Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love a cow - for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not rightly love God, when they love Him for their own advantage. ― Meister Eckhart
The white hart in Potter's drawing brings life-giving waters. In the same way, having someone to love and having someone who loves us also gives life. Yet the mythical white hart was said to appear when a sacred code was broken and consequently ushered in spiritual change. As Eckhart expressed so well, sometimes human love can become a brokerage, a service rendered for an expected return. That motive is what adds salt to pure water, making it impossible for it to nourish and sustain anyone. The rune poem of Ash/Aesc describes a wood that is admired for its ability to endure and protect. Love is not self-seeking; like Aesc, it seeks to offer help rather than milk the cow.
I often wonder about those thousands that attend service every Sunday morning and what they are seeking. I wonder what the get from it. lots of them bustle in at the last moment before the service begins and then rush out the door and arrogantly run rough-shod over others when out the door and through their week?
ReplyDeletePerhaps they seek what Eckhart alluded to: security, comfort and profit for themselves. Fundamentalists of any stripe seem to do it best.
Deletewell said. another riff on Carolyn's post this morning, leashed ego or ego out of control.and what that actually leaves us holding.
ReplyDeleteA less self-absorbed version of a human, perhaps.
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