Four portals to transcendence
“An awake heart is like a sky that pours light.” ― Hafiz
The good news is you can use anything to find God. Beauty, art, even suffering offer portals to life’s transcendent moments.
The trick is to recognize that the Divinity we seek is within us. It’s within every person, within every situation. There are no exceptions to this rule.
The judging mind continually tells us something’s gotta change. This is wrong. You gotta do something and fast.
But when, as ACIM Lesson 225 tells us, we finally recognize the Divine in everything, it becomes obvious. And we wonder, “How could I not have seen it, this presence that permeates all things?” It’s conspicuously apparent.
In the meantime, here are my favorite portals, the ones I use most frequently to shut down the asshat in the brain that taunts and tempts me to believe in a hologram that it made up:
1. Meditation. Katy Perry, Hugh Jackman, Madonna, Clint Eastwood and Kristen Bell are just a few celebs who use meditation to find inner peace. (another synonym for God)
2. Nature. There’s reams of evidence that the simple act of going outside improves concentration, eliminates headaches, and even eases stress and depression. Tao Master Mantak Chia, who teaches his students to meditate with trees, says trees are natural processors for releasing negative energy. According to the Taoist viewpoint, trees, because they’ve been around for a while, grounded in one place, are able to transmute energy and absorb universal forces.
3. Creativity. When I’m immersed in writing or any other creative pursuit, time literally hangs suspended. At times, it evens feels like I’m touching the hem of the divine. People think they want to write a book or a movie because they want to be David Lynch or Joyce Carol Oates. They want to be interviewed by Oprah. But the real present under the creativity Christmas tree is that joy, serenity and peace become your most ordinary state of being.
4. Gratitude. Practicing gratitude, more than penciling a written list is to practice alchemy. Looking for the good in life literally changes things. Physically changes things. Financially changes things. Mentally and emotionally changes things. It literally rearranges atoms. Living on the frequency of joy and gratitude causes cataclysmic reverberations. It takes you straight to the Divine Buzz.
So doesn’t really matter which portal you use. I just find it comforting to know there are a gazillion paths to God.
Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.
