Grace

Grace is the presence of God. Anyone experiencing this amazing state knows beyond all doubt that this is so. They may not see it necessarily as an overtly spiritual experience, but will know that something profound has touched their lives. Grace is neither love nor truth, but the simultaneous expression of both aspects of reality unified as the presence of the Divine in existence. The proximity of this divine presence to the mind neutralises any movement; what remains is stillness and the immediacy of the moment. The effect is of a heightened perception, which can invoke deep compassion for all things and the knowledge of the integrity of life, despite the appearance of suffering in the world.

In a worldly sense, we recognise grace as a virtue of beauty and elegance, sometimes expressed in the arts, sport or simply in the action of an individual man or woman. Grace is universally admired since it represents the excellence of what it means to be a human being. Grace is flow, the absence of effort or intent which has no discernible beginning or end. Nature is in a perpetual state of grace, as is the cosmos and constellation of stars. Whatever grace touches takes on the qualities of the Divine and retains the timeless purity of its original essence.

Grace is the power and the glory, the Lord in existence within and behind all life’s myriad forms. Mankind embodies grace, but against the coarse vibration of outer forces it’s mostly unconscious. The overriding presence of grace is that it is good; but this good differs from our worldly definition and understanding of goodness or piety. Grace encompasses the whole of life and serves that eternal goodness, whatever this entails. This is a good that has no opposite, since what we would label as ‘bad’ is an interpretation of something that appears to go against our personal want or desires.

Everyone’s destiny is to reunite with the Lord, the individual consciousness that directs the life from within. In those moments when the presence of grace shines through, there’s no mistaking the Lord, the living God within the being. The reality within the body is a light of developing consciousness which, not unlike a lighthouse, emits a signal or beam into the blackness of the void. However, by focusing on the not so good and putting the emphasis so often on the negative, we keep grace at a distance and the Lord is unable to shine at its full brilliance within the body. Being grateful for what has been given and acknowledging the privilege of life, the power is invoked. Life can then be lived more consciously in the amazing state of grace.