Page 2 - 2021 October Listen - 15-4

MIRACLES BEYOND OURSELVES (CONTINUED)
Sadly, it usually takes some tragedy to wake us
up from our stupors, to open our eyes, and make
us realize what we have, or what we had. In the
meantime, we take things for granted.
So it is often the case that we don’t appreciate
someone until they are no longer with us. And
only then do all of our criticisms of them melt
away into an awareness of the beauty of spirit they
embodied. At other times, we might realize just
how miraculous good health is, but not without
getting deeply sick first. Or realize the value of a
limb, and cherish how useful, and astonishing it was,
but not without losing it first. Most importantly,
it regularly takes calamities for us to acknowledge
how trivial and inconsequential most of our daily
concerns are.
It is only then that we realize how we have boxed
ourselves in, or allowed others to limit us. And
that’s when we surface our subterranean longings,
and our desire for freedom and liberation arises,
loudly calling us and demanding attention.
Why not take an easier road?
Life is a series of miraculous moments, every one of
them rich beyond measure with insight, inspiration
and innovation, but that awareness comes solely
by making ourselves receptive. It is then that we
discover that “normal” really means the opposite of
what we commonly believe it to be. That is, that
far from pedestrian and mundane, we are truly
extraordinary beings, endowed with supernatural
abilities, of intellect, discernment, delight, sound,
smell and taste, music, dancing, and so many other
skills that we might never stop living into them.
And that’s just the beginning, because beyond any
of these capacities, our most singular one is the
power to Love. And not just the sweet and tender
love that we feel for our partners, children, friends,
or other cherished sentient beings, but the Love
that pervades the entire Universe. A Love that
encompasses everything that we see, and those
things that we don’t see; that bridges all in our
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world, as well as everything at the edge of our ever
expanding awareness.
So, are we not beings far beyond ourselves? Are we
not walking miracles?
Nice words, some might counter, but how can we
access this insight so that it becomes more than a
rhetorical slight of hand, or clever word play?
That’s where contemplation and spiritual
companionship enter.
The first, because if we root ourselves daily in a
contemplative practice that best suits us, whatever
it might be, we are sure to be able to tap into the
wellspring, one far beyond our temporary bodies,
and into the Essence of all that was, is, and will be,
within us and without us, as a sage once said.
And it is also what spiritual directors, companions,
and guides are constantly pointing to.
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our
little life is rounded with a sleep,” our spiritual
sisters and brothers might say to us, quoting The
Bard.
But beyond even that, by acting as faithful mirrors,
and helping reveal the space from which we
can emerge into our growing awareness, they
help support and encourage us on our spiritual
discernments right now. So that we might not
have to wait until we are on our death bed, or at the
edge of tragedy, loss and suffering, to realize what
wondrous beings we already are.
And with that finally acknowledge
that we already walk miraculously
among the stars, both now, and
always.
Rev. SeiFu