Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Wrestling With Yourself

Home
New Visions
Road Map To The Heart

Road Map To The Heart

Last updated on: October 22, 2013 at 10:41 am by David Matthew Brown

Road Map To The Heart 2013-10-22T10:41:11-06:00 David Matthew Brown

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.

As I walked outside this morning, the sun was breaking through the early morning fog, the birds were singing, and the first cars of the day were making their way down the street. I used to think that there were all these paths to get to the present, but as I continue to blossom inwardly it is slowly occurring to me that the present moment offers its own way to the heart.

As I walk down the street everything outside of me is passing by, the only thing that holds them in place is my mind. Same is true inwardly. The only thing that holds anything in place is the thought of it. In meditation, many people believe meditation is about holding on, fighting, resisting the thoughts, or even worse controlling them. Meditation is simply witnessing it all. In the bible and in most spiritual books they talk about, “being a witness”.

So as I continued to walk, it occurred me that life brings you things now, to remove the fear in you, and help you rest in faith. Because in the universe all is possible. We look at the many different creatures, such as the spider, there are over 40,000 different spiders. Incredible. We see that Mother Earth has 7 billion people walking on her. In the universe all is possible. The mind doesn’t know that. The mind wants to be separate, different, and special. But the heart understands that all is possible, so it accepts everything as it is.

So the road map to the heart is acceptance. Acceptance of what is happening now. Unconditional acceptance. What is wonderful about that is life gives you things in a loving way, even when it appears to take everything way. You are loved. This universe is a loving place. Our responsibility is simple, “Know yourself.” But we have moved away from this simple request as a society, and confused our relationship with God. We made God judgmental, critical, into heaven and hell, but all of these are created with the mind that is not tamed, a mind that is distracted. So by not knowing ourselves, we do not understand this intelligent universe. By not wanting to understand ourselves deeply, or understand why we hold so tightly, or worry, or judge, then we fail this loving universe. We fail because she asks us, “Dear child, know yourself, then you will know who I am.”

All love stories begin with excitement, a chance meeting, a friend turned lover, a stranger, etc… the same can be true of the presence. Your love story and the road map of your heart begin here. There is great excitement in going inward, but we run into troubles, roadblocks inside, not because the universe forgot about you, or doesn’t care, or you are unworthy in some way, it is simple, love heals. You are love itself. Here to love. Here to shine.But that must be discovered by you, inwardly, no one can hold your hand. That is why people read so many books on it, or go to hundreds of workshops, or Church, or Spiritual centers, to gain confidence. The confidence to go inward and discover. In a society that wants guarantee’s, when you go inward, we know we can never go back to who we were. That scares people, so we admire those that do it. We love listening to them speak about it. But we are all called, “To know yourself”.

Fear is complete resistance to what is being asked of you right now; whereas faith is unconditional acceptance of what is flowing now. The difference seems dramatic, but really it goes to Shakespeare, “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” Faith is deep trust in now. In fact the OUR FATHER is a testament to true faith and a wonderful mantra to stay present. It is filled with compassion not just for you, or me, but all of us. The OUR FATHER prays for all of us to remember who we are right now. It is a call to know ourselves deeply.

Our Father (Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen

David Matthew Brown: Founder Heartspirational, speaker, Author, Blogger, Dad, and practicing Yogi.

wrestling with yourself

Previous Post

October 21, 2013

Join The Revolution

Next Post

October 28, 2013 Survivors

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 90 Days straight of Hot Yoga spiritual Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz