Spiritual Poverty In The Physical World

If you as a contemplative have directly experienced God, then it is nothing to give yourself over to seeing the world through the eyes of those whom God loves through freely associating with them via voluntary poverty. A similar dynamic is required of you by each, namely, that you not get in the way. Money gets in the way. Salaries get in the way. Giving yourself fully out of compassion in this physical world permits you to serve without grantsmanship, external supports, regulations, relations, or external supports. Compassion means having your guts moved by another, setting your life on hold, learning to see the world through their eyes, and then meeting their needs on their terms; consider Christ...who did not grasp equality with God, but who humbled himself and took on the form of a slave. Consider, too, that in spite of how this may sound, it is by no means individualistic, but it is deeply personal and deeply interpersonal and community oriented, insofar as it cares intimately for others. Abandonment frees you to focus on service. Here there are no enculturated expectations. There is no need for money to work under rules, traditions, or customs. With voluntary poverty everything is direct. With voluntary povery everything is in plain sight. With the emptiness of voluntary poverty you have a way to navigate in this physical world even as you have expereinced direct access to God through spiritual poverty.