As I sit in prayer this morning, I am gently easing back into the work week, feeling a deep sense of gratitude for the many gifts of this day, and grateful for the Work that I Am Called to do. I hold all of us in Radiant Health and Wholeness, knowing that each is a powerful expression of Life, Joy, Beauty, and Light. And so it is.
I begin today by looking back at Unity’s Release and Renew: Spiritual Practice for Lent 2021, the entries for February 19-20. As we are holding the Season of Lent as a time for fasting from what no longer serves, and feasting on what does – of releasing the habits and patterns that are keeping us from our greatest Joy, and embracing new ways of being – I find this affirmation a useful place to begin. “I release the habit of judging others. I renew my commitment to see the Divine in all beings.” If you’re anything like me, this is not the first time you have let go of this pattern or made this commitment. The problem is it doesn’t seem to stick. Judgment is a deeply engrained behavior that may require a little deeper dive.
I have found it useful to put a different spin on this affirmation…I hope you will, too. If it speaks to your heart, please join me in putting a new Practice in place. Here is what it looks like: When I find myself having a less-than-favorable opinion of someone, I stop and breathe. During this brief pause, rather than criticizing myself for my reactionary tendencies, or rationalizing the many reasons I should be allowed to feel this way, I begin with a question: What is it like to be you? I find that this question, more than any other, when deeply held and honestly considered, moves me directly toward compassion and away from judgment. It creates an immediate shift in the lens I am looking through (curious, not critical), as well as the direction I am pointing the lens. It is no longer all about me. What is it like to be you?
We each have a unique perspective, an individual set of filters and lenses through which we view the world. Along the Spiritual Path, we read and talk quite a bit about the need to first clean and then polish the lenses. Our daily Spiritual Practice, whether it be prayer, meditation, contemplation, or study, helps in that process. It is important to remember that this is only the first step. Equally important is to notice how our quiet time of reflection is helping us to be different in the world. Is it contributing to our self-awareness, to our Joy, our Peace, our Compassion? Is it leading us to live more peacefully with others, or to serve in some way that leaves the world a little better than we found it?
As I continue to weave Fr. Richard Rohr and Patrick Boland’s Everything is Sacred into my Lenten Practice, I am reminded that, “Truly enlightened people see oneness because they look out from oneness, instead of labeling everything as superior or inferior, in or out. But looking out from oneness requires to first look in.” I guess I could view that brief pause…the moment of awareness that allows me to see that I am casting judgment…as my self-reflection, my looking inward. And the question What is it like to be you? serves as a form of contemplation designed ultimately to lead me to true Compassion, and to see and experience our Oneness, our shared humanity. It moves me one step closer to seeing all of Creation as part of the body of God, and therefore part of what I Am.
Fr. Richard, in The Universal Christ, says “When I know that the world around me is both the hiding place and the revelation of God, I can no longer make a significant distinction between…the holy and the profane. Everything I see and know is indeed one ‘uni-verse,’ revolving around one coherent center. The Divine Presence seeks connection and communion, not separation or division…” He reminds us that “God loves things by becoming them…by uniting with them, not by excluding them.” Are we not created in the image and likeness of Divine Intelligence? Are we not capable of doing the same? Of course we are.
Recalling a series of talks that I recently viewed, another statement comes to mind that might deepen the sense of what we are talking about. Author and speaker Valarie Kaur, in her book See No Stranger, invites us to view the other…whatever that other might be…through this lens: “You are a part of me that I do not yet know.” It seem to me that this is the perfect counterpart to our initial question. Combined, our Practice is even more powerful. First, I notice that I am being critical or judgmental of another. I stop and breathe. In the pause, I acknowledge that you are a part of me that I do not yet know. I am acknowledging our Oneness. Then what is it like to be you? carries me to the point of Compassion. By using this Practice, I am releasing the habit of judging others and renewing my commitment to see the Divine in all beings.
This is truly one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. One of my early teachers called this sort of Practice enlightened self-interest. And it is certainly one of the most generous gifts we can give to another, and to the human family as a whole. Our evolution is forever pulling us toward greater complexity and diversity, as well as unity and cooperation. This has been the way of things since the beginning of recorded history. It seems to me that if we are to intentionally guide the evolutionary process in ways that are Life-affirming, it is our Love and Compassion that will be most helpful. Rather than allowing our increasing complexity and diversity to breed a sense of separation, Love and Compassion can use them to build bridges, creating a world where cooperation is how we treat one another, and unity is who and what we are.
Know that today and always, I am here to support you.
Know that today and always, the Christ Light shines within you.
May we be well…know our unity…and thrive! And…
May we know the Absolutely miraculous nature of this Grace-filled, once-in-a lifetime day!
