From Richard Rohr’s meditation for April 1:
Understanding that our lives are not about us is the connection point with everything else. It lowers the mountains and fills in the valleys that we have created, as we gradually recognize that the myriad forms of life in the universe are merely parts of the one life that most of us call God. After such a discovery, we are grateful to be a part—and only a part! We do not have to figure it all out, straighten it all out, or even do it perfectly by ourselves. We do not have to be God. It is an enormous weight off our backs. All we have to do is participate!
My life is not about me. It is about God. It is about a willing participation in a larger mystery. At this time, we do this by not rejecting or running from what is happening but by accepting our current situation and asking God to be with us in it. Paul of Tarsus said it well: “The only thing that finally counts is not what human beings want or try to do, but the mercy of God” (Romans 9:16). Our lives are about allowing life to “be done unto us,” which is Mary’s prayer at the beginning and Jesus’ prayer at the end.
I am realizing that I have a lot of faith in what I call “the process.” It started with Kripalu giving us a mantra “I offer myself to this process.” I realized I could say that when I could not say “Thy will be done.” I know that our bodies know how to heal themselves, and our psyches do too. Unfortunately a lot of the wisdom of our psyche is messed up by dysfunctional thinking learned when we are young.
I love where he says “We do not have to figure it all out…” My training as the oldest child in an alcoholic family was that I was responsible for my younger siblings. I could not trust my parents to do the right thing. I felt absolutely alone with that responsibility, and I realize, every time I read something like that and relax, that it’s still my default setting.
Rabbi Jonathan Kroll, High School in NYC: “When you’re experiencing something challenging together,” he says, “that bond just feels like it’s been strengthened, not weakened, by the distance.” YES! Magazine
That has been my experience. Instead of a weirdo on the fringe with PTSD, I’m in the same boat with everyone on our planet.