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Becoming What We Are

Becoming What We Are

Last updated on: January 9, 2024 at 10:19 am by Karl J. Forehand

Becoming What We Are 2024-01-09T10:19:52-06:00 Karl J. Forehand

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“The universe wants you to be whole”[1] Rob Bell

“Even at the subatomic level, all matter is moving toward thriving, reproduction and growth.” Karl Forehand

Several years ago, I started sprouting. No, I didn’t have a growth spurt in my 50’s. I learned to grow sprouts from seeds. It’s really a pretty simple process. I buy the seeds online, and then keep them wet for a few days until they produce amazing little plants that contain tons of phytonutrients and vitamins. The nutritional value of these little beauties is off the charts and they’re so easy to grow. My favorite is a mix of broccoli, alfalfa, and radishes called Broccoli and Friends.

All of the information and intelligence to grow a nutritious miniature version of a plant is contained in tiny little seeds that originated from other plants at some earlier date. One is proceeding from the other, passing on the needed, precise information to grow and thrive. When seeds receive, first water and later minerals from the soil and later, energy from the sun, they sometimes become enormous plants that know exactly who they are and what they are becoming.

Humans, of course are different, but who tells a child how to grow things like ears, noses and fingers and toes? Does the parent oversee the building of the vital organs or replicating the parent in subtle ways that delight and identify us with the people we come from? With the very simple ancient act of sexual intercourse, a complex process begins without so much as a thought from the humans involved that eventually becomes another human being. All of the complexity of a human originates from a simple cell that divides and duplicates and passes on information. This process that eventually will produce a person proceeds mostly without intervention from the couple that contributed the sperm and egg.

All of the universe moves in this fashion toward healing, thriving and becoming. There is a natural drumbeat and progression toward reproduction and progress. Even when we experience temporary setbacks like disease and disasters, there is an energy and focus toward being and becoming what we already are. When acted upon by water, the seed will begin the process of becoming a plant and producing seeds that become more plants. When the sperm reaches the egg, it begins the journey toward personhood and eventually toward what I would call wholeness.

In the spiritual world, we might call that holiness or enlightenment or salvation. But, no matter what we call it, it is completing what all of the universe is striving toward. I think Rob Bell is right, “The universe is rigged in our favor.” It is steadily moving in the direction of restoring everything to the place that it has always been.

How Does this connect with The Law of Attraction? Many people have been helped by the law of attraction. As I understand it, a basic definition might be “You get what you put your energy and focus on” or at least you attract those things. This is certainly helpful in bringing to us what we desire. There are multitudes of coaches and guides teaching people to streamline their focus and energy on exactly what they desire to help them achieve their goals and attract what better serves them.

I certainly support the law of attraction and hope that all people get what they desire. In some ways, the law of attraction will affect us whether we understand it or not. We will attract what we focus on and it can be helpful to direct our focus in positive directions. But, what if what we desire doesn’t match who we truly are? It may help us accomplish our first half of life and ego goals, but I don’t think it is going to get us all the way home. At the least, maybe it’s a secondary tool that only accomplishes wholeness when we understand who we truly are.

One danger I see with mantras and intentions, is they can cause us to bypass necessary struggles and healing work that is keeping us from becoming whole. The primary question of “Who am I?” should come before the question of what do I want? When we discover who we are, we will also discover what will make us whole. It’s more than attracting – it’s becoming who we have always been.

How does this relate to religion? In my tradition, the primary message was “You are broken, do you want to be fixed?” It had some truth to it, but the solution was all wrong. It stressed the answer was to become like us, believe like us and then act like us if you want to be fixed. It was an individual invitation to join the group and begin becoming more like them. Deviation from the plan was not promoted and it left us all feeling broken and unfulfilled.

The alternative message begins with the supposition that the flow of the universe is towards progress and all us are hard-wired to thrive, grow and reproduce toward wholeness. It’s less about consenting to the human idea of what the group should look like and more like entering a flow that is ancient and becoming more fully human. It’s about discovering what we authentically are and becoming what we have always been.

The broccoli plant became what it already was. We don’t need to become what we imagine. We need to become what we authentically are. That is the wholeness – that is the progress – that is the goal.

The good news is that the universe is geared toward authenticity and it is also conducive to being present. The plants and animals seem to understand this to the extent of their understanding. Every day, they set out to become what they are and they live and breathe in the presence of the here and now.

The universe wants us to be whole and thriving and growing. At times, we must face our woundedness so that we might be present and authentic as we move toward this divinely inspired wholeness. None of us can totally explain every aberration that we see, especially since many of our human woes and challenges arise from our misplaced desires. But, we can very clearly see the intention of the universe if we look closely and contemplate it carefully.

Because we are OF God, we are moving toward this wholeness that is as natural as a tree growing to majestic heights from a small acorn. All aspects of nature, including humans, move naturally with this intelligence and purpose of being and becoming what we are. Things like ego and trauma can intercept and stall us to some extent. They often mark us, but they can’t ever truly define us. We can enter the flow when we realize who we are becoming and that it is what we have always been.

[1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loD05q2Bt4U

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwbiHAGR

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