For a long time reverence was a word that had disappeared from my vocabulary and think it is safe to say that’s the case for most of the western world culture.
With one huge exception.
Reverence for $$$$$$, or what it can buy.
The mighty god, M&M, Money & Materials.
That which we devote the majority of our lives to working for. Time for money, time for money.
And this powerful lord of all things, is pretty attractive right. With it we get to buy all the things we’re being sold… Bigger house, better car, new shoes, the 4 weeks a year we get to holiday, on and on it goes.
Now Rich you’re not going off on one of those, money sucks and is the root of all evil diatribes are you?
Nah, way too many of those, and money is not evil, or even bad. It’s a wonderful tool.
But does it deserve the centre piece of our mantle place?
Shit no. As Jim Carrey said so wonderfully “I wish everyone could experience fame and fortune so they know it is not the answer.” Okay so let’s shelve the money thing and move on.
Reverence.
Where we look at something with deep respect. Something beyond ourselves.
What a beautiful word right.
To hold in reverence something greater than yourself.
To do this we have to momentarily diminish that “ol friend” ego and let it not be the centre of its made up universe.
A hard task for the ego mind. Mine was a beast to tame… forever at the centre of all things, the constant me, me, me. Like the old 80’s sales mantra “Whats in it for me” the station that most of us are perpetually tuned into.
So in order to truly hold reverence we have to park the car of the ego, get out and lock the door temporarily as we allow and surrender to the truth that we are not the centre of anything, yet at the same time the centre of all things (thats a whole other post) but for this purpose, we surrender to beauty, love, wisdom, great teachers/Gurus, nature, storms, the ocean and anything of nature can do the trick. A simple little flower that teaches us to let go and breathe.
In the western world where capitalism reigns, to do this can be exactly what we need, on a deeper level. Momentarily letting go of the madness of this super busy, hyped up world and just sit, revere and breathe.
Truly liberating moments.
Seeing a ray of light do its galactic dance, lighting up our world.
Oh such power. Asking nothing but giving everything.
These moments of reverence, lighten our sense of self, brings us into the moment. Energise us and liberate us temporarily from our confined minds eye.
I believe it also helps us to move forward in our own evolution. Since reconnecting to a spirit of surrender to the fact I am not the centre of the universe (ego) and reverting ancient wisdoms, elders, tribal societies, science and all its work, food, water, mother earth, the universe, energy, love, sex, life and all its beauty and darkness, life has been soooo much better.
Just getting out of our heads and connecting to our hearts with the above, oh how wondrous. Until the ego kicks back into gear… Drive down the freeway for a while again, then realise egos got the wheel, park the car, get out and practice reverence to life.
And if that is a struggle, revere the fact that you are standing on a blue planet, spiralling around the sun, in a cluster of other planets, in a cluster of galaxies in a vast universe permeated by fields of energy that we know very little to nothing off. Ah that will do it.
Related Tag: Brisbane Meditation Centre