In the past, the word Presence was reserved for God and entered into longingly, via worship and other spiritual disciplines. Being in this sacred Presence required my focused attention and reverence. I knew I was getting close when the tingles and goosebumps made an appearance. And then it would happen; a wide-open portal with the Creator, filled with intimacy, revelation, insight, heightened worship, and all other manner of wonderfulness would well up inside me. Just a taste or a tease of the infinite possibilities inside that Fullness fed my yearning for more.
My son will tell you I am more intuitive than intellectual. He laments that I can't back up my occasional outrageous spiritual claims with concrete theological or scientific explanations. Thank goodness for the Christian mystics in whom I have found tremendous solace. What resonated so powerfully for me, was how often the mystics equated the unveiling of their soul with the discovery of God Himself. They speak as if these two encounters were the same.
Julian of Norwich, the 14th-century Christian mystic, said, "we are not merely made by God, we are made OF God." In the very deepest part of all of us, beneath our wreckage of shortcomings, is the divine spark of God. Julian of Norwich goes on to say, "we will know the One from whom we have come only to the extent that we know ourselves." In other words, it is in the very essence of our being that we are to look for God. Talk about missing the mark. I had put all worth-ship onto God, God out there, up there, but never considered aiming it anywhere close in my direction. The audacity of God hiding His Presence inside me!
The "Two Selves"
20th-century Catholic mystic and thinker Thomas Merton affectionally refers to them as the true self and false self. The false self is the psychological self, the protective personality, what I create given my family, culture, memories, and wounds. It is who I "think," I am. The false self is easily offended, insecure, stuck in survival mode, and covets control and being right. The false self has no metaphysical substance to it and does not "really" exist. It is a necessary, but passing identity. The true self is not created; it is who I always have been and always will be. It is our divine DNA, our inner blueprint. It is who we are before we did anything right or wrong. The true self is beyond observation and not anything we can improve.
I'll take The True Self for $1000 Alex!
Living a rich life necessitates a willingness to experience the fullness ALL of life brings. Not shying away from feeling the full range of our emotions, as even those we initially judge as "bad," ultimately work in our favor. For example, it's the hard knocks of life that cause the false self to eventually crumble. This illusionary self can only weather the storms for so long. It crumbles to reveal the original true self, the rock-solid foundation of life, much like discovering hardwood floors under linoleum, or finding our soul alongside the Creator.
Getting into Presence does not require a spiritual production, it is not earned. In fact, it is the opposite of producing and performing. Presence is something we naturally fall into. It is the space that is left when the mental chatter of our mind grows quiet. That moment of total peace that comes out of nowhere. We have all had it, it is rather common. The beauty of our system is that what is hidden seeks to be revealed and pushes us to awaken.
Presence lies beyond my feelings, my perception, what I am seeing, and what I am hearing at the moment
Presence is the sacred space before our thoughts, beliefs, and concepts
Presence has a feeling of aliveness and divine union
Presence is the absence of all notions of self, time, or place.
Presence is the collision of the human and the divine.
Presence is the freedom of coming home to our true self
There is nothing we do that is more important than being 100% here, fully present in human to human, soul to soul connection. Since Presence is intrinsic, this human to human connection can happen anywhere, in a cue with total strangers or those we regularly engage in life. Having someone's undivided attention, being listened to without judgment, agenda, or interruption and feeling as if we are known, seen, and highly valued is a gorgeous experience. We crave this unconditionality, and no one illustrates it better than our pets. They readily accept reality, live in the NOW, and are present 24/7. Our pet's joy, their ability to be present, and to begin again is medicine for our souls.
Presence is a lot like the manna we read about in the Old Testament. God told Moses He would rain down bread from heaven for the Israelites. The people were to go out and collect only enough manna for the day. Whatever they took beyond their portion and tried to store up for later would rot. It was a test of obedience. Would the Israelites trust God/Presence or their current circumstances? It is the same test for us; will we trust the Presence to deliver fresh bread at the moment, or will we resort to last month's revelations or someone else's brilliant questions? Will we go off into our thinking and leave the present moment or bridge the lingering silence into divine connection where anything is possible? We no longer see the need to fix or heal those around us. Instead, we reflect and remind them what's inside, what's built-in.
There is nothing more potent than being PRESENT. No longer held in the single body of Jesus, Divine Presence radiates into all of life. There is no need to look into the heavens anymore. Once found IN you, you see with the singular eye Matthew 6:22 talks about, and you are full of light, seeing there is nowhere that God is not.
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