January 10-B, 2023

We cannot come to ourselves
without leaving the culture behind.

The return to Eden meant death 
to those entering the Land of Promise.
That would be the death Jesus died
before his death on the cross--
the metaphorical/symbolic death
in Gethsemane,
with "Thy will, not mine, be done."

We, like Jesus, have to die
to all that stands between us and Eden,
home, the Promised Land,
oneness with That Which Has Always Been Called God.

The exit from Eden leads to Gethsemane,
which is the doorway back to Eden.
Living to ourselves
means dying to the culture--
to all the culture proclaims to be important,
to all the things Adam and Eve thought 
they were getting when they left Eden.

We have to die to all of that
in going back to Eden.

Start by cutting off your TV.
Engaging emptiness,
stillness
and silence.
Finding the balance point
among all aspects of life,
and living there,
bearing the pain
of the contradictions
and the bliss of the harmonies
and the rhapsodies.

Making the trade-offs,
saying "No!" 
to what needs to be "No!"
and saying "Yes!"
to what needs to be "Yes!"
no matter what
all our life long.

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