On Being Your Self

A tree gives glory to God simply by being a tree.

Thomas Merton

It is a certainty that if you cannot be fully present to another - that if you cannot be in full, open, and transparent dialogue - no transformation can occur in the relationship. And transformation is the only call of humans. This is the precondition that both mends brokenness and fosters life itself. Nobody experiences the later without entering it through the door of the former.

This authentic engagement is always packed with dynamism as we show up to one another, and is marked with mutuality, directness, and being fully present to the other. As this happens, a firestorm slowly ignites. It begins to burn up worn out words and cliches and slogans and expectations and rationalizations - the Ego. With full disclosure no graven image or notion of the other is left un-incinerated.

The most basic and necessary immolation in life is between oneself and God. In this God no longer exists as a thing, much less as a what. This transformation is where God comes to exist as I AM - pure being. It involves a terrible burning of idols.

This is the dynamic that happens in the opening salvo of infused contemplative prayer, instilling in the person great angst, since they no longer are able to compartmentalize God; their desires and abilty to define God evapourate.

But this is a great gain as God becomes no longer a what or a thing but as a fully present Who.