Task: to be where I am
Even when I’m in this solemn and absurd role:
I am still the place
Where creation works on itself.
—-Tomas Transtromer
There can be no doubt that our species has made impressive progress as we have evolved. But that has clearly not been enough. Today, we face intractable problems that threaten our very existence. What do we not understand? Perhaps we have not reached our full potential. Is it possible for us to dig a little deeper?
Any solutions that will enable us to “pull out of the fire” our collapsing human community would have to be radically different than our current strategies. For example, we can’t turn to religion for guidance. “Everything is ours already—infinite purity, freedom, love and power. You know in your inmost heart that many of your limited ideas—this humbling of yourself, and praying and weeping to imaginary beings—are superstitions.” (1)
Is it as simple as just our waking up to the perfection of our own nature? Emerson thought so. “According to Emerson, man is ‘by his nature as unconditioned, as pure, as perfect and alone as the infinite. But he doesn’t know it and the smoke screen of his own conditioning forever fogs him.’” (2)
Click on the link below to hear what other insightful people have had to say about the inner wisdom we all possess.
Insight # 135: The heart knows that which reason knows not of. Blaise Pascal
Link:
- “Buddha” in this blog and also in print version, The ABC’s of Simple Reality: The Encyclopedia of Self-Transformation, Vol I (2018), by Roy Charles Henry, pages 52-57.
References:
- Johnson, Clive [ed.], An Anthology of Hindu Scripture, Commentary, and Poetry. New York: Bantam, 1971, page 212.
- Braden, Charles S. Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New Thought. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1987, page 38.
