A Descending Elevation...

Two competing thoughts have invaded my morning meditation today. The first is a quotation from Meister Eckhart: "We are all meant to be mothers of God." And the second, from the Little Flowers of St. Francis, "The way to go up, is to go down." If I remember correctly, this quote is from Bro. Giles...

God, the Universe, or Life: take your pick: we are compelled to be born. I suppose that that which we name "God" could just as well be named force or energy. The ancient Chinese mystic-philosophers simply referred to That as Tao... Lao-Tzu wrote, "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao / The name that can be named is not the eternal name / The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth / the named is the mother of ten thousand things...

​Other mystics have said, implied, or hinted that we are the eyes through which the Holy One looks out upon the Universe, ours are the hands by means of which the Holy One continues working... and according to Meister Eckhart, ours are the bodies that are required for the birthing of the Divine... In my mind, I stutter out a sigh and a "Holy Moly!"

All of this implies an intimacy that, truthfully, requires our own re-birthing! If you are not living in an unconditional amazement, can you seriously claim to be alive? To get a handle on both this thought and unconditional amazement, I hold up to my mind the mirror of Michelle: she is not only my wife, my partner, and my best friend, but she is also my home, my blanket, and my welcoming kiss... In other words, unconditional loving is always a re-birthing... In such loving, the Universe abides!

This "abiding" is our place, our natural condition, and our re-birth... So, the "problem" that is always before us is exactly how do we cultivate the skills that we free us, so as to "abide"? I think that it is precisely here that the insight of Bro. Giles becomes handy, useful, and a practical "mystic tool". The way to go up is to go down... Isn't this a reflection of Jesus' teaching, the last shall be first? It seems that the Tao, or path, that we are being presented with is a plan for self-organization...

​It is by loving-in-action that we discover our re-birth: loving-in-action is the cultivation of the mind of the servant, the heart of the mother, and the reality of the Holy Mountain of Life upon which we both climb and descend. If we self-organize according to loving, then in the great mystery of things, we will find that we have become "mothers of God": what did Mary say? "Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord / rejoice, rejoice, my spirit... so tenderly has he looked upon his servant / His name is Holy / he has brought down the powerful / the humble he has lifted high / the rich he has sent away empty / and the hungry he has filled with good things..." 

​Right here: exactly here: we have a descending elevation: the way to go up, is to go down... and we are all meant to be mothers of God... It is possible to actually abide in this practice and in this Mystery...