{"id":7098,"date":"2013-08-30T13:20:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T17:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=7098"},"modified":"2013-08-30T13:23:50","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T17:23:50","slug":"the-call-of-the-intimate-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2013\/08\/the-call-of-the-intimate-way.html","title":{"rendered":"The Call of the Intimate Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\nWhile researching for a sermon I ran across the following publicity description of someone whose, says the blurb, \u201clife is rooted in the belief that when we come from a place of love, anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s a certain sweetness in cockeyed optimism. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s particularly charming in children.<\/p>\n

And, I guess it has a place in life.<\/p>\n

But, anyone who has lived a real life has to feel, when hearing a line like this, somewhere deep down that at some point this is utter nonsense. Actually a rather stronger term floated up in my consciousness turning on human biological necessity, which perhaps points to the issue. The real issue\u2026<\/p>\n

My problem is how it reduces love to a fix.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get this straight. The real isn\u2019t nice. Or, only nice occasionally, and only for a moment.<\/p>\n

Rather\u2026<\/p>\n

The real is powerful. It creates and destroys.<\/p>\n

Now\u2026<\/p>\n

It also, in our human experience, turns on an encounter that can indeed be called love. <\/p>\n

But that love isn\u2019t puppies and kittens. <\/p>\n

And, it doesn\u2019t make our individual lives a bed of roses without thorns.<\/p>\n

And it doesn\u2019t guarantee success.<\/p>\n

Rather\u2026<\/p>\n

The invitation of life, a real life, is constantly calling us to engagement, to intimacy.<\/p>\n

To grow larger. To discover the realities of our boundaries, of what is me and not me.<\/p>\n

And from that place of genuine intimacy, from the wise heart it births, to actions small and large.<\/p>\n

We were born to be still and notice, and then to get up and act.<\/p>\n

In this world where everything will not turn out okay, where the anything that is possible is not in our hands, the real deal is to, nonetheless, look deep into who we really are, and then from that place, reach out a hand, to act, to live a life of care.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the better way\u2026<\/p>\n

The intimate way\u2026<\/p>\n