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A monk in his travels once found a precious stone and kept it. One day he met a traveler, and when the monk opened his bag to share his provisions with him, the traveler saw the jewel and asked the monk to give it to him. The monk did so readily. The traveler departed, overjoyed with the unexpected gift of the precious stone that was enough to give him wealth and security for the rest of his life. However, a few days later he came back in search of the monk, found him, gave him back the stone, and entreated him, “Now give me something much more precious than this stone, valuable as it is. Give me that which enabled you to give it to me.”
--from a story told by Anthony de Mello

Having offered his testimony, Morpheus wastes no time in presenting Neo with the opportunity to begin initiatory rites. Though they have, in a sense, already begun, Neo has to decide before he enters the point of no return. As Tresmontant explains, the "personal act of judgment, of refusal, of choice" cannot be avoided; the No to the old world and the Yes to the new. This is only the beginning, but it isn't too late to turn back. The red pill or the blue pill: "You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe." In spite of Morpheus' charisma, the viewer knows that the blue pill is a genuine temptation of comfortable numbness and ease. The red pill is the avenue to truth, the unmasking of fictions, and as-yet-unimagined strife: "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." Neo takes the red pill.
--from David Dark, "Who Put These Fingerprints On My Imagination? - Engaging the Matrix,"
Adapted from Everyday Apocalypse (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002)

We know [true spirituality] when we see it. We may not be able to articulate what it is we see, but we see it. We all, at one point or another, seek to be in the presence of [such] a holy person because we somehow sense that if we can sit at the feet of such a person, the inner disparities of our own life will be gathered together and resolved. That is why people search out spiritual guides and gurus. There is a hope and anticipation that there is someone who is somehow closer to divine truth than we are and that their truth will somehow be conveyed to us.

When we seek out holy people and find them, what is most palpable about them is that they have a sense of "completeness"--they seem free of the anxiety, duplicity, and complex desires that so characterize and plague our daily lives. They seem to have become detached from what is extraneous. They have a single-minded focus and there is a peace and contentment about them that seems strangely absent in our own lives.

While this is attractive, we are shy about seeking to become holy ourselves. Partly this is because we misunderstand holiness. We think holiness is something that can only be acquired by heroic effort. We are sure it will require all night vigils, being a member of a monastery community, living a life devoid of fun and frivolity, meditating for hours each day, wearing out our knees and our backs in prayer, never lying or cheating or feeling lust in our heart. Or, if none of that, at least it will be a life that is dreary, so concentrated and focused as to be boringly dull.

Let me suggest to you that holiness is not what you think it is. In theological terms we talk about holiness as being ‘set apart'--set apart for God. Even that, however, is a misunderstanding of the word. The actual root word is hool with "w" placed at the beginning, and it literally means whole. The simple duty of us all becomes nothing more, nothing less than becoming whole. Holiness is the process by which we integrate the loose threads of our life into a whole tapestry of beauty and divine grace. This is a creative task for the entirety of our lives. The Good News is that we can set aside all the to-do lists of things that we think are required for reaching some standard of moral and spiritual perfection, and open ourselves instead to the invitation and creative possibility of becoming whole in God.

To become whole in God means aligning our lives with God through such things as: Seeing the world and ourselves through God’s eyes. Forgiving others even when the pain of hurt and betrayal sticks in the throat like hard, dry clay. Not judging others even when their behavior makes our heartbeat quicken and our breath shorten. Having the courage to face evil and overcome its power with the goodness that is foolhardy in the eyes of the world. Staying in the place of unconditional love even when love seems imprudent and so difficult as to make us want to run away.

These are the loose threads that we spend our lives weaving together into the beautiful tapestry of holiness--wholeness in God. Far from being dull and drear chores of the soul, becoming whole in God can be an adventure as thrilling and dramatic as the latest Hollywood action movie, and the result is that we no longer need someone else's holiness to rub off on us just so we feel better about ourselves.
--Renee Miller

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