I once asked my friend Bonnie Rose
if she ever wanted to go totally holy.
She just said, “NO!”
I can’t remember what we were discussing,
& her reply was so vehement that I have
forgotten the conversation that followed.
But that moment has had a lasting impact.
Bonnie Rose is the reverend minister
at the spiritual center in Ventura
that has given me a home to teach
classes in non-dual wisdom.
Rev B & I occasionally walk & talk about
the rigors of being spiritual professionals
in twenty-first century America.
What I admire most about her is:
That she has the courage
to share her own struggles.
&
That she chooses to embrace
& even cherish human frailties.
I will be sure to run this blog by her
prior to posting it on FaceBook.
But at this moment I don’t really know
what she meant by such a forceful “NO!”
What that reply has come to mean to me
is a warning not to fall into the traps of
contemporary spirituality –
Like striving to be perfect.
I have been studying
humanity’s wisdom teachings
for well over forty years
& as near as I can tell
there is a universal consensus –
The primal yoga of the holy sages
is to rest the mind in the quiet heart
& to act upon the counsel
of the presence found there.
If I can let my mind be great,
bigger than my petty biases,
then it becomes a light
that links me to a Greater Light.
If I can let my heart be great,
bigger than my little wishes,
then it becomes a love
that links me to a Greater Love.
I feel the great saints are urging us
to go towards the perfection,
not by trying to be what we are not,
but by the simplest of Ways –
Service to the world.
We are like shards of glass
embedded in a mosaic.
The perfection lies in the whole.
www.venturacsl.org
(The Church I teach at.)
www.holychit.org
(Rev Bonnie’s Blog.)