Passed along from our good friend, Dave Terry:
Imagine this scene if you will. Two babies are inutero, confined to the
wall of their mother's womb, and they are having a conversation. For the
sake of clarity we'll call these twins Ego and Spirit.
Spirit says to Ego, "I know you are going to find this difficult to
accept, but I truly believe there is life after birth."
Ego responds, "Don't be ridiculous. Look around you. This is all there
is. Why must you always be thinking about something beyond this reality?
Accept your lot in life. Make yourself comfortable and forget about all
of this life-after-birth nonsense."
Spirit quiets down for a while, but her inner voice won't allow her to
remain silent any longer. "Ego, now don't get mad, but I have something
else to say. I also believe that there is a Mother."
"A Mother!" Ego guffaws. "How can you be so absurd? You've never seen a
Mother. Why can't you accept that this is all there is? The idea of a
Mother is crazy. You are here alone with me. This is your reality. Now
grab hold of the cord. Go into your corner and stop being so silly.
Trust me, there is no Mother."
Spirit reluctantly stops her conversation with Ego, but her restlessness
soon gets the better of her. "Ego," she implores, "please listen without
rejecting my idea. Somehow I think those constant pressures we both
feel, those movements that make us so uncomfortable sometimes, that
continual repositioning and all of that closing in that seems to be
taking place as we keep growing, is getting us ready for a place of
glowing light, and we will experience it very soon."
"Now I know you are absolutely insane," replies Ego. "All you've ever
known is darkness. You've never seen light. How can you even contemplate such an idea? Those movements and pressures you feel are your reality. You are a distinct separate being. This is your journey. Darkness and pressures and a closed-in feeling is what life is all about. You'll have to fight it as long as you live. Now grab your cord and please stay still."
Spirit relaxes for a while, but finally she can contain herself no
longer. "Ego, I have only one more thing to say and then I'll never
bother you again."
"Go ahead," Ego responds impatiently.
"I believe all of these pressures and all of this discomfort is not only
going to bring us to a new celestial light, but when we experience it,
we are going to meet Mother face-to-face and know an ecstasy that is
beyond anything we have ever ex-perienced up until now."
"You really are crazy, Spirit. Now I'm truly convinced of it."
This story contains a central truth. We as persons get stuck, locked in,
and fixated on a certain point of view about real-ity, and we, like Ego,
have great difficulty developing an alternative reading of reality.
Spiritual transformation involves the capacity to face our confined
human perspective, to look beyond our limited experience, and often, to
transcend what our primary relationships have negatively taught us about
the world and about ourselves. We are invited to be like Spirit and to
expect and to seek out a new reality, a new creation, and Another whom
we have not yet encountered fully.
-- Wayne D. Dyer's adaptation of a story told by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Thank God that there is more than we know. And, knowing that there is more can free us from clinging so tightly to our methods of trying to survive in this world. What do we ultimately have to fear if nothing can stop us from truly being born?
...food for thought as we as we move on in getting free from the lies
of self-preservation.
