Inner Resources
Inner Resources
Monday of the Second Week of Lent - March 9, 2020
We all carry within us inner resources we have turned away from or that we do not yet know. A part of the spiritual journey is discovering these hidden, undeveloped resources lying latent within us.
I find that most persons distrust their own inner resource to a great degree. We may trust someone else’s inner resources, but we can’t bring ourselves to trust our own. We cannot believe, at a deep, inner level, that we could really be entrusted with the precious treasure of God’s life within us.
Elizabeth O’Connor uses a descriptive image for this distrust. First, she affirms the transforming power welling up from within us like “springs of living water.” But then, she says we spend our time “off drinking at wells that serve for a time, but leave us anxious because we so quickly thirst again.” These other wells may satisfy us for a time, but ultimately they leave us thirsty . . .until we learn to drink the springs of living water within us.
This is how she says it:
This being present to another is not something that can be willed. It comes as we experience what it means to be present to ourselves. The essence of it is contained in the scripture: “The kingdom of heaven is within.” The transforming power wells up from within – “For my gift will become a spring in the man himself . . .” (Jn. 4). So much of the threat we know comes because we do not really believe this, and are off drinking at wells that serve for a time, but leave us anxious because we so quickly thirst again. And yet the way that leads to loss of real self is the one that most of us are traveling. And Jesus, always the realist, knows this and issues grave warning. “The gate that leads to life is small and the road is narrow, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7:14).
Often we are not even aware that there are two ways. I can write a book which will employ the tools of the craft to create interest. Its observations will be accurate and properly documented. It will be orderly in design and communicate a message. In the world of books it may even for a season find a place. But there is another way to write a book. There is a book which can come out of the depths of one’s self, so that the ordinary is transcended and one is surrendered to the creative force that moves through all things. If I write the first book, I must consider its timeliness, and how many books have been written on the subject, and all that it is proper to weigh when one is competing in a competitive market. If I write the second, I do not have to be concerned about these things or fear that what I do will be outdated. It may be on a subject used a hundred times, but it will be a subject made new. The book will have individuality as a person has individuality.
[Elizabeth O’Connor, Journey Inward, Journey Outward. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1968.]
For Reflection:
o How do you feel when you read about your own inner resources? Do you believe this could be true? If you resist this idea, can you identify where the resistance within you comes from?
o Each person experiences moments of transcendence, when one is present to one’s self, others, and to God. Most often these are fleeting moments, fluttering past us as a butterfly that we may not grasp, but must kiss as it passes.
o I often miss these moments as they happen. When I reflect back, I may see them in hindsight. If I can develop a pattern of noticing these moments in hindsight, at some point I’ll begin to see them as they happen. At that point, I will be “in the moment.”
Monday of the Second Week of Lent - March 9, 2020
We all carry within us inner resources we have turned away from or that we do not yet know. A part of the spiritual journey is discovering these hidden, undeveloped resources lying latent within us.
I find that most persons distrust their own inner resource to a great degree. We may trust someone else’s inner resources, but we can’t bring ourselves to trust our own. We cannot believe, at a deep, inner level, that we could really be entrusted with the precious treasure of God’s life within us.
Elizabeth O’Connor uses a descriptive image for this distrust. First, she affirms the transforming power welling up from within us like “springs of living water.” But then, she says we spend our time “off drinking at wells that serve for a time, but leave us anxious because we so quickly thirst again.” These other wells may satisfy us for a time, but ultimately they leave us thirsty . . .until we learn to drink the springs of living water within us.
This is how she says it:
This being present to another is not something that can be willed. It comes as we experience what it means to be present to ourselves. The essence of it is contained in the scripture: “The kingdom of heaven is within.” The transforming power wells up from within – “For my gift will become a spring in the man himself . . .” (Jn. 4). So much of the threat we know comes because we do not really believe this, and are off drinking at wells that serve for a time, but leave us anxious because we so quickly thirst again. And yet the way that leads to loss of real self is the one that most of us are traveling. And Jesus, always the realist, knows this and issues grave warning. “The gate that leads to life is small and the road is narrow, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7:14).
Often we are not even aware that there are two ways. I can write a book which will employ the tools of the craft to create interest. Its observations will be accurate and properly documented. It will be orderly in design and communicate a message. In the world of books it may even for a season find a place. But there is another way to write a book. There is a book which can come out of the depths of one’s self, so that the ordinary is transcended and one is surrendered to the creative force that moves through all things. If I write the first book, I must consider its timeliness, and how many books have been written on the subject, and all that it is proper to weigh when one is competing in a competitive market. If I write the second, I do not have to be concerned about these things or fear that what I do will be outdated. It may be on a subject used a hundred times, but it will be a subject made new. The book will have individuality as a person has individuality.
[Elizabeth O’Connor, Journey Inward, Journey Outward. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1968.]
For Reflection:
o How do you feel when you read about your own inner resources? Do you believe this could be true? If you resist this idea, can you identify where the resistance within you comes from?
o Each person experiences moments of transcendence, when one is present to one’s self, others, and to God. Most often these are fleeting moments, fluttering past us as a butterfly that we may not grasp, but must kiss as it passes.
o I often miss these moments as they happen. When I reflect back, I may see them in hindsight. If I can develop a pattern of noticing these moments in hindsight, at some point I’ll begin to see them as they happen. At that point, I will be “in the moment.”
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