POCKET GODS AND GRAVEN IMAGES

The Second Commandment: You shall not make for yourself a carved (graven) image… (Exodus 20:4).The passage goes on to state that we must (shall) not bow down or serve them. We all have a friend, acquaintance or relative whom has been retelling the same story, recounting in passionate detail a lost love, opportunity, when they were wronged or a medical procedure/condition, seemingly forever. We have heard it so many times that when we think of them we cannot help but think of their “story” as well, their lives defined by it. Instead of applying spiritual principles, they have carved an image that is dragged out at any opportunity and displayed, the eternal search for the sympathetic ear. A solution or growing spiritually beyond his or her “story” of no real interest, only the telling because “no one really understands” and in truth they cannot envision life without it. Their identity so intertwined with their story the fear of letting go, moving forward, so overwhelming that “I may be in shit, but it is warm and familiar and I know what to expect” being preferable. Living on the Spiritual Basis, the basis of trusting and relying on God, we have turned out all of our pocket gods (sacred cows) and given over our “stories” our carved images of resentment, ailments and anything else that stands between us and the sunlight of the spirit. Living in this way we transcend ordinary levels of consciousness, placing aches, pains, and secular living concerns in their proper perspective, our relationship with God paramount.