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 to be allowed, to be fulfilled, and to show itself. (Sunday)
The only way that freedom and relationship grow is through a dance between the loneliness and desperation of the false self and the fullness of the True Self, which is ever re-discovered and experienced anew as an ultimate homecoming. (Monday)
Your false self is how you define yourself outside of love, relationship, or divine union. (Tuesday)
What we call sins are actually symptoms of the illusion that we are separated from God. (Wednesday)
Once accepted in yourself, the divine image is then seen everywhere else too—and just as gratuitously. (Thursday)
“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God.” —Thomas Merton (Friday)
Practice: Darshan and Namaste
In the Hindu tradition, darshan (or darsana) is to behold the Divine and to allow yourself to be fully seen. Many Hindus visit temples not to see God, but to let God gaze upon them—and then to join God’s seeing which is always unconditional love and compassion. During your time of contemplative prayer, allow God’s eyes to behold your nothingness and nakedness. Imagine God looking upon God’s Self within you, loving what God sees. If thoughts, emotions, or sensations distract you, return your awareness and attention to receiving God’s gaze.
When your practice has ended, commit to seeing God’s presence in someone or some creature this day. If appropriate, you might greet them by placing your palms together at your chest, bowing, and speaking “Namaste.” (Namaste is a familiar Indian greeting which means “I bow to the divine in you.”) Or you might say, “The Christ in me sees the Christ in you.” If it is uncomfortable to speak these words aloud, carry them in your heart. Bring this loving gaze and an inner stance of humility and recognition to all you encounter.
Gateway to Silence:
You live in me; I live in you.
For Further Study:
Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self
Richard Rohr, True Self/ False Self (CD)
