Talk Takeaways
Everyone thinks that their life is already in God's hands. But who's hands are we in when we are angry or fearful or anxious? Who's hands are we in when the only thing we are filled with are thoughts about ourselves?
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will (what is Good) is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." -- St. Paul, New Testament
Goodness cannot be separated from what comes out of it.
Presently, when push comes to shove, it is me first. That is the law of the flesh.
What is God's law? God's law cannot be separated from God's will. What is God's will? Love must be God's will.
How do we fulfill God's law without needing to think about how to do it? We must BECOME the law.
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" -- Rabbi Hillel the Elder
There are no answers to your questions apart from the moment that you are in. The moment you are in contains the answer. You can't know what "Now" is; you can only be a part of it. Now is the moment of the revelation of creation.
Now is the only time that we can be aware of the wills of both Heaven and earth at the same time. Now is what resides at the center between Heaven and earth.
An addict is someone who finds pleasure in something that always ends up being painful. A recovering addict begins to see that there is no good in the evil that they do.
No action suggested by a painful reaction can free us from the pain of the reaction. The reaction hides itself in the suggeested action. The action it suggests is the continuation of the thing that we want to be free of.
The only way that the painful reaction can truly be reconciled is to not act from the reaction. "Not my will, but Thy Will be done."
The actions that come out of a reaction are limited to the thoughts that define the action.
In order to put your life into God's hands you first have to see what hands you are presently in. For instance, any time you feel a compulsion you can be sure you are not in God's hands.
God does not hand you off to a reaction or to a fearful thought; God shows you the reaction and the fearful thought. Pure action is born of revelation that has no end.
Inaction in the face of a reaction and its suggested actions, is the same thing as being watchful.
