Poor Wretch

"You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not."

-- Epictetus

Good ole Epictetus -- never one to mince words! But he's right -- it is indeed a wretched condition to have the Divine within and yet be totally oblivious to It. And that is the very condition of at least 9 out of 10 people on the planet.

But those of us in the blessed 10%, are we not wretched, too? We know God dwells within us, but we sure don't act like it much of the time. We have a sort of spiritual Alzheimers, in which we can't even remember the simplest of things, like the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven really lies within.

Don't believe me? Well, you're right, I can't prove it to you. But if you take the testimony of all the mystics, yogis, saints and sages of every tradition, you come up with what Aldous Huxley called "the perennial philosophy." And the number one tenet of that philosophy is, of course, "God dwells within you, as you."

So, just for today, believers and skeptics alike, sit down, shut up and look for that little God morsel, that little speck of light, that still, small voice within. And then go forth, be fruitful and multiply! Oops, wrong script. Then, go out in the world, and even if you, don't feel God within, act like you do. You've got it -- fake your own enlightenment! Live the way you think you would live if your actions were being directed by the Divine rather than by your own puny ego. Be God for a day.