We are all confronted by evil; to me, most of this evil comes in the form of trite expectations expected by society. We are pressured by family, friends, political leaders, and our religious leaders to conform to a society that in reality does not exist in God’s world. Each new generation is preparing for a new age that never arrives, except only in its thinking.
There is only one way to live. We must open our hearts, push our education into the back of our minds and think in the present, or as spiritual philosophers say, in the now. When we do this, we realize that our life is meaningless unless we see others as children of God, accepting that they also are created by goodness and reflect the same. This is our one moral duty.
Matthew reports the words of Jesus after His sermon on the mountain that we must live a life that gives honor to God by our good works. Ours is not the glory; glory is only in and with God. We share this glory because of God’s love and faithfulness to us. Both of which we must share with others to realize and live in God’s glorious presence. I think of the purification of the Levites by YHWH. This symbolic action brings the gift of God within us. In effect, the Israelites were sacrificing the worldly pleasures of one sect of their group to bring God’s presence within the entire population. This is what our priests and clergy do preparing for their life of ministry. However, we must do the same in our personal lives.
We must shed all unhealthy desires for worldly riches and accept that God is the only element in our lives that gives us life, invites us to shed all overbearing impulses that invade our consciousness and, helps us understand the reality of death.
I remind myself that for God nothing is impossible. Being 78 years on this planet, I sometimes complain about physical problems and insecurities. It is times such as these that I think of what God did for Zacharias and Elizabeth in their advanced ages. Nothing is impossible in God’s world. This assures me that evil, the banality of evil is ever present in our minds dictating untruths. Therefore, I meditate; therefore, I listen to God when praying.
© Russell Kendall Carter
Meditating to Heal 