This week, we begin our study on Concentration (samādhi), this is the still, focused mind we develop through meditation and mindful living. It is the 4th of the 5 powers, and a strong tool in our awakening to God and things as they are.
Mindfulness develops Concentration, and Concentration causes us to experience the deep interconnectedness of all things and the basic joy and peace that is our natural state. In this state of Concentration, we are closest to the Holy Spirit, and are most capable of hearing the Still, Small Voice of God, our gentle and subtle Guide.
“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph 1: 15-17).”
A Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation of Christ
Wisdom is the gentle guidance of the Unseen, as well as deep understanding of our own interconnectedness. Revelation is the naked awareness of things as they are, when the veils are pulled back and we see things clearly.
What is it that we are trying to see?
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Colossians 1:15-20 (NASB)). ”
Christ Jesus is the creator of all things. From the laws of physics to the subtle energies of our psyche, all things were created through him and for him. He is the One holding all things together. Any and all experiences of the sublime interconnectedness and interbeing of all things is a direct experience of Christ.
Have you looked out at a starry night or the dawn breaking over a hill and felt this connection to all things? If you have, you experienced Christ. In meditation, and we focus our awareness, and the artificial walls drop away, and we feel ourselves connected to the cosmos in the place of peace and unity. That is an experience of Christ.
Through our Lord, all things are reconciled because on the cross, Jesus stood in the gap between life and death, faith and doubt, hope and fear. Choose any pair of opposites and you will find them in the crucifixion. But he did not just stand there, he transcended them all. In that singular moment of sacrifice, he demonstrated and conquered the strained duality of the world, and opened the way for the reconciliation of all things in him.
In our walk with God, we seek to live this wisdom, and behold this marvelous revelation that all things are interconnected.
This is the Gate to Zion
As we awake to this wisdom through these revelations of the interbeing of all things, we start to learn how to live in the kingdom. We see that how we treat everyone and everything has an effect on us. We stop living the lie of separateness.
Life in Zion is living in the revelation that we are all interconnected, and reconciling all things to the whole. This is the path of Peace and Compassion. This is the wellspring of Courage that can conquer all fear.
Sit, meditate. Focus on your breathing, and gently return your focus every time it wanders. Enter the Gate. Enter the peace that passes all understanding. Invite Christ into your heart, and live in his Sacred Heart. This is the path. This is Salvation. Not only for our souls, but for the whole world.
