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Some months ago when this phrase came to me, I put it into our bulletins not knowing that I would be drawn to make it our 2008 theme. When I made it our theme, I had to think about what it meant to me and to our church. I knew that it had everything to do with a way of being in the world, but I did not know what that would look like. I had to ask myself: what is an awakened heart, what is the field, and what is the possibility?
First of all, what is an “awakened heart?” I believe an awakened heart must have certain key attributes.
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Fierce Compassion: The kind Compassion that penetrates into every level of our soul and opens us to each other.
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Understanding: Not just basic understanding about life, but spiritual understanding, the deeper levels of life truths.
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Willingness: We can’t just talk about doing something, or just have a dream or a vision. We must be willing to live it, to make the vision a reality.
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Courage: Doing things beyond the norm; having the courage to step out and practice what one believes.
and last..
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Love: I know that love is the answer.
The life of Jesus is a perfect example of an awakened heart. His heart was awakened to who he was and what God is. And his heart was awakened to humanity.
Next I asked myself, what is the “field?” The field is where we are right now. The plane of experience that we are currently in, the physical body, or plane of existence of God, is the field. Sad to say, most of the time we don’t know or feel that we are in God. We are like the fish in the ocean that keeps asking itself “what is water?” The fish doesn’t know that it is not only in water, but that water is its basic element. We are in an ocean of God and we keep asking ourselves “What is God?” We are not only in God, God is our basic element.
Finally, what is the “possibility?” I have been asked more than once why I don’t say “possibilities?” There are many possibilities. I continued asking myself what that means. And finally the answer came. The possibility is God. With God all things are possible. Within the possibility, all possibilities lie.
When we awaken to ourselves, we awaken to God and awaken our hearts to humanity and the life of God all around us. The life of God all around us is where our work lies. An awakened heart in a field of a possibility is not only a state of consciousness. It is also a state of action. The old saying goes: “Faith without works is dead.”
The beginning starts within. Carl Jung said: “Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart; the one who looks outside dreams; the one who looks inside Awakens.” If we look inside our hearts deep enough we will find the love that God is ready to give to the world. Even though it’s God’s love it can only be experienced in the world. Meister Eckhart said: "The awakened heart is like a luminous sphere – just giving without thought to any who may come close or gaze at it. The soul becomes blessedly lost to all but its own holy being." We experience it by giving God’s love and our humanity to all and all alike. And sometimes that can seem like a paradox.
Often we don’t understand why we feel the way we do or understand what’s going on, because our hearts speak from our God-selves. Awakening our heart and trusting our heart wisdom allows us to understand ourselves and our position in life more accurately. When we awaken the heart, the boundaries between self and others diminish. We begin to understand we are all part of one human family. Through service, love and appreciation of one another, we awaken this realization. Everything is a reflection of Spirit filtering through or flowing into experience that is directed by intention and love. If we could understand that everything is spiritual, life would make more sense.
I believe an awakening is what's happening in our world right now. People like you and me are wakening up. This doesn't mean that we are perfect. It doesn't mean that we like what we see. It doesn't mean that we don't get angry. It does mean that we seek to understand rather than judge. It means that we see that everything serves as our teacher. That everything is vibrating toward love and away from fear.
The darkness we see in the world today is a reflection of those areas where we are still holding fear. It is our job to do our spiritual work, find those places and bring them to Light. As we do this, we add a little more Light. We raise the vibration a little more, one by one. This is why love is so important. In the Bible it says: “we love, because God first loved us.” The writer’s thought is that God’s love is the source of our love; it is because of God that we are able to love at all and it is because of God that we are able to live and the possibility to wake up.
So my first observation of “An Awakened Heart in a Field of Possibility” looks something like this:
The Awakened Heart = Love
The Field = is you and me; right here, right now
The Possibility = God
As we move through this year, I invite you to take this journey with me. I invite you to think about it and talk to others about it. Tell me or email me your thoughts. And if you will join me on this journey, we will both grow, and help change the world.
In closing I chose the words of Rumi.
If you put your hands on this oar with me
they will never harm another, and they will come to find
they hold everything you want.
If put your hands on this oar with me, they would no longer lift anything
to your mouth that might wound your precious land—
that sacred earth that is
your body.
If you put your soul against this oar with me,
the power that made the universe will enter you
from a source not outside your limbs, but from a holy realm
that lives in us.
Exuberant is existence, time a husk.
When the moment cracks open, ecstasy leaps out and devours space;
love goes mad with the blessings, like my words give.
Why lay yourself on the torturer’s rack of the past and future?
The mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacities
will find no rest.
Be kind to yourself, dear—to our innocent follies.
Forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance.
You will come to see that all evolves us.
If you put your heart against the earth with me, in serving every creature,
our Beloved will enter you from our sacred realm
and we will be, we will be
so happy.
Peace and blessings this day,
Rev. Robert Mitchell
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