Transcending the impulse to run away from heresy, eccentricity, and other forms of the rejection of tribalism, yet resisting the opposing, unwise impatience ready to disrupt everything all the time, we can begin to explore and see with a clarity open only to those willing to choose the narrow way.

The mistakes of assuming that what is tells us what could be, that what we can see is what there is, and that truth is something that can be comprehended or encompassed by finite ideas and visions, block us from seeing the infinity open to us in and out of time.

These mistakes block us from seeing humanity from the perspective of what could be.

Believing the self-fulfilling prophecies of scarcity and elitism, which in turn support and promote the foundational ecosystem of fear and greed, we cannot see the misconceptions woven into phrases (and the use of phrases) such as “as common as dirt” and “rare genius”.

The only sound approach to seeing through established illusions, is spiritual in nature and therefore incomprehensible to those that reject the fundamentally spiritual nature of the universe. Yet there are clues visible to everyone, independent of their position on these deeper things, clues in the form of people who exhibit transcendent love and a capacity for healing.

Ultimately, it is the life and death of Jesus, God in human form, that settles every question, that heals all problems, that swallows up all death. Unfortunately, the Christian forms in which “the cross” is adored and worshiped are an empty and impoverished shadow of the living reality that defies containment in anything finite in time or space. And it must defy containment,  for this resolution, this transcendent singularity, this ending and beginning centermost to the “things the angels desire to look into”, is the key to all the deepest mysteries.

To believe that every human being truly contains a brilliant gem, a talent capable of an intense, unique,  inexhaustible contribution is a truly radical belief. It too flows from that singularity, from that life that opened infinity to man.

But to those that actually embrace this, who are “all in” to the vision making sense of this position, it is also part of a resolution of mysteries besetting anyone who observes honestly.

For the world is too full of extreme evil for anything less that a transcendent singularity to resolve. And only in that resolution can the vision for what could be (what is, in the potential sense), be harmonized with what is (in the immediate sense).

Returning to the phrases “as common as dirt” (and the associated phrase “rare gem”), and “rare genius”, closer examination shows that these actually, already nudge us towards a much more fantastic, rather radical vision of what could be.

For example, it is well known that the rarity of (and prices of) diamonds on earth is artificially inflated by the greed of those that have explored and mined them. Off the earth, it is known, for example, that there is a burned out star (a white dwarf) in Centaurus that has crystalized into a diamond 2500 miles in diameter!

Fertile, living dirt is anything but simple and common, in the sense of unremarkable and comprehensible. Instead the complexity and wonder present in a handful of dirt defies complete description, as it is truly the mother of all living things and complex in the extreme. “Rare genius” is of course just a codification of the illusion that extreme talent is rare due to the fact that the greed and fear overwhelming the world also succeeds in squashing all but a tiny fraction of human potential.

Yet, in the present reality, as experienced by the vast majority of people, the chance to follow their intrinsic muse, to develop the potential they hold, seems far-fetched. It might be considered cruel to suggest that things could be different. Yet I am convinced that the simple truth of what is possible is a great gift, having in itself the power to unleash intense power and light. It is an idea that once grasped could change everything.

I believe it was and is at the core of what Jesus taught.

As a result, I no longer find it very interesting to see talent that has been deeply developed as something to admire … at its best, such development is a call to “go and do likewise”. It tells us what can be, in everyone’s lives, in each path of those that find and follow their muse and use it to bless the world.

The world I want to live in is a world where magnificent things are abundant, living components of an infinite garden, constantly spilling over with life and inspiration, not a sculpture garden of static objects aimed at inciting devotion or disengaged admiration.

This world is accessible to everyone, here and now — as Jesus said “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” — but to enter it, we have to be willing to diverge from the “blind leading the blind”, to move through death to life. This paradox of life through death, opening an infinity in every sense, is something that cannot be effectively described, only experienced.

“Come and see”, the phrase ancients used to share transcendent illumination, is still the only authentic invitation consistent with freedom and love.

Deciding you are ready to see, willing to venture into that unknown, the way will open. Life will flow, you will find the Infinity that was always there, surrounding, waiting, eager to illuminate and inspire.

One consequence of the viewpoint above is the decision to pursue discovery for the pure joy of discovery and the even deeper privilege of sharing what is discovered, inspiring an overflowing abundance in the experience of others. Through the companion choices of simplicity and “enough is a feast”, we open the door to the infinite, inexhaustible riches that where there all along. In this kingdom of creativity and living exploration, awards and competition make no sense, if for no other reason than the energy they divert from exploration and the task of sharing.

The scope of this vision has no limits — the good news overflows with the rich, fauvistic music of life, defying all constraining description. The opening expanse inspires stillness and wonder.

The broken ones, in that stillness where the healing began, find quietness, inspiration and wonder in abundance.

And the light shines through the broken places.