Matthew 7: The foundation of salivation

So earlier today, while getting my oil changed at my man Bob's #1 Stop, I picked up one of several bibles he has laying in the waiting area (he's big into Christ, pimping the Jesus fish on his ads). The one I chose was a weathered illustrated, almost pocket-sized edition. And I read Matthew Chapter 7. And then I reread it at home in my Recovery bible. I liked the King James better.

I'm sure upon deeper studying, I probably agreed with Matthew 7, I just don't like the tone of it. Frankly, I don't believe in a deity that judges. So the beginning verses, on the surface, really grate on me. But something tells me that all it's saying is to be careful . . . mindful of how I behave toward myself and toward others because karma's a bitch!

But later in the chapter, verses 20-24, I also take issue with the idea of following other Gods. Again, I think it's the verbage that gets me, not the idea. It's my belief that many teachers have been given to humanity, Jesus being one of the biggies, but not the Alpha and the Omega. Just in the 20th/21st centuries there's William James, Emmett Fox, T.S. Elliott, Bill Wilson, Carl Jung, Mother Theresa, Eckart Tolle (who I was introduced to in the era of B.O.-Before Oprah), Thich Nhat Hanh, Don Miguel Ruiz, Dan Millman, and so on. Are these people Gods? No, each of them offered their own experiences that illustrate the presence of something very holy within each of us. And maybe it's the ability or willingness or desire to live according to that unique and individual holiness that is the journey.

As I try to learn more through my own journey, I am seeing how vital it is that I not fall victim to the idea that salvation can be achieved. When, in fact, "salvation" is at hand, here, now, today, this second. But what's my usual reality? Not salvation, I can tell you that much. Usually it's living hell. When I judge, bitch, fight, worry, control, fear, fuck up, it's at those moments that I effectively block myself from what Bill Wilson calls "the sunlight of the Spirit." So it's easy to imagine the oodles of time I spend in the dark.

I believe it's this idea upon which my salvation rests. When I can be mindful of the journey and stop focusing on the destination ( or the answer or the why or the how), only then can my foundation be set on solid ground . . . and can I take in and appreciate the real authority of the teachers who have been placed in my path.