exist

"I live my life in the world of work and responsibility, but I exist in another place. In the world I live in I have to abide by "the rules of living." I have to "be nice," "say the right things," and "get along with the other kiddies in the sandbox." I have to be careful to use lots of smoke and mirrors when communicating so I don't expose the way to where I exist, where I truly am, my heart. Very, very few can be trusted, and even they will betray at some point. That place, where I am, as few as five people have ever been invited into it, and not one has seen all of it, but small and different parts. Living and working I have to do. What I think about it all is another sphere, the place where I am. And I can not risk allowing the worlds of living and working to ever find the way to my heart." -Any Pilgrim

How many know the "real you?" I bet the number is relatively small for most of us. Doubtless, parts of this quote strike most of us in that place where we live. We retreat into that place when we are wounded by the words and deeds of others. That place explodes out of us when we percieve injustice toward us or others. Its the mind and spirit of each one of us, the real us beyond the skin, tissue, and bone. Depending on what textbook we read, we learn that that person, whom we really are, is dual:

1. our mind-what we sense-taste, hear, touch, smell, see, our intellect, or how accurately we sense, what we think about it and

2. our emotion-how we react to what we sense, or how we feel about it all.

These two together make up what we call the "soul." But those textbooks miss something. Its the mark of the One Whose Idea we are. Its what puts us over and above any other thing that He created. Its called spirit. Its the part of Himself the Creator put inside every human that identifies us as being "made in His image and likeness." No other creation in the physical world contains this level of complexity, the very essence of the Creator. Understand, in the scientific world, we can percieve the glory of an Imminent Designer within the multi-faceted complexities of a living cell-that we cannot even see with our naked eyes. But the complexity of the spirit of man is something of an oddity, queer, even fantastic to that same scientific world. What science knows and understands of the spirit of man is akin to the widely held belief that the earth was flat before the likes of Cristobol Colon (Christopher Columbus) discovered what is called the New World. Men don't believe in that sort of thing. Its madness to us-the eternal part of a man-because we cannot experience it with our known senses. But it is there, nonetheless, whether we believe it or not; just as the world was round for all the aeons people spent balking at the idea.

That person who we are, the soul and spirit, make us resposible and eternal. That's heavy, brother, and one of the most popular reasons why the idea is so unpopular. We like being responsible to our own ideas as humankind. But when eternity is dropped in the mix, whatever intoxication there is in making up our own destiny drowns in the sobriety of the thought of something that summons hostility from within that duality of man. That something is eternal accountability. When we first begin to understand the eternal part of humankind, we immediately have to acknowledge something or Someone Who knows all about it. Then, a weasly, little, nerve-gnawing thing called accountibility rises to the surface of our reason, and it will not be passed over. Hence the phrase, "reality bites." Our minds and emotions are tripled with our spirits. Its that part of man, the spirit, that is supposed to keep the other two parts from completely taking over that place where we each truly exist, the real us.

This is the genuine "cosmic spiritual balance" religious seekers search for. Indiginous people all over the globe have a keen awareness and deeper understanding of the spiritual part of man, and the spirit world. Where these groups encounter the Judeo-Christian Gospel, they testify to the validity of the spirituality found in the Bible, as they find that "cosmic spiritual balance" in the study and practice of that book. More proof of the validity of the triality of man is the age-old conflict between these two ideas. Anti-religious groups tolerate and even validate "spiritual" practices among these indigenous people groups as long as they remain living the in the "natural, cultural" ways they have lived for thousands of years, albeit poverty-stricken and war-ridden. But Christian spiritual practices among these groups are railed against because they create changes in which the indigenous people groups throw away their old spiritual practices. They begin to exist in new ways that undeniably bring higher levels of physical and mental health, familial and tribal unity, and a prosperity never previously known to many of the groups. These anti-religious objectors do not object to the results, as many aim for similar results. They object to the way in which it comes-an accurate understanding of the "God-ness" of man.

Without answering to the "God-ness" in us, we are out of balance, and we start wars, over correct, become evil dictators, or we become overly passive, yielding to any and every force, allowing ourselves to become enslaved to Godlessness, begatting wimpy, foolish offspring. Either way we end up making a huge mess out of something the Creator purposed to be wonderful. More than that, those who refuse to acknowledge this "God-ness" in us also seek to destroy those who demonstrate such effective, dynamic faith. But, when we correctly engage that part of ourselves, we embrace the Creator's purpose in us. We do not have to hide our true selves from Him or manipulate others' perception of us. God knows the "real you" like none other (Psalm 139).

Where ever you are, take inventory. Be a student of everything your mind and emotions hold, and check them, put them in their places with the part of you that is from God Himself. It's the part that completes His recipe for existing. To do that, you must know Him in a personal way-start reading His Word, the Bible, beginning in the Gospel of John. As Christopher Columbus persuaded the Spanish Monarchy to believe the world was round, we must be persuaded of this: God has placed eternity in the heart of man. Each of us will give account, and we will live either in the Creator's presence or in His absence for eternity.