The following prayer came to me on Thursday morning in that twilight time of just waking up - deciding whether to roll over or start the day.
This is an in-between state of sleeping and waking – a liminal (threshold) space. A land that’s juxtapositioned between the unconscious and conscious realms. As such, it can offer a very creative canvas, where almost anything is possible – for our conscious filters about what’s possible haven’t fully come online. The part that says “Yes, I can” can briefly out vote the millennia-old safety-and-security software that cowers behind “No, I can’t” or, like Gollum whispers, “Too risky.”
The imagery in this prayer is from the Matrix movies that son John introduced years ago into our family consciousness.
Rather than just having fun with words or trying to be clever, this post is about real stuff in a real life – mine – that I’m being shown I need to pay attention to. This last statement pretty much sums up WHAT I write about in my blog and WHY I do. I don’t want to be like the guy Eddie P. describes when he quips,
“Here take my advice…I’m not using it.”
Now to the prayer…
Chief Architect,
Turn off high alert in my reptilian brain’s warning settings. Put it in standby mode. Always running in the background to protect me from viruses and other online predatory forces...it can be a major resource hog when set to constant high alert.
FMI - Most of the threats that have consumed its OCD-like attention have never happened. (FMI – For My Information – You already know this)
Clear my cache of all the sweet-tasting cookies of my cherished but half-baked opinions, what Louis CK calls his “believee’s,” that fresh code might be downloaded there.
Close all my numerous open files, unfinished posts, and interesting web pages that serve as distractions and take up resources that would be better utilized by focusing on what I am to do today, who I am to be today.
Enable me to delete out-of-date programs and files to make room for new ones.
Help me choose to allow my hard drive to be reformatted to a softer one (floppy), so I can practice being drawn and not always driven.
Before I try to assume your role and attempt to fix a few lines of what I think is another’s corrupted code, remind me to first work on the whole programs of my own that need upgrading or deleting.
Help me trust the Oracle (Spirit) of the Machine City that she will serve up prompts that will guide me...”this is the way, walk in it”...”these are the words, type them.”
Enlarge the scope of my operating system, so I’ll be able to see that we are always connected – like a routine is to its many subroutines.
Quicken me to recognize when anomalies arise in my preferred programs, so I’ll be able to allow them to make unscheduled and unplanned upgrades – especially, when these changes are not recognized or supported by the software powers-to-be.
Give me wisdom to choose which commands to execute and the adaptive intelligence to pursue new pathways when the previous programs are no longer useful.
When you feel I’m ready, write your new programs not on the solid state of my hard drive (head) but on the very flesh of my heart drive. This will give me the far–from-artificial adaptive intelligence that will enable me to pursue new pathways, when the previously-written-on-stone programs have outlived their usefulness.
Store in ROM what I need for future access. Put into RAM just what I need for each NOW moment. Then when I reboot, my RAM will be clear and ready to receive each day’s new coded guidance and instructions.
Remind me to allow ample times for my CPU to be refreshed - off duty - by respecting sleep mode and screen-saver (meditation) settings.
Grant me the serenity that comes from the wisdom of knowing what’s my path and what isn’t and, making this choice, help me freely choose to take the blue pill and stay awake, with all the joys and sorrows that this freely-made choice will entail.
You have awakened me! When tempted to go back to sleep, give me courage to continue to choose the blue pill.
Finally, help me accept that, until I fully allow my personal programs to be absorbed into your master one, I’ll never fully understand how simple 1’s and 0’s combine to produce what I see on the screen of my life. There’s lots of Mystery in both worlds – virtual and “real.”
#prayer #liminal #Matrix #HolySaturday #RichardRohr #LouisCK #Gollum #EddieP #spiritual #wonderer #wanderer