In the natural world, when/where do I feel most humbled?

Everywhere and here is why:
“Hildegard (of Bingen) is a wonderful example of someone who lives safely inside an entire cosmology, a universe where the inner shows itself in the outer, and the outer reflects the inner, where the individual reflects the cosmos, and the cosmos reflects the individual. Hildegard says, “O Holy Spirit, you are the mighty way in which every thing that is in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.” [3] It is truly a Trinitarian universe, with all things whirling toward one another from orbits, to gravity, to ecosystems, to sexuality.” Richard Rohr

Good Morning, Richard Rohr is discussing the mystics this week and I lifted the above quote from yesterday’s email meditation. Richard chose to use the word Trinitarian because the essence of trinity is an understanding that all relationships are Trinitarian. In Christian terms, the Father begets the Son and that relationship produces the Spirit. Three is not a crowd. It is a relationship!
In my youth the Spirit was called the Holy Ghost which might have been a better term because we as human have difficulty acknowledging this inter-connectedness. It’s like a ghost we sense but do not see. My mentor used to say, “Carol, you are here on this earth to integrate your insides and your outsides.” Can you picture that in the terms of the Rohr quote? Can you entertain the possibility that the chaos in the world is related to our inability to accept responsibility—our inability to respond instead of react to whatever situation arises?
Every relationship births something. For example: Our current president has decided to call the leader of North Korea “Rocket Man.” He has threatened to wipe North Korea off the map. North Korea’s leader has sent a response, calling that a “declaration of war.” They are in a fear-filled, reactionary need to control the outer with little respect for the inner—for LIFE itself.

Rohr says, “Hildegard of Bingen wrote in her famous book, Scivias: “You understand so little of what is around you because you do not use what is within you.”

And what is within us? What kind of a relationship are we fostering between our inner and outer world? Are we open? Are we willing? Are we calling on the depths of our being which already know that Life is trustworthy and We are Life? Are we consciously working on integrating our insides and our outsides? That my dear friends is being authentic, that is choosing Life.

I’m reminded of a old hymn that I find myself still humming today:

Come Holy Ghost, Creator blest, and in my heart take up Thy rest.
Come with Thy Grace and heavenly aid to fill my heart which Thou has made,
To fill my heart which Thou has made.

Many years ago, I was meditating and I had an experience I shall never forget. The inner voice spoke into my left ear and said, “I am with you always.”

Then, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway toward my bedroom and a tall man with a priestly collar walked in the room and sat down. At the time, my life was filled with inner and outer struggle and I asked him to tell me where I would find the answer to my unrest.

He said, “You already have the answer.”

My heart leaped. I said “Where is it? Is it in the house? Is it in a book in the bookcase? Where will I find it?”

He said, “It is within you.” Then he disappeared.

It has taken many years for me to realize what a gift his words were. My egoic mind wanted an answer from the outside when I was born with the answer on the inside but at that time found it too difficult to own.

Simply put: If you doubt that you are creator as well as creature then I urge you to meditate everyday. It can be as simple as pausing before you rise in the morning and speaking from the heart:

“Be still and know that I am God.” Repeat it several times while you share the breath of life with the Universe. I guarantee it will help you become mindful instead of full of mind, responsive instead of reactive, fearless instead of fearful. You will grow and know yourself and others more authentically.

Blessings, Carol