How Shall We Live?

I am never completely surprised, but I continue to be amazed and delighted when Spirit reveals to me just what I need at exactly the right time. Such is the case with my rediscovery of the book, How Then Shall We Live?, by author Wayne Muller.

I read the book many years ago, and if memory serves, I also did a Sunday lesson series on it while I was at Unity of Arlington. I was reminded of my love for it during a morning meditation last week. Since I first became aware of Wayne Muller, he has been one of my favorite authors and spiritual guides. He expresses the wisdom that comes through him in eloquent prose that often has a poetic flair. I also enjoy listening to the sound of his voice and the cadence of his speech. I find it comforting. In case there is any doubt, I highly recommend this and all of his books. You can learn more about him, his books and his work at WayneMuller.com.

I enjoy listening to books when I exercise in the morning, so when the book came into my awareness last week, I searched my audio library first. I thought I had already downloaded the audio book because I recall listening to Muller narrate it. Much to my surprise, I later realized that when I was first introduced to the book, I had audio recordings on cassette tapes. That gives you some idea of how long ago it was. Since I no longer have a cassette player, I chose to download the audio file on my phone and began listening.

Last week, I began talking about the book on my weekly Wednesday and Friday Facebook Live sessions. I will finish up with that series of four sessions on Friday, May 1, at noon. Videos of the previous sessions are still on the Unity Spiritual Center Denver Facebook page. If you would like to go back and watch them, click here. Committing to these weekly sessions has given me the opportunity to go deeper with the questions Muller poses and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

He invites us to explore four questions which he says are a part of many spiritual traditions. They are,

“Who am I?”

“What do I love?”

“How shall I live, knowing I will die?”

“What is my gift to the family of the Earth?”

Earnestly going within, seeking and uncovering the answers to these questions can open us to a greater understanding of what we value and how we can choose to live from our values every day. I can attest that delving deeper has opened me to even more questions and a more expanded realization of how I want to live my life. Additionally, I can report that the answers revealed today are not the same as they were when I first read the book and did the exercises. I am confident that my answers next year will not be identical to the ones I receive now.

That is one of the great wonders and mysteries of life: We are on an ever-expanding spiral of evolution. Although we sometimes resist it, we are meant to continually grow and change. If we allow ourselves to cling to what we have known or to who we have believed ourselves to be at any one point in time, our life can become stagnate. There is always much more to explore and learn about ourselves and about the world around us. The book has reminded me to stay open and continue to live in the question, with no expectation of arriving at a final answer about myself or anything else.

Whether or not you choose to read the book, I invite you to join me in the questions. Take time to get quiet, close your eyes, breathe deeply into your heart of hearts, and ask the question, 

“Who am I?”

As I look before, beyond and beneath all the labels, all the ways I have identified and known myself, I ask “Who am I?  Am I, as Jesus said, “The light of the world?” If so, what does that mean? Am I a child of God? If so, what does that say about me? Am I a spiritual being having a human experience? These are all spiritual names that we can use to identify ourselves. But, they are only a beginning. They are closer to the truth than many other names we have taken on, but none of these can fully capture who we are.

Listen deeply, feel into the answer, and allow the answer to reveal itself.

What do I love?

What delights and inspires me when I see it, hear it, taste it, smell it, dance it, create it, and sing it? What touches my soul deeply and connects me with the essence of who I am and who I have come here to be? As Muller says, connecting with and following what we love leads us home to the One Love that sourced each of us and all creation. It is not selfish or self-centered to honor what we love. In fact, when we are true to what we love, we are true to the God of our being.

How shall I live, knowing I will die?

As far as we know, each of us will one day lay down these physical bodies. I am well aware that some people in Unity believe, as did our cofounder Charles Fillmore, that we can live eternally in these physical forms. I am not discounting this belief. I support anyone who chooses to make that a goal of their life’s journey. However, living forever in this physical form is not a focus for me.

Muller asserts that when we accept that our days on this Earth are numbered and that we have no way of knowing what that number is, we will begin to live each day, indeed each moment with greater appreciation and care. We will not want to waste a single minute.

It may sound morbid at first glance, but he suggests that we practice saying aloud and to ourselves, “I could die today.” Not to declare that we want to die today, but to help us be mindful of the possibility and to be aware that we never know when our life will end. Living with this realization can help us to live each day as if it could be our last. We may find that we take more time to cherish the people we love and honor what we love.

What is my gift to the family of the Earth?

I know that when some of us read that question, we think that we are supposed to find the cure for cancer, end homelessness, or give some other magnificent gift to world. When we believe that, it may stop us from going within to inquire.

Muller affirms that each of us has something unique to give to the family of the Earth. It may not be something for which we will be recognized by the world. It may be as simple and relatively small as sharing a hug with a neighbor, showing kindness to a grocery store worker, smiling at everyone you meet.

As Mother Teresa once said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” The small things we do can have a greater impact than we may ever realize. Honor and respect the gift that you are to the world. There is only one you. You are the only one who can give your gift. Give your gift of love freely, however it expresses as you.

We make choices in every moment that impact how we live our lives. Many of them are made unconsciously and may not reflect who we choose to be when we live from our deeper realization of who we are. Living in these questions daily can connect us more consciously with who we truly are, with God as love, with how we choose to live when we are aware of our mortality, and with the gifts we embody.

The quest need not be arduous; it can be exciting and fun. We may discover that we want to make changes. That’s okay; life is full of change. We may uncover something we love that we have dismissed or suppressed. We can rejoice in the rediscovery and begin to explore how we can incorporate it into our lives. Owning our mortality, can free us to live more fully in the present moment. Owning our gift(s) can empower us to share them in ways that we have yet to imagine.

How then, shall we live? May it be a continuous journey of discovery!