A friend of mine once told me that when Michelangelo created David he took away what he wasn't to come up with what he was, and I suppose the same could apply when it comes to a definition of "holiness."
So, in my view, here is what "holiness" isn't:
- pontificating on the glories of God and the love of the Messiah or some other sacred leader when your heart is full of avarice, greed, loathing and deceit, or when your prayers come from rote and ritual versus passion and love.
- beheading, mutilating or harming another human being, erroneously believing that you are fulfilling a "holy mandate" from heaven.
- sitting at the feet of a "Master" who claims "to know" what holiness is when he/she is potentially imposing their own definitions (and ego) upon you instead, as the only one who can tell you about "holiness" is your own inner, holy Higher Self. You don't get holy through osmosis, through the teachings of a guru, a "messiah", a rabbi, a priest or an imam, but only through the inner wanderings of your own internal labyrinth, your own sacred pilgrimage. Beware of those who claim to "know".
Perhaps what holiness comes down to can be found in a simple parable once told by Christ, and this applies across all faiths, dogmas and beliefs: that only until one becomes a little child can one enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Of course, we need not wait to get there as the Holy One is inside all of us, regardless of whether your communing with Spirit occurs in a traditional setting, in the desert or under a tree.
There are many paths to the one God who loves all of us equally, and without measure. But it is a direct path, through the heart alone.
So, in my view, here is what "holiness" isn't:
- pontificating on the glories of God and the love of the Messiah or some other sacred leader when your heart is full of avarice, greed, loathing and deceit, or when your prayers come from rote and ritual versus passion and love.
- beheading, mutilating or harming another human being, erroneously believing that you are fulfilling a "holy mandate" from heaven.
- sitting at the feet of a "Master" who claims "to know" what holiness is when he/she is potentially imposing their own definitions (and ego) upon you instead, as the only one who can tell you about "holiness" is your own inner, holy Higher Self. You don't get holy through osmosis, through the teachings of a guru, a "messiah", a rabbi, a priest or an imam, but only through the inner wanderings of your own internal labyrinth, your own sacred pilgrimage. Beware of those who claim to "know".
Perhaps what holiness comes down to can be found in a simple parable once told by Christ, and this applies across all faiths, dogmas and beliefs: that only until one becomes a little child can one enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Of course, we need not wait to get there as the Holy One is inside all of us, regardless of whether your communing with Spirit occurs in a traditional setting, in the desert or under a tree.
There are many paths to the one God who loves all of us equally, and without measure. But it is a direct path, through the heart alone.