Wednesday, March 21, 2007

namaste

The lenten observation from all this recent blogging about the incredibly rich, but invisible nature, of (6 .5 billion) other people's interior lives, is not to take ourselves so seriously. Any one of us is really not that important in the scheme of things. And that's what Lent asks us to contemplate for 40 days (today is day 25). It's depressing I suppose from one point of view, but it's not meant to be depressing, just a reality check, a balance to the oerwhelming egoic urge to make too much of ourselves.

Geroge Harrison's song Within You Without You from the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album put the Lenten spiritual task nicely, "And to see you're really only very small, and life flows on within you and without you."

It's not that any one of us is un-necessary to the spiritual journey - I mean the journey of the divine nature back to self-realization. Everyone of us is quite necessary. The divine is within us. Each one of us lives out on behalf of the divine a particular set of experiences only we can have and our experiences contribute thier unique benefit to the divine enjoyment. That's a reason for being and for feeling good about our lives.

But it's also part of mature spirituality to remember what a vital (yes), but small, small, small, piece we add. And most importantly that the piece everyone else adds is no more or less important than ours. The divine is within them, too.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rev. Ricky,

I just visited your site Rev. Ricky, and was wowed by how attractive, relevant and clearly written it is. I've been thinking a lot about how to attract newcomers to Unitarian Universalism, and am pleased to have discovered your site.

Rick Hoyt-McDaniels said...

thanks shelby

i'm glad you like it. I hope you'll come back and tell your friends.