God’s Major Revelations - Paragraph 2 and 3
We’ve yet to get to the major revelations Roberts has promised us as she yet has a few last words on revelation. She’ll also have a few things to say in the next short subsection titled Foundation of all Revelation, before properly moving into the major revelations. In the meantime here are the last two paragraphs in this section titled God’s Major Revelations:
“The problem of putting any revelation into words is that it tends to concretizing the ineffable and make into a concept what, in Itself, is non-conceptual. But this is the risk everyone takes who writes on spiritual subjects. I believe, however, that everyone has in themselves a “truth sensor” able to detect truth beyond mere words and concepts. Also, in going through these revelations, keep in mind the focus is not on the experiencer (who could be anybody) or the experience itself (which comes and goes), rather, the focus is solely on “That” which is revealed.
A final note. Despite the successive nature of revelation, no revelation cancels out a previous one. To the contrary, each successive revelation expands the previous one. Thus no authentic revelation is ever nullified or superseded, each is the Truth of God.”
Before we get underway today a reminder concerning the blog’s format. If you remember, we are using a form of Lectio Devina as practiced by Jim Finley, which is to read slowly and respond to three questions. The first is how have I or how am I understanding or experiencing the words? The second is what are the words asking of me? And the third is how is staying true to that asking going? With this in mind let’s unpack our text.
There were three phrases that caught my attention today. The first is this idea of “concretizing the ineffable”, the second is the idea of a “truth sensor”, and lastly the admonition to focus on what was revealed. As to “concretizing the ineffable”, God is not a concept. Roberts has reiterated this repeatedly as well as many other spiritual masters from all the great traditions. Many of us have heard the phrase “the finger pointing to the moon” and understand how easy it is to get caught up in the finger while forgetting the moon. That we can relate to God without concepts, purely from experience, is a long process of surrender and letting go.
The next idea Roberts mentions is that we all have a “truth sensor.” I can not express how much I agree with this statement. This sensor is often buried or out of use, but nevertheless, with practice, everyone can know the truth and The Truth. We’ve all had experiences of this where one day you just know something about yourself that you did not know before. The reason we couldn’t see it before now could be for many reasons, but the undeniable truth is that one day you wake up and say “I’m ________.” There’s no questioning that you just know it!
The last thing that caught my attention is this idea that we should focus on what was revealed, not who received it (the experiencer) nor the actual experience. Roberts says we should focus on “”That” which” was revealed. My question here is what does she mean by “That”? I get a sense that it does not mean focus on God as that leads back to concepts. Instead the focus or attention should be on the revelation. I can see the wisdom in this suggestion as it points us towards where the change really needs to happen….in us.
Let’s look at a simple example. As an Enneagram Nine my default is to “go along to get along,” which felt like the correct way to move through the world. Once I saw (revelation) how harmful this behavior was to myself and others I could then make informed changes to this behavior. Focusing on the revelation provided the stimulus for change, I could apply logic to the situation. I could actually ask myself throughout the day “in this situation am I going along to get along?” Sometimes the answer was yes, and sometimes it was no. If yes then I could process within myself what was actually going on to cause me to continue the behavior.
Now I know this isn’t exactly the kind of revelation Roberts is speaking of, but revelation is revelation. It is on a continuum. As I work with the text today what I am struck with is yes, indeed, there is a “truth sensor” within. It is my job to exercise it, build a capacity to know the truth for myself. This can be a simpler truth about my own personhood or a revelation that unveils deeper truths concerning Reality. Either way it is my responsibility to be responsible for what I know to be true.
The question you may ask is how does one build such a capacity? One way is through practices, meditative and inquiry practices for instance, but also through trial and error. There is no better way to find the truth than blunder upon it. Our society doesn’t reward or recognize such a method, but trial and error takes a certain fortitude and courage that is particularly underrated by today’s standards. There is a certain joy in trial and error, even a certain playfulness. Jesus said we must be like children, who seem impervious to results. May you be full of joy today!
