Crossing the Truth | Greenlights

God, when I cross the truth give me
the awareness to receive it
the consciousness to recognise it
the presence to personalize it
and the courage to live it

First, we have to put ourselves in the place to receive the truth. This noisy world we live in, with its commitments, deadlines, fix thises, do thats, and expectations make it hard to get clarity and peace of mind. So we have to consciously put ourselves in a place to receive that clarity. Whether that’s prayer, meditation, a walkabout, being in right company, a road trip, whatever it is for each of us.

Then, if after we've put ourselves in this place to listen to the gospel and hear their music, we then have to be aware enough to receive it, and conscious enough to recognise it. It will arrive nameless because it is clear, omnipresent, unanimous, and infinite. It usually lands like a butterfly, quick and quiet. When we let it in, it needs no introduction.

Then the relationship can begin, and we need the presence to personalize it. This is where the anonymous truth gets intimate, and becomes autonomous. We ask our self what it means, how it's unique to us, and why it's here now.

Then comes a harder part, having the patience to preserve it - getting it from our intellect, into our bones, soul and instinct. We must pay attention to it, concentrate on it, keep it lit, and not let it flutter away. This takes commitment, time and 'tendence.

If we make it this far, after we've put ourselves in the right place to receive the truth, recognise it as such, made it our own, and preserved it, then comes the coup de grâce ...

Having the courage to live it. To actually walk away from that place where it found us, take that truth with us into the screaming arena of our daily lives, practice it, and make it an active part of who we are.

If we can do that, then we have what I believe is Heaven on Earth, where what we want is what we need and what we need is what we want.

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[ from "Greenlights" by Mathew McCounaughey, 2020 ]