The next fruit of the Spirit I'd like to talk about,
Which will lead us into meditation again,
Is goodness.
What is goodness?
A good meal,
A good friend,
A good day,
A good life.
Jesus was once called Good Master by somebody who wanted to impress him.
And Jesus replied,
Why do you call me good?
Only God is good.
When we meditate,
Goodness becomes one of the fruits of the Spirit that we experience growing in our lives,
Because it puts us into touch with our own essential goodness.
It's a difficult thing for most of us really to believe that we are essentially good.
We're very conscious of our faults and failings,
Of our character traits,
Things that we've developed over maybe many years and we think can't really be changed.
But we often lose touch with that core goodness,
Which is deeper than our faults,
Than our problems.
And that core goodness is like a well,
A well of life,
Of energy,
Of love.
And once we have made contact with it,
The living water from that well flows into every nook and cranny,
Every crevice,
Every memory,
Every aspect of our personality.
We begin to know that we are good experientially,
Even though we know we're not perfect.
So this is I think what it means to say that goodness is a fruit of the practice of meditation.
And it begins to change the way we approach meditation itself.
We see that what we are doing in meditation is accepting the gift of our being,
The goodness of that gift,
And we're beginning to experience the wonder of our own being,
That we are a mystery to ourselves.
It's not just God who is a mystery or the cosmos is a mystery.
We are a mystery to ourselves.
What is our source?
What is the nature of that source of our being,
In fact of all being?
When through meditation we little by little begin to experience the fact that we are made or we are sourced in the image of God who is good.
And we are not just like photo images like jpegs,
But we are living icons,
Living manifestations of the divine.
At the same time we're very human.
We have feet of clay,
We're earthen vessels as St.
Paul said,
But this treasure of the divine goodness is held in this earthen,
Slightly cracked vessel.
So let's be open to that goodness at the core of our own being,
Which is not just my goodness,
But the goodness of being itself,
The goodness of God.
Again let's take a moment to sit upright,
To be alert and comfortable.
A few moments always just to center,
To be present,
To be conscious of the place we're in,
Of the posture that we're sitting in,
And to accept whatever mood we may be in,
Whether we're restless or tired or whatever we may be feeling we accept.
And then we begin the work,
The loving work of saying our word faithfully,
Gently,
Attentively,
Continuously during the time of the meditation.
Ma Ra Na Tha.
Ma Ra Na Tha.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you This is from the Chantogya Upanishad.
In the city of Brahman,
City of Brahman is our body,
Our self,
Our being.
In the city of Brahman is a secret dwelling,
The lotus of the heart.
Within this dwelling is a space.
Within that space is the fulfillment of our desires.
What is within that space should be longed for and realized.
As great as the infinite space beyond is the space within the lotus of the heart.
