The Daily Meditation 05.04.2013

Quiet Moments Of Introspection

Keith Auger

In those quiet moments of introspection when I have the awareness to interrupt the habit energies that blindly drive my moment to moment life, I realize at some deeper level that there is more, that I am more, that the discontent and discomfort and discouragement that I often feel, seemingly without reason, is in truth the pull of a higher state of being, beckoning me to step into the more that I am, the more that we all are. At such times I am reminded of St. Augustine’s lament, “Thou hast made us for thyself, oh God, and our hearts are restless ‘til we find ourselves in thee.” Dante called it “divine discontent” and recognized it as the call to step into the more that is already in us. And as I know that these moments of insight and realization are true for me, I know that they are true for all living beings, that we are all fellow travelers on this journey that is life, that we all feel the pull of the more that we are, calling us to accept the divine inheritance that was ours before time began.

Knowing this awakens and alerts me to the more of life, to the realization that I, that all of us, have the ability to step into the more that we already are, to put the lesser self aside, to accept the gift already given. Just as the acorn can become the oak tree because the oak tree is already in the acorn, so can we become the spiritual beings we already are because that nature is already in us, our original blessing. And so in this moment of realization of my true nature, of the true nature of all living beings, I resolve to respond to call to step into the more that I already am, to the more that each of us already is. I resolve to recognize the little slings and arrows and discontents of life as the call to a higher way of being, as a reminder that I am once again being offered the gift already given. And I accept, knowing that the way to show appreciation for a great gift is to use it fully.

I give thanks for knowing the true nature of my being and the being of all others, and I accept the little discontents and distractions of daily life as the call to step into the more that I already am, knowing that it would be impossible to aspire to the more unless the more were not already present. And so it is with a grateful heart that I release these words to the law, knowing that it is already so.

Keith Auger is a congregant and member of the Rio Grande Center For Spiritual Living, Albuquerque, New Mexico