Crumbs From God’s Table

Endless enticements overwhelm us. They make their way into to every nook and cranny of our lives - but their allure is waning. No matter how good it gets; it's only so much, and only now are we beginning to wake up to what St. John of the Cross knew; that true happiness can only be found within, while all the worldly pleasures that we experience, we experience from without.

"Crumbs from God's table," are what St. John called the world and all its goodies, including human beings Most people, however, don't see it that way; they see the world as a glamorous place.

Union with God, according to St. John, is something we experience within, beyond our senses, even beyond the sixth sense of the mind. This can be a confusing concept which requires thinking outside the box. Actually, transcending mind requires not thinking, and not thinking takes some practice. We have been thinking since we have been born, more or less, and to stop thinking seems alien to our fundamental beliefs. The fact is, however, the world of thought remains in locked in the world, and until we can envision something different from this, we will remain caught in the world and caught in the crumbs of God's table.

What makes this such a difficult concept is that we don't know what lies beyond the world, and can only rely on sages and saints to tell us. Therefore, there is always some doubt about our giving up the world we are familiar with for the promise of something greater. Then, thinking that we are clever, we try to get around this by dabbling in spirituality or our faith, while remaining immersed in the world. We envision sitting at God's table, but in reality are still only crawling around the crumbs lying on His floor.

Only when we become older do we realize how much time we have spent on things that have by now slipped through our fingers. Our children are almost senior citizens themselves, and their children adults. The cycle of life goes by quickly, like a blur, and after all this time, we have little to show for our efforts in our spiritual pursuits. When we are honest with ourselves, we see that the emphasis of our entire lives has been on God's crumbs, never on His table.

The world was the furthest thing from St. John's mind, and therefore he instructed his monks and nuns on how to sit at God's table rather than how to be successful in worldly life. His instructions included three main tenets; discipline, deep prayer, and the application of that prayer to life, so that wisdom develops.

Discipline means living a life of self-restraint, not running after the things that the common mind finds enticing. Deep prayer means going beyond thought, images, opinions and ideals, even religious and spiritual ones. And application of deep prayer means intuitively interacting with the world from a standpoint of no-self; no selfishness - only compassion and loving-kindness.

You don't have to be a monk or nun to do this, it only requires a deep understanding of the limitations of the world and a desire to come face-to-face with something incredibly greater. n