People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. Carl Jung
One of the most harmful and yet least examined impulses of human nature is that of judgement. In silent milliseconds, we can observe a fellow human being and decide if he is worthy or unworthy, right or wrong, good or bad.
And with that judgement, just as quietly but more deadly, we condemn. We From our judge’s chair while draped in our robes of black, we pass one of the many sentences available to us in our play book.
Rather than turn the other cheek, we turn our back. Rather than go the extra mile, we force them to. We hurl insults. We raise our hands in obscene gestures. We steal back what is supposedly ours. We open the floodgates of rage into our hearts and with our minds we justify the mental, verbal, emotional, and physical abuse that we heap on our accused.
And as we pass judgement and condemnation on the other, we silently and often unknowingly hold up our get-out-of-jail-free card – the one we earned by being right, righteous, good, better. We choose to be our own judge, and we always find ourselves innocent.
At stake here is not who is right and who is wrong. What is at stake is you – your state of being. The desire to set the world right is a God-given desire implanted in us. It is etched in the imago dei of our souls.
But the fulfillment of that holy desire does not and cannot come from judgement. Judgement arises from egoistic pride, arrogance, entitlement, and a withering connection to the sacred.
It is time to bring the oft-overlooked act of judgement into the light and let it be judged for what it is. It is time to acknowledge and take the beam out of our own eye. The good news is that we have a Judge who is willing to both forgive us and to teach us his way of forgiveness – freeing us to walk this earth in peace and love.
To err is human, to forgive divine.
Source Scripture
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Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
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Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. Carl Jung
There are moments in our lives when something strikes us with such resonance that it transforms us.
When Albert Einstein was five years old, sick, and lying in bed, his father handed him a compass. He became fascinated by the needle’s ability to always point north, no matter how he rotated it. He called it a “wonder” and later in life said this experience made a deep and lasting impression upon me. Something deeply hidden had to be behind things.
And what do we see Einstein growing up to do? Searching for the hidden forces at work in our universe.
As above, so below.
There are hidden forces at work in you, too. Deep down in your soul. And Awestruck‘s aim is to lead you on a journey to the center of you to discover those forces.
In this episode, we will review the hidden forces explored in episodes 8-13 and get a sneak preview of what’s ahead. And, you’ll also get the answer to these questions from listeners…
- Why do you use Scripture as your source?
- Why is this podcast called Awestruck again?
- What is all this soul-centering talk?
Looks like we’ve got a lot to cover, so grab your compass and let’s get started.
Source Scripture
The Birth of Grace: Luke 2:1-7
Treasuring: Luke 2:8-20
Expose’: Luke 2:21-40
When You See It: Matthew 2:1-12
How Far Will You Go?: Matthew 2:13-18
Nothing is Everything: Matthew 2:19-23
Connect
Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. Albert Schweitzer
Kindness is a divine force that moves people. Grace, a radical form of kindness, transforms.
Formally defined, kindness is intentional goodwill freely offered to another without an expectation of reciprocity. Grace is the demonstration of unmerited kindness, often in such a way that it involves great risk or is offered to someone undeserving.
The ego-centered life wrestles with kindness. It is cautious, determined to seek a return on its investment – if not from the recipient, then from a tax deduction or boost in reputation or the like.
The ego even has trouble with receiving kindness, because it lives in suspicion of its obligations to return the favor. Each ego fears the expectations of the other.
And if kindness is rare, grace is impossible to the ego, because it sees no opportunity for return at all. To the ego, grace is nonsensical madness.
The soul-centered life thrives on grace because it is a natural tributary of the river of divine presence that flows from the God of the Universe through us and outward to others.
Today we will see multiple examples of amazing grace that invite us not only to observe, but to participate.
Source Scripture
The Birth of Grace: Luke 2:1-7
Connect
Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras