Michelangelo’s David: The Self Unveiled
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there; I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” Michelangelo
I’ve been playing with this metaphor for personal and spiritual transformation for a couple of weeks now. Michelangelo’s process of sculpting the figure of David, is a powerful template for our own development. What is key to me is the idea that as we each chip-away, heal, transform, or simply let go of all that we are not, our core authentic Self will be unveiled. Our Spiritual Identity, like David within the block, is already complete; our task is to allow it to show forth. In order to unveil this Self, we must chip-away all of our divisive, judgmental beliefs and perceptions. The One Self we share is complete and secure. Nothing can be added; nothing taken away, for it is God who created us eternal and unchangeable. This is the Self we want to know and live.
There are many means for chipping-away the meaningless matter that not only hides but imprisons what God created perfect, holy, and free. Tools from the field of psychotherapy and spiritual study may all come into play. We are supported by books, study groups, online lectures, classes, helpers physical and non-physical, and more. We need not wait to choose a meaningful, joyful co-existence; we need only be willing to Be it. It is ready to shine forth right now. The tools we employ are our own choice. What a gem; a priceless element it is that we each get to choose what is meaningful in forming our shared path to awakening.
Our Spiritual Self is imprisoned by fear and our unwillingness to love.
This meaningless matter is a result of our false, unloving, thoughts. It’s time to be done with such child’s play. These are thoughts we’ve made up which are not a part of eternity and are not of God. When we realize these thoughts result in fear, sin, sickness, and all forms of disharmony, we may be encouraged to rather choose love. “God did not create a meaningless world” (“A Course in Miracles”, Lesson 14), and as such, we will never be content until we behold ourselves, each other, and all the world as God’s creation in thought and love. We all know the immense joy of feeling love; of acting from love and of receiving love extended by others. This is life as life can only be.
God is perfect love.
God’s world consistently displays Divine Love which is without error in any form. Love as we know it is completely unreliable and in that, we may routinely feel both safety and fear. To the degree that we identify with and place our faith in physical life, we cannot consistently experience a loving world as we will always meet people we love and others we fear; or even those we love and also sometimes fear. The physical sets the stage for duality which by its nature vacillates between dark and light, has varied emotions and states of being, and will always display love and fear in countless forms.
It may not be an “exact moment” in which we uncover our Selves; we will likely experience increased peace and freedom as we shift in identify away from the personality to the spiritual. What has been hidden will be unveiled as the real replaces the temporary and unreal. Just as certain, is our awareness that God never did nor could, create us imperfect, sick, in pain, fearful, in need, or at war with each other. This beauty will surely come further into focus as false qualities and behaviors are recognized as having no value and are willingly tossed aside. When we acknowledge love to be the only sane choice, and is entirely all we want, we become agents that uplift and support a loving world, even as we too, are still emerging.
Our task is to work to further God’s Plan of peace on earth.
We may think it strange to refer to our lives and all we have valued in our physical existence as superfluous. This self in matter is itself, superfluous and is a distraction from focusing on the Higher. Nonetheless, we can do much to be of help spiritually, and to advance this shift in consciousness from physical to spiritual, even while we inhabit a body. If we’re still on planet earth, inhabiting a body, that’s our job. Regardless of where we are on the path, in or beyond the body, our function is decided. It is to work to further God’s Plan of peace on earth and the emergence of Life as God willed it.
Our job is to forgive any error that we look upon and no longer invest in the trivial. Remember, God’s world displays only love so when we see something other than love, our seeing is wrong. “A Course in Miracles” tells us, “I will forgive, and this will disappear”. Why? Because when error thoughts are cleansed from our minds, our world cannot display those thoughts. When our only thought is love, love is all we will see.
As always, easier said than done.
For myself, these concepts are easy to share. Where the challenge is is to forgive and to be willing to admit my perceptions and interpretations are wrong, especially when I’m feeling unfairly treated. That’s the proverbial tire meeting the road moment; the moment that calls for us to put theory into action. It’s also the moment when we may want to feel self-righteous anger and be unwilling to forgive what we believe has been done to us. A practice of being willing to forgive what we think we see and to see instead, God’s perfect creation in our brother, enables our ability to see perfection in ourselves. It’s the purpose of the uncomfortable moment and is the choice to replace fear with love and to further God’s Plan on earth. It’s also the function of Holy Spirit, The Comforter, who will bring the changes to our minds according to our willingness that it be done.
The world we perceive will always show us what we believe and hold in thought, thus, it is essential we forgive our unloving thoughts and choose love instead. The correction is always in our own minds. Always our own minds; not theirs, and not about them. This is a “good news, bad news” scenario. The bad news is we are responsible for what we see and experience. The good news is we therefore have the power of change that provides peace and joy. Actually, there is no “bad news”, it’s simply the awareness of the power of choice. Because we made it up, we have the power to change our thought, what we experience, and in fact, we have the power to change the world as we know it.
This choice enables us to no longer value and enshrine in gold what is temporary and cannot enrich our lives; to draw the sacred as sustenance and cease relishing error in every form. Self-righteous judgments do not enrich, they make us sick and contribute to a fearful world. Decidedly, what is error is without merit. Error is not a part of us nor our world because it is not a part of God, who looked upon His creation and declared, “It was good”. Error, when left uncorrected, is what upholds the experience of separation from God, our brothers, and ourselves. Together, we can lay it to rest.
With such awareness, we boldly accept any hardship and pain in the undoing of error, in order to birth, like Michelangelo’s David, the sacred, once hidden within. This is a holy celebration that we achieve when we look beyond our bodies to life divine, and soar with each other, hand-in-hand. Thank you for your companionship on this journey.
