Transformation comes by realizing your union with God right here, right now—regardless of any performance or achievement on your part. That is the core meaning of grace. But you have to know this for yourself. No one can do this knowing for you. I could tell you that God is not elsewhere and heaven is not later, but until you come to personally and regularly experience that, you will not believe it. -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," November 20, 2017
But you have to know this for yourself.
There it is. We have to know this for ourself, and our knowing comes from within not from book learning, not from hearing it said, not from other than our own consciousness...albeit each is a planted seed in our rational mind.
We can read the Bible, we can study our personal literature, we can hear Shakespeare, repeatedly, and quote each of them with all the commas and semicolons in the right place...but until we are actually doing unto breathing that which we are quoting, we are holding ourself from grace.
We can speak others' thoughts and convince ourself we thought of them...especially the deep ones...but there will always be someone who heard the words originally and isn't shy about saying so...in public and loudly. We learn to credit the one we're quoting as opposed to silently cursing the ratfink...hey, that ratfink is our angel in disguise.
Until our spiritual growth is our own, until it comes from within and never on demand, it's somebody else's pony we're riding. According to me, that's the fourth dimensional meaning of Meister Eckhart's If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.
Thank you.
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