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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Saturday, October 20, 2012

Who Am I?

Who am I?
Sometimes I honestly wonder how to define myself


Which raises another question
Who gets to define me?

And what criteria do they use, anyway

How do we define people
by their intelligence?
beauty?
athleticism?
how do we decide who is valuable and who is not?
who is OK and who is not?

We all know the judging is happening
We know we are being valued
and people are deciding
if we have worth, or not
if we are what they treasure 
or not

this leaves us very fragile
scattered
dissipated
like "reeds blowing in the wind"

like it or not
we gain our identity
through our relationships with others
and we need
we all need
a "constituting other'  (Richard Rohr)

we need one, at least one person
who mirrors us in a positive
a person who reflects back to us
all the love, the promise
all the good
that is in us

if we are lucky
very lucky
we find a person who does that...
who knows us so we can know ourself
who loves us so we can love ourself

Oh?
didn't you know?
There is such a person for each of us
for each of us can stand naked
before the loving gaze of God
and have our best self reflected back

I know I know

it is hard to believe
and it is more believable 
when someone, someone here
mirrors us lovingly as well
we are called to pass on "the gaze"
we are the ones who can reflect back to others
all the love, the promise
all the good
that is in them

A wise man once wrote
A true Christian is invariably one who has met a true Christian

Who am I?
my relationship with God
my connection with the one
who gazes on me with the eyes of love
and hope
tells me all I really need to know

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