The answer to this question will then enable you to answer this question in Wayne Mueller’s book: HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE, KNOWING WE SHALL DIE. Once upon a time there was a very bad snow- storm in Denver And of course, all the flights were canceled, and the airport was filled with people who needed to get from here to there as quickly as possible. About 80% of the people, we’re simply accepting that this is the way it is and they were willing to be as patient as possible to find their next step. The other 20% of the people just couldn’t accept what was going on: THE DENVER AIRPORT AND THEREFORE THE PLANES HAD 3 feet of WET SLOPPY, HEAVY, SPRING snow and In order for everyone to survive, the flights were canceled. At one of the ticket counters, a man who had waited in line for two hours got to the front of the line and the airline agent said: “ how can I help you”? He said, “yes I need to get out of here within the hour”. She replied: “sir I will do my best to find a flight for you, but I don’t think it’s going to be within the next hour” He went on to tell her that he needed to be in Boston because of a very important meeting. She replied: “Sir I’m sorry but I will not be able to get you out of here in an hour, and I will do my best to find you a flight”. He puffed himself up and said to her: “Excuse me but do you know who I am”?. The airline agent who at this point was emotionally and physically exhausted, said to the man: “Just a moment sir” and she looked at the crowd of people and turned her microphone up so everybody could hear her. (The insistent man thought somehow, she must know who he is and was going to find an immediate flight) She said over the microphone so that everyone could hear: “excuse me ladies and gentlemen, this gentleman has just told me that he doesn’t know who he is…… I am asking you on his behalf: DO YOU KNOW WHO HE IS OR DOES HE BELONG TO YOU ? ~the question is for all of : do we know who we are??: Do we know that Each one of us, whether we are made of fur, fin, feather or skin, we are all made in the image and likeness of the DIVINE and heir to the kingdom of all good.?Do we really know who we are? In the movie THE LION KING, the main character, Simba, lost his father in a tragic accident. This story is an iconic story about how after tragedy occurs, we often leave the life we knew and live an alternative because the tragedy and the feelings that come as a result of the tragedy seem impossible to deal with and thus we forget who we were, who we are and who we are meant to be. Simba ran to a faraway land thinking he could leave his past behind him. Simba stays in this far away land and he grows into a fine young Lion, But he always hears this kind of deep inner knowing that somehow this was not what he was supposed to do. Then one night, he is listening for his ancestors in the stars as his dad had taught him to do His dad appears in the clouds and tells Simba, “Simba, you have forgotten me and you have forgotten who you are” “You are more than what you have become.: “Remember who you are. Simba realizes what he must do: he must return home because he is the one true king and his Dad lives on in him. I tell you these two stories for this reason: some people go to their deathbed not knowing who they are. Today as we explore this question, HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE, KNOWING WE SHALL DIE, I would say the only way to live is to live consciously, to live mindfully, Living Mindfully means to PAY ATTENTION, PAY ATTENTION TO WHO WE ARE. Pay attention to our own thoughts, feelings, dreams, our history, and what are own inner gifts are. What our Divinely inspired purpose is It helps to understand that we all have 2 aspects of our personality: the true self, and the false self. The true self can also be known as our inner knowing, a Divine inner voice that opens us to our truth. The other aspect within is a voice that is scared to death to show it’s truth to others for fear of rejection Perhaps there is no greater pain than the pain of not expressing who we truly are And how do we know what is true? I have a model that was popular in Unity circles in the 90s called the Four functions of consciousness. These are four ways of knowing ourselves and knowing what is ours: to do, to say and to be. These 4 ways are Thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting these 4 ways help us to connect with GOD, SELF AND OTHERS.
Thinking is the foundation of science, of Mathematics, AND other sciences. Thinking is about facts! We humans have tended to over-use the intellect, and to intellectualize everything that we experience. For example, if we feel sad we go in your heads and intellectualize about our sadness, berating ourselves for feeling sad. Our thinking nature will say “ it does not make sense to be sad, because there is nothing you can do about it anyway” .
our body generates emotions to help us understand and make sense of our world and what is happening and what we are experiencing. For example, Sadness is simply about loss and right now, there is so much sorrow in the world; so much loss, that a spiritually mature person will feel sadness when they look out into the world Many people in spiritual circles make the feelings of mad, sad and fear bad. These emotions are not bad; they give us information about what we authentically are experiencing.
Intuition is that deep level knowing. We can call it our INNER KNOWING VOICE OR JUST A DEEP INNER KNOWING. Our intuition may be a way to access the Divine Voice and is often thought of in the realm of Spirituality. The 4 functions of knowing relate to the 4 levels of intelligence IQ: thinking EQ: feeling PQ: has to do with our body and sense knowing SQ: intuition Our meditation today will be a way to use these for functions of knowing.. Closing our outer eyes let’s breathe into this truth that we are made in the image and likeness of God we are heir to the kingdom of all good allow the focus of your attention to go to a place deep within you to a place where you do know this. A place deep within our consciousness that has never been harmed and is vibrantly alive and well with the truth of who we are. From this place of deep knowing & deep awareness, we shall look at our path from 4 vantage points. Let us first look at our path from a feeling awareness. As you imagine your path stretching out from you, what feelings come to mind.? what feelings are there? Simply be present to the emotions and be willing to notice them . And now let us look at our path from the vantage point of sensing, or Body awareness, let our body feel the earth beneath our feet Imagining our feet connected to our unique and authentic path allowing our feet to tell us which way to go and then let us look at our path from the vantage point of facts and thoughts. Seeing our paths stretching forward from this moment what facts are coming forth from our thinking nature? Let us notice our thoughts one thought at a time, easily slowly . And then finally from the vantage point of our intuition which is a way of hearing our connection to the divine. What does our inner knowing tell us about our next steps on our path? Let us breathe into this moment and let us pause in the silence connecting to our inner knowing but also having access to our feelings and our thoughts and our body listening carefully for the still small voice that will show us in the silence we pause. deepening our breathing but allowing the focus of our attention to be in that center still point where we know we are one with God and from this place of deep awareness let us bring to mind a loved one who also has the ability to understand their own authentic path. and let us imagine sending this awareness to them so they receive it on a body level and a feeling level and a thinking level and also intuiting. Let us hold them in the vision of our heart breathing love to them and because we are all clearly connected, we sing once again, I AM AS GOD CREATED ME, IN the light in the love and the glory I am