"Almost everything needs to be opened to serve its purpose. Clothes need to be opened before we can put them on to receive their warmth and protection. A book requires opening before the contents can be shared. A house has to have a door or window opened before it can provide us shelter. A cupboard door must be opened before the contents can be retrieved."
-Joyce Rupp in The Cup of Our Life: A Guide to Spiritual Growth
Smaller and deeper is an exploration in re-looking at the most obvious, like the word open. Open might be one of the first 100 words that kids learn. We open windows, doors, cupboards, books, computers, bottles, cans, backpacks, shoes, and zippers every day. And yet….
The above quote from Joyce Rupp, from her book The Cup of Our Life: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, stopped me in my tracks this week. Open suddenly became less of an adjective and more of a verb. Open became a smaller and deeper invitation.
Before you read on, set down your device and close your hands into fists. Grip them tight. Then, start reading again. Go ahead, I'll wait….
It can be done with closed fists, but was it easy? Did it raise your blood pressure just a little? Did your fist scroll father than you wanted? Was it hard to control where you were? Did you want to scream just a little? What happened in the rest of your body when you were trying to engage with closed hands?
"In a world that lives like a fist
mercy is not more than waking
with your hands open."
― Mark Nepo
It feels hard to be open in the world right now. Division is in the air we breathe. Almost daily, I read or hear something that causes my hands and heart to constrict. Do they really believe that? Why? What am I missing?
It doesn't feel good to be surprised by bitterness, division, and closedness; I want to be surprised by grace, beauty, and hope. I think that's on me. I can find both with every scroll through Facebook or Instagram. The invitation to openness is personal. It's also collective and has the potential to be transformative for us all.
As the quote above reminds us, we must be open to serve our purpose. That's a high call. And yet, it's true. Purpose is the reason we were created.
"Openness is also about wonder and surprise. Christin Lore Weber writes: "All of life is a beginning, I need an open , spontaneous, joyful attitude that knows it does not know. I need an emptiness in me….I need to find the part in my soul still empty, still able to be surprised, still open to wonder." (The Finding Stone) Oftentimes a deep joy is associated with openness because openness leads to inner freedom and growth. (emphasis added)
-Joyce Rupp in The Cup of Our Life: A Guide to Spiritual Growth
“I need to find the part in my soul still empty, still able to be surprised, still open to wonder.” This is the invitation I’m digging into. In a divided world, that often feels unkind and slightly crazy I want my soul to be open to surprise and wonder. I want to cultivate openness because that IS where inner freedom and growth are found.
“Life is short. We don't have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk this way with us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind.”
―Henri-Frédéric Amiel
Practice being open. . . I'm not sure what that means for you; I'm sure if you sit with the question for a few minutes, you'll know what an "open practice" might be for you...
If you are looking for a great, daily read The Cup of Our Life by Joyce Rupp is fantastic. I'm slowly working through it. (Let me know in the comments if you decide to read it, I'd love to connect and share learnings! Maybe this could be a smaller & deeper book club...)
(I try and pay attention to words or phrases that stand out to me in my reading and listening. There is a spiritual practice called Florliledgium that collects short, interesting pieces {words that “sparkle” up} and put them together. This is kind of like that. Watching for things that sparkle. Gathering them and seeing how they work together and what message, mantra, or new idea might arise.)
A Practice:
Read slowly.
Notice if a word or phrase stands out to you.
How do the words make you feel?
Is there an invitation?
(I’m sharing in italics the lines that stand out to me in these passages. Maybe it’s the same, or maybe it’s different, there is much food for thought in each of these passages)
"It's a fact—everyone is ignorant in some way or another.
Ignorance is our deepest secret.
And it is one of the scariest things out there because those of us who are most ignorant are also the ones who often don't know it or don't want to admit it.
Here is a quick test:
If you have never changed your mind about some fundamental tenet of your belief, if you have never questioned the basics, and if you have no wish to do so, then you are likely ignorant.
Before it is too late, go out there and find someone who, in your opinion, believes, assumes, or considers certain things very strongly and very differently from you, and just have a basic honest conversation.
It will do both of you good."
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
"Don't be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen."
― George Saunders, The Braindead Megaphone
"Holding on to anything is like holding on to your breath. You will suffocate. The only way to get anything in the physical universe is by letting go of it. Let go & it will be yours forever."
― Deepak Chopra
"Let the water flow beneath the bridge; let men be men, that is to say, weak, vain, inconstant, unjust, false, and presumptuous; let the world be the world still; you cannot prevent it. Let every one follow his own inclination and habits; you cannot recast them, and the best course is, to let them be as they are and bear with them. Do not think it strange when you witness unreasonableness and injustice; rest in peace in the bosom of God; He sees it all more clearly than you do, and yet permits it. Be content to do quietly and gently what it becomes you to do, and let everything else be to you as though it were not."
― François Fénelon, Spiritual Letters
