Revelation - Paragraph 1
Roberts continues …
“Revelation
“Revelation” is central to our thesis. Because I have much to say about it, I will leave its major characteristics for an appendix and only give its barest definition here. The dictionary defines revelation in broad terms as: a disclosure to man of something he did not previously know. But since this could apply to anything man has yet to learn, it will not do for our purposes. My use of the term “revelation” is restricted to a firsthand “seeing” or “knowing” God.
By “seeing” we do not mean sensory or visual sight, and by “knowing” we do not refer to any mental faculty. Rather, it is God’s gratuitous disclosure of Himself to man as opposed to any truth man can come upon, see or know, on his own. Revelation is thus a key experiential knowledge not otherwise accessible to human experience. (I exclude from authentic revelation any kind of paranormal experience - visions, voices, all such phenomena). It is also the disclosure of Truth, a Truth not merely for the individual recipient, but a universal Truth for all peoples of all times. It is because what is revealed is “Truth” (another term for “God”) it is continuously repeated down the ages as part and parcel of man’s journey. It is a mistake to think God has only revealed Himself to a few privileged people in a bygone era. On the contrary, God reveals Himself to everyone past and present.”
After defining the word revelation in our last blog it’s nice to know that Robert’s definition of the word is similar to what we came up with, knowing something you did not know before, even though she goes on to say this definition is too broad for what she is meaning by the word. Her use of the word in the context of this essay is related to what she calls a firsthand seeing or knowing as it pertains to this thing we call God and, if that is not tricky enough, she goes on to say she is not talking about seeing with our eyes or knowing with our usual mental capacity. Bernadette, I doubt if you are making any friends here by nullifying the ways most people gather information, firsthand or otherwise.
For Roberts revelation is a “key experiential knowledge” that is inaccessible to our usual ways of knowing and perceiving. As I sit with this idea of experiential knowledge and ask myself the first of our three questions, “how am I understanding and/or experiencing this text”, a couple thoughts emerge. First, it is clear she understands that revelation comes through our human experience just formatted differently than we are used to. Second, it is a “gratuitous disclosure” of some sort, and, third, what is understood with a revelation is something that is universal to all people.
I’m not sure how to say that I fathom what Roberts is talking about even though I will try, though it’s likely I will mangle what it is I fathom. As to the first point, revelation comes through our experience just formatted differently. I might explain this idea of differently as knowledge that comes from other than the fixated mind. To believe you have a fixated mind and that you can relax out of it only comes about with practice. Two such practices that help with the mind are meditation and some form of surrender. Surrender to what is present in each moment. Much could be and, in fact, has been said about these two practices so for now we will just leave it at that.
With a non-fixated mind it is possible to perceive Reality in a more mind-heart or perhaps heart-mind configuration. In other words, it is not the mind alone chattering about what needs to be done nor is it the emotions wishing, perhaps insisting, they have the last say. When these two faculties are overly fixated, mind and emotion, we often feel powerless. But when we can meet a situation configured in this new heart-mind way we find true freedom. We are able to stand upon the middle ground and see clearly what is needed without either the chatter or emotionality clouding our vision. Much work is needed on ourselves to get to such a compassionate configuration.
This brings us to the next point that some gratuitous disclosure is offered. I find this gratuitous disclosure is other than my self and the disclosure propels me towards itself. Along with the disclosure an insatiable desire has opened within. It is unexplainable even though you know it is true. has happened. This longing propels one forward without any real effort besides the commitment to the practices that best align with the possibility for disclosure. The longing can feel like a fire and walking towards a fire can be quite disconcerting. Moses did it though. He had to learn to take off his shoes in the proces to quit trampling the holy. I’m beginning to really understand this now, that all of life is holy, everything and everyone. This means that I spend most of my days learning to take off my shoes; I so easily forget the holiness of each moment.
Lastly, Roberts says that revelation is something universal. It seems that as I learn what is true at the micro level it is also true at the macro level. For instance, when I become aware of some newly discovered trampling I’m doing it is never just about my trampling, it is about how my actions hurt others, which is to say the whole. It never dawned on my before that I was trampling the whole. Simply put, at the end of the day it really does seem to be all about love. An easy way to check how I am doing on this front is that if I am unable to love at any given moment then there is trampling going on. The next step then becomes to investigate my shoes and remove them. Removing shoes has become a way of life. So has relaxing into a heart-mind aimed towards love. There are plenty of shoes left in the closet waiting for recycling. It is enough to get rid of today’s pair!
