Soul Matters

This Week’s Quotation:

When God has become the conscious center of one’s life, then, as in a time of civil war, the various citizens of the psyche are forced to take sides.

~ Charles Upton, Day and Night on the Sufi Path

Soul Matters

Maybe you have had some experience with what Charles Upton describes: the antics that occur on the psyche’s archetypal stage when we take a stand for something greater than the personal self and its agenda. The ego strongly resists when it feels it has no control and its very survival may be in question.  

No inner battle exists if all facets of ourselves feel to be coexisting in the same place. If there is no pressure to change, then no crazies! But if we take a stand and become committed to change, the parts of the self that fear that change will rear up.

When I recognize indications that I am in that pressure cooker, I call on my maestro—my name for my eternal self. We all have this creative genius that knows exactly how to make an orchestra of the symphony of variants that constitute our uniquely individuated expression of being. That genius welcomes and celebrates every nuance and idiosyncrasy. It knows the perfect recipe for combining them in a manner that brings out the highest expression of the totality of our being.

I recognize this maestro as the manifest facet of the sacred, creative, evolutionary principle that inspires us to express the natural habits, dispositions, attitudes and qualities of our true nature until they become our habit of being. The maestro knows what constitutes a pot of gold for our soul on this human journey and cultivates those qualities that lead us to that treasure.

Whenever I get discouraged in my practice and feel too small for the task, I hear the Dalai Lama remind me, If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito! That always brings a smile and the release of happy hormones into my bloodstream. I hope it did that for you too. I find it invites the maestro to play!

About Open Windows

We, the authors of this blog, dedicate it to the transparent exploration of the world’s sacred scripture and enlightened spiritual thought. We believe that the original inspiration of all faiths comes from a common source, named and revered in a myriad of ways. With that understanding, the innumerable symbols, beliefs, and practices of faith cease to divide. They become open windows to a common reality that inspires and unifies us. We find deeper insight and nourishment in our own faith and from the expression of faith from others.

We hope these weekly quotations and meditations speak to your heart and soul.