Monthly Archives: August 2016
True Self/False Self: Week 2 Summary
True Self/False Self: Week 2 Summary: Sunday, August 7-Friday, August 12, 2016 Contemplation helps us to rest in God’s love; as we gradually take on the likeness of love, we will see love over there too. What you see is what you are. (Sunday) Some form of suffering or death—psychological, spiritual, relational, or physical—is the… Continue Reading True Self/False Self: Week 2 Summary
Beginning with Yes
True Self/False Self: Week 2 Beginning with Yes Friday, August 12, 2016 The great wisdom teachers and mystics say in various ways that you cannot truly see or understand anything if you begin with a no. You have to start with a yes of basic acceptance, which means you do not too quickly label, analyze,… Continue Reading Beginning with Yes
Love Is Who You Are
True Self/False Self: Week 2 Love Is Who You Are Thursday, August 11, 2016 Love is not really an action that you do. Love is what and who you are, in your deepest essence. Love is a place that already exists inside of you, but is also greater than you. That’s the paradox. It’s within… Continue Reading Love Is Who You Are
You Are What You Seek
True Self/False Self: Week 2 You Are What You Seek Tuesday, August 9, 2016 On that day, you will know that you are in me and I am in you. —John 14:20 “That day” is usually a long time in coming for most of us. We hold on to the illusion of a separate self… Continue Reading You Are What You Seek
Welcome, Sister Death
True Self/False Self: Week 2 Welcome, Sister Death Monday, August 8, 2016 Some form of suffering or death—psychological, spiritual, relational, or physical—is the only way we will loosen our ties to our small and separate false self. Only then does the larger Self appear, which we would call the Risen Christ, the soul, or perhaps… Continue Reading Welcome, Sister Death
Sharing in God’s One Spirit
True Self/False Self: Week 2 Sharing in God’s One Spirit Sunday, August 7, 2016 The Holy Spirit is God’s very own life shared with us and residing within us (see John 20:22). When we pray, we are steadfastly refusing to abandon this Presence, this True Self, this place that already knows we are beloved and… Continue Reading Sharing in God’s One Spirit
True Self/False Self: Week 1 Summary
True Self/False Self: Week 1 Summary: Sunday, July 31-Friday, August 5, 2016 You (and every other created thing) begin with your own divine DNA, an inner destiny as it were, an absolute core that knows the truth about you, a true believer tucked away in the cellar of your being, an imago Dei that begs… Continue Reading True Self/False Self: Week 1 Summary
A Point of Nothingness
True Self/False Self: Week 1 A Point of Nothingness Friday, August 5, 2016 Today we continue with Thomas Merton’s description of the True Self as written following his “conversion” at Fourth and Walnut. It is so inspired, I want to quote it at length: At the center of our being is a point of nothingness… Continue Reading A Point of Nothingness
In God’s Eyes
True Self/False Self: Week 1 In God’s Eyes Thursday, August 4, 2016 Yesterday, we looked at Thomas Merton’s explanation of the false self. What follows is part of his description of the True Self. Merton wrote this shortly after his transformative experience at the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville (now Muhammad Ali Boulevard).… Continue Reading In God’s Eyes
The Illusion of an Autonomous Self
True Self/False Self: Week 1 The Illusion of an Autonomous Self Wednesday, August 3, 2016 I am using the terms True Self and false self as they were used by Thomas Merton. In his classic New Seeds of Contemplation, Merton writes: Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This… Continue Reading The Illusion of an Autonomous Self