I am not overly impressed by those who live by brain-power alone. Living solely by what was written...yesterday or a thousand years ago...is binding to the Soul. That is called relying on the letter of the law alone which leaves no room for inner expansion...no pathway in to our intuition.
I was delighted when I read Fr Richard Rohr's contention that the literal level is one of the least fruitful levels of meaning. I was delighted, no doubt, because literal is one thing I am not. The old saying, never let the facts get in the way of a good story, sings in my heart.
It was that self-knowledge that gave me the permission I needed so long ago to open my mind to what the Sermon on the Mount was all about. Taken literally, I was not buying. But when I allowed my mind to open...to picture someone stealing my coat and me running after them to give them my clock, or her slapping my face and me turning the other cheek...I began to understand the whole picture. For the whole picture is love, and there is no love in payback.
Lack of love, I am convinced, is the source of all our woes. It is that lack of love that is our ego's hidey-hole...no wonder Lucy is so demanding. No wonder she calms down when I remember to tell her that God loves her and so do I.
The whole picture is love, and that is all.
Thank you.
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