Embodying The Words You Preach

In today’s session we contemplate the quote, ‘Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.’ From Saint Francis of Assisi, an Italian mystic and friar. This track is taken from my course, ‘Daily Contemplations For Living An Examined Life’, available now via my profile.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the session.

I invite you to take a seat or lay down and just get yourself comfortable.

You can close down the eyes if you wish and take a deep slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth and just gently begin to open your mind to today's quote to contemplate the words with a free and open and subtle mind to welcome in possibility and expansion and growth and to allow yourself for the next few minutes to just sit with and be with whatever arises.

In a moment I'm going to share with you a quote to contemplate and then we'll just sit in silence for a minute and just let it percolate then we'll talk about that quote and see where the discussion leads us.

Today's quote comes from Saint Francis of Assisi,

An Italian mystic and friar and it goes preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words so this quote preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words I think it speaks to a truth that goes far beyond any sort of Christian ideation or dogma indeed it brings up memories of many times many different people of different religions and spiritualities have attempted to convert or convince me of the righteousness of the holiness of the of the truthness or aliveness of their particular belief system and every time I was left a little bit wanting a little bit lacking why would I believe the words that you're saying when this next person will tell me that their words that they're saying are just as true when you say their words are wrong and they say your words are wrong when there's inner conflict or worse still when the person saying them isn't embodying the teachings that they're prescribing or that when the teachings that they're prescribing seem to just be a moral cover for their own personal belief systems how is it that your deity is you but just a little bit more moral just a little bit more righteous these are the thoughts that came to mind when I first heard this quote because this quote speaks of embodying of living of being the truth that you wish to espouse to me it seems clear that the best way to preach whatever it is you're trying to preach be it spiritual religious just a self-care routine is to embody it to live it and let people come to asking how you did it how are you so peaceful well I meditate daily how have you got your life in order so well well I implement these organizational strategies how is it that you are looking so good well this is my diet and this is my exercise regime how are you so smart well I make an effort to read every day etc etc it seems like it's far more convincing to be the thing rather than talk about the thing if you lead with words you're leading with something that you're trying to convince someone of that isn't exactly the thing words aren't actions words are a promise words are a suggestion they're a finger pointing to the moon but if instead you were to act you instead you were to embody you instead just did the thing and trusted that if it's meant for the person that you meet that they will ask and inquire and inquire then speak then share then do what needs to be done to quote-unquote preach the gospel because ultimately if you find yourself preaching then you're inevitably going to be pushing what you're suggesting upon someone and most likely that someone won't be receptive most likely that someone wasn't asking for it and rather than convincing them you're probably going to be planting a seed of annoyance of jadedness of doubt of an issue that will internally uprise whenever they think of the thing you're trying to convince them of how often do you hear people preaching whatever religion spirituality politics recent push whatever it is and just feeling this innate push back almost like well because you're forcing this upon me because i didn't consent to this discussion because i'm in this conversation that i didn't want to be i'm actually going to put up this internal wall and disagree with you i feel that in myself but i also equally feel that when i see someone succeeding when i see someone in a place doing something that i want to be able to do living a life having a feeling being i'm curious i want more of that i want to know what you're doing and then i will ask and from that place of asking that person then shares and i'm open and i'm receptive and i'm eager and willing to take those feelings on board i remember when i was working at a religious school the religion in this case does not matter but it wasn't a christian school and in this school i i stayed out of the religious discussions i didn't share my personal beliefs but i didn't join in in the prayers and practices of the school it wasn't my religion after all but nonetheless i i had a good relationship with the students and i distinctly remember that after one of their prayer sessions a student came up to me you know having been emboldened by the instruction that they've been given having being you know told by their teachers and their spiritual leaders that their way is the right way and fair enough they're entitled to that sort of education and those sort of beliefs but this student came up to me and said something along the lines of how come you haven't embraced our religion you know let go of your false beliefs and embrace the truth of what we believe and i said to him basically what we're talking about here that my beliefs are my beliefs your beliefs are yours but if you truly desire to convince me of the validity of your choices of your spirituality of your practice of your god then embody the truths that you're saying that my belief will give me if you embody the peace that comes from prayer the wisdom the guidance all of those things that you're telling me that i'm missing out on if you live that life then i'll see it as truth because it will be true and then perhaps you'll be able to convert me but until that time what you're telling me are just words promises without proof because remember although these beliefs are truth to you to people that don't believe to people that aren't of your spirituality they're just words and that student had a revelation and i think that leaving that conversation he was actually brought closer to his faith closer to the idea that living the truth rather than just blindly sharing it and indeed pushing it upon other people who weren't asking for the discussion isn't the best way to go about it we had a follow-up discussion a few months later we've said that he'd been realizing that he'd been sharing his beliefs without consent just sort of shoving them down other people's throats in a way that they weren't asking for and although he felt good in himself in the moment looking back and reflecting the other person wasn't picking up what he was putting down and in fact he may have been putting them off what he knew to be truth so i take this quote saint francis of assisi preached the gospel at all times and if necessary use the words as guidance in all aspect of my life spiritual religious personal politics hobbies most everything it's an invitation an embodiment i attempt to live my truth and when people inquire and ask then i share then i talk i make it like an invitation and i just want to put a little caveat here that the work i do online i don't shove it down people's throats this talk and the other things that i've put up here are invitations you find me you connect and you choose to embody that and embrace it more but i don't push it upon people that aren't asking so i encourage you to sit for another minute and contemplate the quote preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words so well done this brings us to the end of the session at the bottom of your screen you'll see the option to view the classroom or to ask a question before moving on i invite you to take a moment to click through and share your insights to read the answers from other students and to hear my replies remember to start your questions with st francis or to restate the quote so we all know which one you're referring to this is an opportunity for deep learning further introspection and insight so please don't miss out i look forward to seeing you in the next session thank you you this track was taken from my course daily contemplations for living an examined life it's out now on insight timer and available via my profile i invite you to join in

Reviews

Preach the Gospel -
A friend gave me the book Gospel of John. I am not a Christian. She is a very kind person, yet would have more impact on my thoughts if her verbal communication did not constantly reflect around her Christian beliefs. She truly believes the book she gave me will impact me. I may or may not open it.