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Permalink Reply by Keith Saylor on 12th mo. 17, 2015 at 1:15pm

When was the last time you were actually awed?

There are many on this earth today who are inspired by direct daily and moment by moment participation in and relationship divine Presence itself manifesting reverence. The grace of identity with  divine Presence in daily activities in life transforms activities, like mopping the floor or repairing the tractor, into moments of heavenly awe and wonder. We live in awe of God's Presence in our life everyday and in everything; in rain or shine, the inward Christ is our glory, rest, and salvation. Eternal Light is ever before us as we go about our temporal tasks. Life is awe inspiring in relationship with Presence itself. All we must do is turn our gaze upon that inward Glory and it will illuminate and transform our very being and consciousness; governing and ruling our journey.

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Permalink Reply by James C Schultz on 12th mo. 17, 2015 at 1:29pm

So in short, you personally are in awe of God?

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Permalink Reply by Keith Saylor on 12th mo. 17, 2015 at 1:30pm

Yes, and many others. 

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Permalink Reply by James C Schultz on 12th mo. 17, 2015 at 3:43pm

Thanks for your reply.  Let's see if anyone else has any thoughts on the question.

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Permalink Reply by Howard Brod on 12th mo. 17, 2015 at 7:29pm

All of creation is awe-inspiring for me.  Just about everything inspires contemplation for me:  the reaction of people in all their expressions, the amazing way other mammal species are almost identical to humans' emotional core which gives me humility and has led me over time to discontinue eating them, the way the 'I AM' knits us together just when we need a boost to keep going, the way a passage or quote or saying can lift me out of my self into the greater Self that is constantly calling me, the way we are so insignificant in this grandiose Universe - yet we are still important because we can feel that inside, the science that tells us that everything is nothing more than energy and empty space even though it appears as solid to us in our perceptions, the fact that both space and time are relative - making my 43 year marriage often seem literally like just one month, and I could go on and on.  But the great mystery of the 'I AM' is perhaps the most awe-inspiring draw for me there is, and how even though I can't understand this Source of All, I can know her/him intimately through Love.

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Permalink Reply by James C Schultz on 12th mo. 17, 2015 at 11:13pm

You are truly blessed.

Howard Brod said:

All of creation is awe-inspiring for me.  Just about everything inspires contemplation for me:  the reaction of people in all their expressions, the amazing way other mammal species are almost identical to humans' emotional core which gives me humility and has led me over time to discontinue eating them, the way the 'I AM' knits us together just when we need a boost to keep going, the way a passage or quote or saying can lift me out of my self into the greater Self that is constantly calling me, the way we are so insignificant in this grandiose Universe - yet we are still important because we can feel that inside, the science that tells us that everything is nothing more than energy and empty space even though it appears as solid to us in our perceptions, the fact that both space and time are relative - making my 43 year marriage often seem literally like just one month, and I could go on and on.  But the great mystery of the 'I AM' is perhaps the most awe-inspiring draw for me there is, and how even though I can't understand this Source of All, I can know her/him intimately through Love.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Benton on 12th mo. 18, 2015 at 10:59am

My compassion for Human Being leads to a lot of grieving because so much of it is suffering.  I would be overwhelmed if not for knowing God is with us and seeing us through to Love and Light.  That fills me with awe.

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Permalink Reply by James C Schultz on 12th mo. 19, 2015 at 8:29am

When I think of all that God has done for me it is intellectually incomprehensible and in that sense I am in awe of Him.  Emotionally there are seasons.  I don't think I could conduct my earthly affairs if my emotions were always at an "awesome" level.  There was a time I had to pray to dial them back because I was concerned I was going to have a mental breakdown or "burn out".  When His anointing falls on me and I operate in a gift for a short period of time, I find I need a few hours of quiet time just to be able to go to sleep but it doesn't reach the "awesome" level that I have experienced at various other times. My daily life is probably more one of constant Amazement than Awe.  Probably a very fine difference but one that seems to allow me to function in worldly tasks.  Another way to compare the two is that of being in a great relationship as compared to being in a "courtship" stage of that relationship.  The latter can be all consuming while the former provides an integral strength to who you are.  More on that in a later blog.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Saylor on 12th mo. 19, 2015 at 11:12am

Hello James,

You have somewhat changed the nature of your original post with you last response.. I have no issue with that, however, as you move on I felt compelled to add these words.

Your original post asked whether awe of God is lost. You then went even further to ask whether "civilized democratized 21st century beings [are] even capable of being awed." 

The answers laid down before you is an emphatic yes.

In the light of that affirmation of the awesomeness of God manifesting even in the daily lives of individuals on earth, your response is basically, well okay, you have affirmed that "civilized democratized 21st century beings [are] even capable of being awed, but I (meaning you) cannot function on this earth if "my emotions were always at an 'awesome' level." You are saying that, while awe of God is not lost, you personally are not able to function over an extended period of time in experiencing awe. I appreciate and understand that you cannot function in perpetual experience of awe of God, however, that is not what you asked. You did not ask whether there people are able to sustain and function in awe of God and conduct their lives on earth. There are many people, myself included, who do live in awe of God every day of their lives on this earth. 

When I talk about being in awe I mean being in a posture of reverence, ease, and dismay. This reverent and revenant posture knows a way of existence that changes the very nature of the way a person functions on this earth. Instead of adapting awe so that one can function in a particular world (way of existence) on this earth; in a posture of awe, the world (a way of existence) is realigned or changed or adapted to a posture of awe itself. 

Many of us are learning and experiencing (by the power of direct experience of inward Presence itself) to function in awe of Presence itself on this earth. We conduct our daily lives in this awe inspired Presence. A new world (way of existence) is open to us so that we function on this earth in the glory of this new world ... heaven (a way of existence). We live the anointing of Presence, and by that anointing in itself, we are sustained and nourished. In the inward Light itself, we do not burn out, we are inwardly nourished and sustained.  The Light itself is our identity and meaning and the source of our functioning. The inward burning Light is the very core of who we are and is the core of our conscious and conscience. We function in a new way of existence .,. we function in Heaven (a way of existence) on this earth, By the power of Presence itself, we are in awe ... we are in reverence, ease, and dismay by the grace of Presence itself in all things, circumstances, and events on this earth

We are coming into and functioning in a new way of existence as we shed the old way of existence and the functioning it demands. 

 

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Permalink Reply by James C Schultz on 12th mo. 19, 2015 at 12:49pm

My change in direction was prompted by a reply that apparently was messaged to me and not posted.  What you describe as awe is what I live with most of the time.  It's my normal modus operandi.  The Awe I asked about originally is an awestruckness that brings time to a standstill.  I guess I am answering my own question to some extent in that the word no longer means what I thought it meant and perhaps never did.

Keith Saylor said:

Hello James,

You have somewhat changed the nature of your original post with you last response.. I have no issue with that, however, as you move on I felt compelled to add these words.

Your original post asked whether awe of God is lost. You then went even further to ask whether "civilized democratized 21st century beings [are] even capable of being awed." 

The answers laid down before you is an emphatic yes.

In the light of that affirmation of the awesomeness of God manifesting even in the daily lives of individuals on earth, your response is basically, well okay, you have affirmed that "civilized democratized 21st century beings [are] even capable of being awed, but I (meaning you) cannot function on this earth if "my emotions were always at an 'awesome' level." You are saying that, while awe of God is not lost, you personally are not able to function over an extended period of time in experiencing awe. I appreciate and understand that you cannot function in perpetual experience of awe of God, however, that is not what you asked. You did not ask whether there people are able to sustain and function in awe of God and conduct their lives on earth. There are many people, myself included, who do live in awe of God every day of their lives on this earth. 

When I talk about being in awe I mean being in a posture of reverence, ease, and dismay. This reverent and revenant posture knows a way of existence that changes the very nature of the way a person functions on this earth. Instead of adapting awe so that one can function in a particular world (way of existence) on this earth; in a posture of awe, the world (a way of existence) is realigned or changed or adapted to a posture of awe itself. 

Many of us are learning and experiencing (by the power of direct experience of inward Presence itself) to function in awe of Presence itself on this earth. We conduct our daily lives in this awe inspired Presence. A new world (way of existence) is open to us so that we function on this earth in the glory of this new world ... heaven (a way of existence). We live the anointing of Presence, and by that anointing in itself, we are sustained and nourished. In the inward Light itself, we do not burn out, we are inwardly nourished and sustained.  The Light itself is our identity and meaning and the source of our functioning. The inward burning Light is the very core of who we are and is the core of our conscious and conscience. We function in a new way of existence .,. we function in Heaven (a way of existence) on this earth, By the power of Presence itself, we are in awe ... we are in reverence, ease, and dismay by the grace of Presence itself in all things, circumstances, and events on this earth

We are coming into and functioning in a new way of existence as we shed the old way of existence and the functioning it demands. 

 

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Permalink Reply by Forrest Curo on 12th mo. 20, 2015 at 12:50am

God did not make human beings to suffer a permanent state of dismay, whatever other nice emotions might be mixed into that.

When I think of the infinite, unimaginable future before us, I am indeed overwhelmed, often suffer a brief flash of utter horror at the inconceivable scope and nature of what we are to be and what our experience might be like. Then I recover my trust, and the thought of being someone/something unimaginable to my present self becomes awe at the vast imagination able to create such a future.

But mostly I find a smaller field of vision suits me far better.

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Dallmann on 12th mo. 20, 2015 at 8:50am

James: Thank you for making the distinction between "normal modus operandi" and the awe that accompanies time coming to a standstill. It is the latter that transforms our lives so completely that it is called a new birth: the birth of Christ, the Light Within. It is that which we celebrate this time of year when Nature (creation) becomes its darkest, spoken of apocalyptically as "the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give her light." We can be amazed by creation, but the awe you write of comes only as the Creator gives us new birth, eternal life, and there is "time no longer." Paul speaks of this experience in 2 Corinthians 12:4 as being "caught up as far as the third heaven."  

Coming into this knowledge and the awe that accompanies it is and always will be not only a real possibility for human beings; not only the apotheosis of being human; but our purpose, both as persons and as the human race. It is that experience only that thoroughly transforms us and prepares us to be the Children of Light, which first Friends discovered. We begin, as did they, by honoring truth; we continue, as did they, by honoring truth; we end, as they did, by honoring truth. 

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