Ever Deepening Spontaneous Epiphanies
I was touched by Charles’ reply to my previous post. Yes, the faith journey of the soul consists of an ever deepening series of spontaneous epiphanies. They come unexpected, seemingly unconnected to one’s work on the path of self-purification, and yet are a direct or indirect response to one’s deep work. Each one takes me the journeyer deeper into the mystery of Life. Places beyond words. Places the mystics and saints of old have traveled before me.
As Charles said, experiencing these spontaneous epiphanies increases one’s faith. With each epiphany I am no longer the same person. I am a new creation. Once more, perhaps, “born again.” I am not clutching as much to the “safety” of the shore but rather surrendered to the deep magical Mystery of the Stream of Life. The Stream within. Less and less can be spoken of in words, and yet the profoundness of the experience of life deepens. And life, my life, unfolds, joining the lives of all others in the unfolding Plan of Salvation, all by the grace of God.
I delight in splashing around in these new waters. The freedom is palpable, and brings with it the Joy of Living. To this experience I choose to say YES to Life, YES to God.
These longed for but unexpected moments of grace become the visible stepping stones of my life. And I see that many of them go by unrecognized. What a pity. They are so packed with the energy of life, so full of Grace. I pray that I may I be open to experiencing all of life this way — a series of ever-deepening spontaneous epiphanies. Because in truth, this is what Life is! Thanks, Charles, for helping me to see this more deeply.
And as Charles points out, these epiphanies come with the hurdles and pains of life as well. And sometimes the hurdles and pains are needed for our growth, but again I know I have not always recognized the hurdles or pains on the path to greater maturity as necessary to get my attention or wake me up. Rather I saw them as problems to solve or deficiencies to fix. No, Gary, just live into them and see what growth they offer as they resolve.
And what are your epiphanies, and hurdles, of your faith journey thus far? I’d love to hear about them. Perhaps we can encourage and inspire each other. Reminds me of a favorite quote by Douglas Steer: “To ‘listen’ another’s soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.” Think of a community where we do that for each other. As Pat says, a place where we sit like two monkeys side-by-side picking out each other’s nits.