Lesson #135
If I defend myself I am attacked.
Who do you think you are? People are like onions with layer upon layer upon layer until you get right down to the heart of the person. When you get to the center, to the heart, who and what are you?
We come to realize that we are not our body, not our thoughts, not our feelings, not our personality, not our social status, not the various roles we play, so who are we? We are the witness, the watcher which can observe our bodies change, our thoughts and feelings change, our personality change, our social roles change, our social status change. We come to realize that, in fact, we are One with the Universe. We are part of the All. With this awareness we realize that we have nothing to defend, and if we do, we have been manipulated by an illusion that we are somebody in the ego world of separation.
In Alcoholic Anonymous, as we work the program and get to step eleven, we arrive at this conscious contact with the Transcendent Oneness and we stop talking and begin listening. We begin to listen for the whispers of God who now will lead us in our lives since our egos made such a mess of them in the ego world.
In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity does not come from our bodies, from our thoughts, from our feelings, from our personalities, from our social statuses, from our social roles. The key word in this principle is “inherent.” Our worth and dignity is something we are born with, something which is essential to our nature, and as such there is no need for any defense.
Today, we are asked to take fifteen minutes twice, and whenever throughout the day when we become defensive, and remind ourselves that if I defend myself I am attacked because I have forgotten what I really am.
My Kind Of Church Music
All That You Have Is Your Soul by Tracy Chapman
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