June 26, 2023
"When I want to find my true self, I do not chase up and down the highways of my sense for they lead me consistently array. But when I want to find my true self, I disentangle myself from the senses, from this other region and move straight to the core of me. Which, says Eckhart, is where the Godhead is located." Howard Thurman, The Way of the Mystics
When I am at the end of my road, I cannot solve a problem or resolve a conflict, I feel a wave of despair over me that doesn't seem to be able to be lifted, when I have used all of my brilliance and ideas and ways of analyzing and I still see no solution, then I must be still. Surrender leads to stillness which leads to openness. And that's when the shift can happen - and resources, solutions, people, ideas, suddenly come into view. The veil is lifted. I can see.
Listening portion today:
To ‘slow down’ … seems like the wrong thing to do when there’s fire on the mountain. But here’s the point: in ‘hurrying up’ all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today’s most challenging crises. We rush through the same patterns we are used to. Of course, there isn’t a single way to respond to a crisis; there is no universally correct way. However the call to slow down works to bring us face to face with the invisible, the hidden, the unremarked, the yet-to-be-resolved.... It is about staying in the places that are haunted.
Philosopher Bayo Akomolafe
