Gradually you will begin to see with the eyes of the Stable Witness that knows and welcomes all.
Empedocles (detail), by Luca Signorelli. Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto, 1499-1502."Paradox"
"Sabbath Meditation"
Saturday, 2 August 2014
"Remember:"
Paradox is the ability to live with contradictions without making them mutually exclusive, realizing they can be both/and instead of either/or. (Sunday)
“Untarnished mirrors,” as Wisdom says, receive the whole picture, which is always the darkness, the light, and the subtle shadings of light that make shape, form, color, and texture beautiful. (Monday)
Open yourself to recognizing the great paradoxes within Jesus. Then you can begin to hold those same opposites together within yourself. (Tuesday)
All you can do is abide in God, and then God holds the tensions in you and through you and with you—and largely in spite of you! (Wednesday)
Paul says that only Spirit can hold and absorb the seeming contradictions and allow us to see and to know from an utterly new and unitive vantage point, which is the deepening fruit of contemplation. (Thursday)
The universal divine incarnation must always show itself in the specific, the concrete, the particular (as in Jesus), and it always refuses to be a mere abstraction. (Friday)
"Rest: The Law of Three"
My colleague in the Living School, Cynthia Bourgeault, has studied extensively the Law of Three, a metaphysical principle first articulated by G. I. Gurdjieff. She offers these insights in “Transgression,” a recent issue of the Rohr Institute’s journal, Oneing.
“This principle states that in any new arising, anything that comes into being at any level, from the quantum to the cosmic, at whatever scale and in whatever domain—physical, physiological, or spiritual—is the result of the intertwining of three independent strands: affirming, denying, and reconciling. Note that reconciling is not the synthesis, but a mediating principle between the other two. This is a ternary, not a binary, system. Instead of paired opposites, we have the interplay of three energies that in turn creates a whole new realm of possibility.
“It is a great mistake to try to eliminate resistance. Rather, you have to work with it, weave it, honor its presence—because what is going to come into birth is not what you want or expect. It is going to be completely new and surprising. The three forces working together dissolve gridlocks and move everything into a new playing field.”
How do we open ourselves to the third, reconciling energy that allows a new, fourth thing to arise? Cynthia says that most humans in our normal state of consciousness are “third-force blind.” We are stuck in dualistic ways of thinking, unable to see a mediating possibility. While we can’t of ourselves deal with paradox creatively, by practicing contemplation we can cultivate the awareness and spaciousness that allows new, unexpected arisings.
Call to mind a seeming contradiction in your life. Without analysis or critique, hold this paradox in the Mediator’s presence and rest in Wisdom. Gradually you will begin to see with the eyes of the Stable Witness that knows and welcomes all.
Gateway to Silence: Abide in the One who holds everything together.
Related Resources:
A New Way of Seeing, a New Way of Being: Jesus and Paul
(CD, MP3 download)
Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
Holding the Tension: The Power of Paradox
(CD, MP3 download)
The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See
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Center for Action and Contemplation
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Albuquerque, NM 87105 United States (physical)
PO Box 12464
Albuquerque, NM 87195-2464 United States (mailing)
(505) 242-9588
cac.org
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