THE MEANINGS: THE CORE COMPETENCIES

ARC I - THE SELF

PART VI of VI

It would take years before I appreciated everything they were saying together.

I knew enough then. But now, I know more.

And the paintings never changed. They’ve remained exactly as I painted them. The meaning continued revealing itself.

Experience has a way of recalibrating eyes and rebooting perceptions.

A conversation, you have with a stranger. A relationship, with a longtime friend. A child, with a question never asked of you before. A loss, once unimaginable. A triumph, once unlikely. A book, you’ve read a few times already. A practice, you can do with your eyes closed…walking backwards. Each one revealing another dimension that had been there the entire time.

I think that’s why these four words have mastered the trick of adding meaning without adding character count.

Because they’re alive. They continue teaching.

Recognition. Orientation. Activation. Contribution.

A living idea begins by being recognized. It becomes meaningful when we choose a direction. It comes alive when we breathe life into it. It begins changing the world when we contribute it.

Looking back, I don’t think I painted these four paintings by happenstance

I articulated four capacities. Not instructions for becoming someone else. Instructions for becoming more completely ourselves. That’s why I don’t believe these lessons end when you finish spending time with them.

Because the same thing that happened to me will eventually happen to you.

You’ll return. You’ll reread. You’ll recognize something that wasn’t visible before. And it won’t be because the lesson changed. It’ll be because you did.

I knew then. But now I know more.

Years from now…I hope I’ll be able to say the same thing again about something else. Whether it’s something I created or something someone else did.

As always… in divine time.