," it came from understanding how frustrating and hopeless is life when lived from the surface perspective, from outside-in. He knew how slim our chances are of finding the real answers to life's most vexing conundrums within the limited purview of the mortal mind. He spoke of an inner realm where we coexist with the Divine in unity and love. He described this realm as an expansive dimension like yeast in dough, like the robust growth of a tiny mustard seed into an enormous plant. It is in this dimension of Life that we are to place our big problems, for it is in the context of this vast and ever-expanding realm of Love and Peace that we are graced with Divine perspective.
As we expand our awareness of this greater dimension in which we "live, and move and have our very being," our challenges and our suffering become proportionately smaller. With practice and faith, we come to realize that we are so much more than our problems, and we cease to identify with them. We may have cancer in our experience, but a condition of the body does not define or limit a spiritual being. It is in consistently opening our awareness to the greater spiritual reality in which "stuff happens" that we can manage to find the "peace that passeth human understanding." This is the realm where we can find respite from life's great challenges, where, as the Psalmist wrote, we no longer "fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day," for we have been lifted up on the wings of Truth, where we are lovingly held and eternally safe.
And so it is,
Rev. Larry
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