The Unlearnable Light

Listening to this song... watching the warm amber light pour through that stained glass and hearing the steady, heartbeat rhythm of the bodhrán behind the acoustic guitar. It really centers you, doesn't it? I know it does me. I feel It just pulls you right out of the frantic pace of the day and drops you into a quiet, ancient space. You know, for the vast majority of our waking lives, we operate under this subtle, deeply exhausting assumption that we are essentially empty vessels. We spend decades trying to fill ourselves up, don't we? We acquire things. We collect professional titles, we memorize creeds, we wrap ourselves in layer upon layer of accomplishments and obligations, thinking that if we just stack enough of these earthly things together, if we just try hard enough... well, then we will finally become something whole. Something holy. But my goodness, all those layers get heavy. And as we navigate the transitions of this later season of life, those external things—the active roles we played, the physical independence we relied on, the endless list of things we produced—sometimes they begin to strip away. And when that happens, the ego absolutely panics. It tells us we are losing our identity entirely. But looking at that brilliant Celtic Triquetra glowing in the rough stone... it reminds us of a breathtakingly different truth. We are not human beings striving, and usually failing, to become spiritual. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. The journey we are on together here on this temporary home we call earth isn't about becoming something new. It's about uncovering what the Maker has already placed within you. Peeling back the heavy, worn-out layers of the ego to reveal the divine spark that has been there all along. When Christ tells us, "I am the Vine, you are the branches," He isn't asking us to build the tree. He is just asking us to abide. To stop striving and simply draw our nourishment from the ancient, eternal source that is already flowing right through us. Embodying the unlearnable, as the song says. So if you are sitting here today feeling a bit weary from decades of striving, or if you're worried about the layers of your life shifting... take a deep breath. You do not have to earn the light. You just have to let the heavy, stony things fall away so the divine spark within you can finally breathe. You are beautifully, eternally connected to the Vine. Let's just rest in His life-giving grace today.