There once was a man who, like his brothers and sisters, obeyed and worshiped, attended and submitted, believed and confessed as a part of Christianity and the Church, and all seemed to be well. But as he grew older, his darkness and suffering increased to the point where he realized that he urgently needed to discover the unifying Reality concealed behind all images, all philosophies, all religions, all theologies, all spiritualities, all institutions and organizations. He had to find the Hidden behind all things. He had to discover the Mystery behind the manifestations. He had to not only discover but understand for himself. Although he still found himself a part of Christianity and the Church, he began to see that it was partial and not whole. Although it was his home, he knew, deep down, that it was just a fragment of the greater whole. There seemed to be something profound, an Ultimate Source, a Ground of Being, that was beyond and before all this. This journey began so many years ago. But in a flash of an instant he realized that he had passed all the all the churches, all the denominations, all the religions, all the theologies, all the philosophies, and all the various gods and non-gods. He finally found himself in a joyful and peaceful place where all religions are quieted, where all attachments are consummated, where all worship ceases, where all desire ends, where prayer becomes silent, where the separate soul is purified by death, where true freedom emerges, where life in love is the air that is breathed, and where all is One.
(Inspired in a small part by a poem of Krishnamurti).
The painting is one I did years ago, watercolor, 20″x30″ (50cm x 76cm), called “Tide Pools”, on the southern shore of Prince Edward Island, Canada. SOLD.
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
David Hayward is an artist trapped in a pastor's body, stripping to the essential.
Oh, that’s a lovely painting! Very calming.
So who’s the man? Is it you or or is it supposed to be us?
Interesting writing…..After I read it, I thought of Jesus’ words: ” I am the way, the truth and the life….”
After I read it, I thought,’I was at that point when I was a child, but everyone told me I was wrong.’ I felt I was a natural born Hindu, though I didn’t believe in cast or karma. You feel as though you’re carrying a whole universe inside you, but you have to hide it.
‘Desire ends’? ‘Purified by death’? ‘True freedom’?…. ? I would really like to smoke what he was smoking when he wrote it… it’s an illusion.
It’s funny… isn’t it just what the world wants us to believe… that you are free without God. Have you seen the destruction that ‘freedom’ can bring? If you have no one to answer to, but yourself? What is a human being without desire? It’s like saying we don’t have heart?
A summation of my journey this whole past year.
The anger is causes in people is impressive and scary. The freedom inside is worth it.
<3
@ Savvy or maybe its Passion?
Kaalvoet-Kind – who said anything about being free without God?
It’s being free from all descriptions of god. All descriptions are illusions and most are simply descriptions of ourselves.
You call it deconstruction – I call it the apophatic way.
Kaalvoet-Kind, I think Krishnamurti meant non-attachment to desires. Personally, I like being passionate, but it can get me into trouble. People in India tend to be very exciteable; it’s a bit different to telling a bunch of English people, say, to be less emotional.
Have I misinterpreted this post?
I had a discussion with a friend yesterday (still very fresh in my mind) that told me he thinks that all religions lead to salvation in the end. He doesn’t disregard Christianity in total, but he said that he believes in the ‘Cosmos’ not in Jesus as our saviour and told me he has never experienced true freedom until now…
To me: Jesus is our saviour and the only why to find “where all is One”, is through Him. You must have a hungry heart. Like Augustine said ‘Longing is the hearts treasury”. In His own words: “blessed are those who hunger and thirst’ I don’t feel that one can disregard ‘all images, all philosophies, all religions, all theologies, all spiritualities, all institutions and organizations” Jesus showed us the way though His church and through communion with others.
I do not desire to be free of worship or prayer, (there can be no true praying without desire), but I do desire to be free IN God. I do not desire, solitude and loneliness. I desire to be fully alive, I desire to be fully awake, I desire to find the adventure of the life that God intended me to live. Here, now, in this world, where I was placed by Him ! “We are never living, but always hoping to live.” Jesus’ wish was the we (His church) must become ONE with His Father like They are One, so that the world can believe, did He not?