Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Radical Self

“Paradise is simply the person, the self, but the radical self in its uninhibited freedom.”

--Thomas Merton, from his journal Learning to Love (1966-67)


(Image: Avalokitesvara by Alex Grey)


The radical self lives in the world of material forms with all its pleasure, pain, and drudgery, while also being acutely aware of the divinity in each moment; that is to say, in constant prayer, contemplation, and renewal. The radical self feels the sensation of resistance [in life] intuitively like the gentle pressing of the back against the chair and leaning into it, knowing resistance, surrenders entirely. The radical self knows its bounds only in order to know no bounds. Life becomes a continuous free fall into the arms of Magnitude. The radical self hears itself lying and corrects the words spoken. It hears the gossip, distortion, complaint, or self-pity which is always in discourse with another person, and rings the bell...Ding! Slay the imposter! The radical self is watching every single event, experience, interaction and thought from a slight distance; from a few feet away in a quiet corner. The radical self is simply Love aware of itself. The fruit, seed and stem. The earth, rain, and sun. It accepts all questions as Mystery and all answers as Possibility. The radical self is the conduit of All-Life, like a live wire carries electricity and so becomes electric.

1 comment:

  1. and all the while, doing all of this, is quietly breathing in and breathing out.

    Thanks Amy x

    ReplyDelete