Recently I was taught in the most amazing way that spiritual growth is more about unlearning then learning. Jesus calls the experience being born again of spirit. It happened one morning when I was reading a good book in my backyard. I was just about to enter a section on meditation. I looked up away from the book to take a short break from reading. I noticed my cat sitting off in the distance watching some birds. Keep in mind my cat which was an indoor cat most of his life was now outside watching some birds in the distance. I was amused to see the excitement and curiosity in my cat’s eyes as he watched the birds. Suddenly truth hit me like a freight train. All those years of domestication had buried my cat’s instincts deep inside of him. My cat now identified himself with a safe, sedated life style indoors. As my cat was watching the birds I could see a sparkle of the instincts that were buried over time deep inside him. My cat knew that these weren’t just birds, he knew they were meant for something more then amusement. The picture became clear to me. My cat had become conformed to his world. Jesus said be in this world, but not of it. My cat was completely unaware that he had become of his world until the moment he stepped away from it and saw the birds in the back yard.
Now here is the lesson my cat taught me. Buried inside my cat are instincts, the instincts that God gave him. Let’s compare the differences between a wild cat and a domesticated cat. If my cat was not of his world or not a house cat here is how he’d see the birds. My cat would sit quietly in the still of the morning, his ears would be attuned to the tiniest sounds, his whiskers would pick up the slightest vibrations, he would position himself so the wind wouldn’t carry his scent, and he would use his incredible sense of smell, strength, speed, sharp teeth and claws to catch himself a meal. My cat was created with a purpose. As a domesticated house cat his gifts, tools and abilities are not being used for the purposes in which they were designed or intended. Jesus talks a little about this in the parable of the talents.
How do we find ourselves once again and live out the purpose for which God created us?
I must admit seeing this sparkle in my house cat’s eyes was a moment of bliss for me. I was so deeply put in touch with my own feelings that I sat there with tears in my eyes. As I too have recently stepped away from the noise. I too have had that tiny sparkle in my eye and have begun to tap into those instincts. This awakening has made me feel like a house cat dropped off in the desert. My hunger pains are growing stronger every day. Pain is driving those instincts out of me and teaching me to hunt meat. Today I am spending my mornings outside in the cool of the dawn with my cat and together we are exploring those instincts buried deep inside us. Over time without realizing it I conformed to a sedated lifestyle that prevented me from seeing what God desires to reveal in me. I have not just lived in this world, but slowly over the years become of this world. I have lost that childlike faith that enabled me to live in the moment. My senses are no longer what they were when I was a child experiencing and giving uninhibited love.
How will learning this lesson benefit the people around me?
Jesus said resist not evil. I recently learned that the word evil means to veil or hide. Everyday I come into contact with people who are down right blind or their vision has been blurred. I see people panic struck by the mountains life has placed in their path, people who don’t even have the faith of a mustard seed. I see people with so much to give and yet they don’t seem to know how special they are in my eyes. I see a small sparkle in the eyes of people who attend church, but even they don’t seem to understand the instincts that have been buried so deeply inside them. Religious institutions seem to only point out peoples’ flaws only further burying these instincts. The world is full of fear that breeds wars and further divides people. Religious denominations number in the thousands. Most churches see the church up the road as a competitor rather then a partner. Greed has further clouded people’s vision with unimaginable debts that require long hours away from their families. Jesus said He came to set the captives free and open the eyes of the blind. To be blind is to not have the ability to see something that was already right in front of us all along. Sin occurs in the battle we fight in order to keep these areas hidden. Sin is the lie that conceals the truth and prevents us from knowing God. Meditation is shining a light on these dark areas of our souls. Light uncovers already existent truth inside us. When we wake up God gives us the ability to wake other people up. We become lights inside the world.
I see hope in my own children. My children carry a childlike faith that is yet unharmed by the ways of the world. My children are not blinded. My two sons Noah and Elijah have a pureness that I can learn from. The church is wrong when it says that children are born sinners because the Bible doesn’t say this anywhere. Pastors use the verse that says “in sin my mother conceived me” and mistranslate this verse to support their agenda. This verse was talking about David’s mother not David. Like Adam and Eve our children our born perfect and later in life they choose to use the freewill that God gave them to sin. In fact Enoch in the Bible proves perfection is possible, but nobody chooses perfection. As the book of Romans says there is no good man, no not one. Jesus died for people who sin willfully; people who choose to live in sin and suffer grave consequences here on earth for their sin. My sons are only perfect in my eyes. My sons are not perfect and will more then likely fall big time at some point, but I will do my best to instruct them in an attempt to delay this fall. When my children fall I will be there for them and even be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to save them. If you have young children I recommend stepping away with your children and then take some pointers from the childlike faith that you observe. Your kids if still innocent can live freely in the moment. Your kids if conscious are not living in the past or distracted by future worries. Spending time with young children is a great way to unlearn or uncover the instincts buried deep inside of you.
Jesus knew what it took to remain perfectly separated from the ways of the world. Jesus stepped away from His apostles many times to be alone. Jesus even took a 40 day break from food and wandered in the desert. Today most people are always busy either working, or they are hypnotized by the glare of a TV or computer monitor. Some people are all caught up in politics, while others are all caught up in religion. Our dramatic media is always making things out to be worse then they are as they did with the recent swine flu out break. The media will use whatever drama it takes to grab peoples’ attention. If drama doesn’t work they will use sex and others things that will hypnotize people. Recently the economic collapse was more triggered by fear then reality. When people became afraid they stopped spending creating a huge drop in demand for products and fear alone literally caused mass layoffs and deepened the foreclosure crisis further. When the world is manipulating or hypnotizing us with sex or drama we are even less likely to take the time to meditate as Jesus did.
I am only beginning to discover all that God has for me and those around me.
