"Favor and disgrace are equally problematic.
Hope and fear are phantoms of the body.
What does it mean that 'favor and disgrace
are equally problematic'?
Favor lifts you up; disgrace knocks you down.
Either one depends on the opinions of others and
causes you to depart from your center.
What does it mean that 'hope and fear are
phantoms of the body'?
When you regard your body as your self,
hope and fear have real power over you.
If you abandon the notion of body as self,
hope and fear cannot touch you.
Know the universe as your self, and
you can live absolutely anywhere in comfort.
Love the world as your self, and
you'll be able to care for it properly."
St. Paul says die to the flesh and live in the spirit; this is all well and good--but to be disabled in this world is to be defined by your flesh, by what your body can, and especially cannot, do. To be trapped between these two phantoms is to live in pain and terror.
Maybe that's why I sought the world as I did, I mean by traveling. To free my body so I could find my life in the spirit. Back again, I struggle with what I say, with what others say to me. I try to listen for God, but all I hear is the mocking voice of disgrace. It tries to feed me to the phantom of fear.
Hope holds them back, it's true, but then favor, that smug demon, smiling, dares my head, my self, to get too big.
In the center of myself, I am worthy--but to Whom? Only to Him Who was here before the world was made.
Hope and fear are phantoms of the body.
What does it mean that 'favor and disgrace
are equally problematic'?
Favor lifts you up; disgrace knocks you down.
Either one depends on the opinions of others and
causes you to depart from your center.
What does it mean that 'hope and fear are
phantoms of the body'?
When you regard your body as your self,
hope and fear have real power over you.
If you abandon the notion of body as self,
hope and fear cannot touch you.
Know the universe as your self, and
you can live absolutely anywhere in comfort.
Love the world as your self, and
you'll be able to care for it properly."
St. Paul says die to the flesh and live in the spirit; this is all well and good--but to be disabled in this world is to be defined by your flesh, by what your body can, and especially cannot, do. To be trapped between these two phantoms is to live in pain and terror.
Maybe that's why I sought the world as I did, I mean by traveling. To free my body so I could find my life in the spirit. Back again, I struggle with what I say, with what others say to me. I try to listen for God, but all I hear is the mocking voice of disgrace. It tries to feed me to the phantom of fear.
Hope holds them back, it's true, but then favor, that smug demon, smiling, dares my head, my self, to get too big.
In the center of myself, I am worthy--but to Whom? Only to Him Who was here before the world was made.
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