SEEING OURSELVES

“Unfortunately, in seeing ourselves as we truly are, not all that we see is beautiful and attractive. This is undoubtedly part of the reason we flee silence. We do not want to be confronted with our hypocrisy, our phoniness. We see how false and fragile is the false self we project. We have to go through this painful experience to come to our true self. It is a harrowing journey; a death to self – the false self – and no one wants to die. But it is the only path to life, to freedom, to peace, to true love. And it begins with silence. We cannot give ourselves in love if we do not know and possess ourselves. This is the great value of silence. It is the pathway to all we truly want.” M. Basil Pennington (1931-2005)

I know in my own life, and I suppose in the life of others, the distraction by intentional noise and gadgets (cell phones, etc.,) keeps us busy enough not to have to look very carefully at our inner selves. It really is a feeding of the false self in fear of finding the true self.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus