Inner Work

For the week of: July 26, 2004

A Sense of the Sacred

If the blinders suddenly dropped from our eyes, no doubt we would see ourselves surrounded by the sacred. An external approach to the sacred entails putting ourselves into places that remind us of what lies behind appearances. Nature, in all her wondrous manifestations, settles our mind and opens our heart to a sense of the sacred. Great art, certain paintings, sculptures, music, and literature, can communicate the sacred. Houses of worship, in their design and in their essential purpose, serve as repositories for the energy of countless prayers. Entering such a place subdues our ordinary concerns and invites our heart to allow the sacred in. Communal worship ceremonies, by intention, work to open us to the sacred.

But if we depend solely on external reminders, our sense of the sacred will remain all too limited. We already bear a seed of the sacred as our innermost core. The path of purification gradually clears the way for that sacred to emerge into consciousness. This does not simply mean seeing the world in all its vivid energy. Rather to see the world as holy ground upon which we are privileged to walk. Like Moses at the burning bush, we are commanded to remove our shoes, to set aside the defenses of egoism, and listen. We look to reconnect the external sacred with our internal sacred, closing the loop in our quintessentially human role.

For this week, be ready to open to the sacred, whether outwardly, inwardly, both, or beyond the distinction between outer and inner.

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