Center of love.

January 3, 2017

‘Each person is born with an unencumbered spot – – free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of fear and worry – – an umbilical spot of grace were we were each first touched by God. It is this spot of grace that issues peace. Psychologists call this spot the Psyche, theologians call it the Soul, Jung calls it the Seat of the Unconscious, Hindu masters call it Atman, Buddhists call it Dharma, Rilke calls in Inwardness, Sufis call it Qalb, and Jesus calls it the Center of our Love.

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This is a hard lifelong task, for the nature of becoming is a constant filming over of where we begin, while the nature of being is a constant erosion of what is not essential. Each of us lives in the midst of this ongoing tension, growing tarnished or covered over, only to be worn back to that incorruptible spot of grace at our core.

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We call the filming over a deadening of heart, and the process of return, whether brought about through suffering or love, is how we unlearn our way back to God.’

-Mark Nepo