In contemplating what I felt inspired to share with you in this final edition of RADICAL EXPRESSION for 2008, the name of the newsletter its self captured my attention and stimulated my imagination. It has always been my greatest desire and my most challenging obstacle to truly be radically expressed right here and now on planet earth. There it is; I shamelessly expose myself to all my readers, and I must say it is more liberating than embarrassing. Particularly in this season of Light, I recognize that for me it has been the embracing of the darkness that has led to my greatest experience of transcendence. No amount of parroting affirmations of Truth ever released me from the bondage of my own mis-perceptions. No amount of information ever saved me from the hell of my own imprinted self -opinions. Services, seminars, and a seeming endless array of reading materials may have pointed me in the right direction, but it wasn’t until I was willing to truly excavate the depths of my own despair that a transformation in consciousness began to slowly emerge. I had the desire to express radically, but I did not have the quality of inner atmosphere that could support such radiant living. I could put on my metaphysical happy-face, but in the darkness of night, I was still slowly dying from the tribal lies that held me bound in a trance of deep, often unconscious unworthiness.During this season of Advent in the Christian tradition, we are reminded of how the prophet Isaiah foretold of a “great Light that would enter the darkness.” This great Light was the promised Messiah, the redeemer of the lost souls caught in the trance of separation and despondency. The man Jesus, whose birth this tradition celebrates at this time of year, is said to be that very Messiah for those who believe in him and his example. Though I do not identify as a Christian, I do resonate with my own particular understanding of the example he came and shared. Isaiah and later John the Baptist were great and passionate prophets of this coming Light. John lived to meet and to baptize his cousin whom he saw as the embodiment of redemption. I most certainly celebrate the man Jesus as an example of this Light. I do not, however, stop there. The “great Light that was coming into darkness” is still and again the Light that enters that darkness of ignorance in each and every one of us. We are called to passionately prophesy, and then to embody this Light in our own earthly experience. Advent means “to come,” or “coming to.” It is the task of humanity, if you will, to come to our own intrinsic nature of Divine incarnations. We do this as we are able and willing, by right of consciousness, to enter our own darkness. It is on the other side of the darkness of unawareness that we each meet the Light of Truth, the Light of our very Being. As in the cases of Isaiah, John, and Jesus, this takes great passion. It takes a devotion to seeing through our individual and collective stories and myths. It requires vigilance, patience, compassion, and a radical commitment to transcending the past without attachment to a projected future. The embodiment of Light is certainly not the sole domain of Jesus or of Christian mythology. The Maccabees of old became these same qualities as they took back the temple from the Syrian army, leading to the miracle of Hanukkah. Their passion and faithfulness became the fortitude that beat the odds of their circumstances. The Light of Hanukkah is the same light that is of Christmas: it is the Light of Truth that burns brightly in every incarnated Soul.
While this is a time of rich and revealing symbolism, theory or concept does not transcendence make. Radical Expression is about becoming the Light: embodying It here in time and space reality. There is nothing conceptual about it. Light is not mental. It is experiential. It is transcendent, yet it is also imminent. While we are not the Source of Light, it is through us that it is seen and known in this world. That is the power of the examples of the Maccabees and of Jesus. They became the Truth in vibrant and living example. Light is indeed the redemption of the world, but it is not a Light that comes from someone else. It is our individual responsibility, privilege, and destiny to embody the One Light. For that we are born. That is the purpose of incarnation. We are each the Light of the world, and it is our mission to shine forth in splendor. Shining forth is the Essence of radical expression” EXPRESS I ON.
I am knowing for each of you a shining holi-day season, and a radically expressed new year. Shine on, dear friends. Shine on.
PLEASE SEE CALENDAR OF EVENTS ON TAYLOR LIVE
