Mistaken Faith: The Soul and its Nature, part II

The search for a path through life

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Photo: a capital from the cathedral of St. Lazarus at Autun, France, showing a divine flower inseminating the world of material.

Mistaken faith

So one is in the peculiar place of trying to understand how one can touch God. It is useless to see God or listen to God; to see is to take God literally, instead of understanding, and to listen to God is to let thoughts and the mind flow rather than God Himself. We need to empty ourselves of our own Being, which occupies all the space, if we wish for God to rush in. The emptier we are, the more we can receive the presence. Yet for as long as we are full, there is no room at all for God.

It is necessary to touch God, because one has to surrender, to actually allow contact with God, and this is an intimate and terrifying thing. The moment that we actually do this, we acknowledge that we are not God – and every human Being, regardless of how devoted, loving, and intelligent they may be, preserves a secret place within themselves where they give themselves permission to believe that they are God. Modern psychology has given this place a name: it’s called the ego.

The ego is only aware of itself, and it loves only itself. It will do this for as long as it’s asleep to the presence of God; and the only thing that can wake it up and create a conscious ego is if it comes into a more direct contact with God.

This is a tricky thing to discuss, of course, but I shall try for you.