Being in the world but not of it.
That's a phrase that goes back to some other traditions.
It's a common Sufi refrain.
And it's pointing to the possibility for all of us.
We all have the possibility of remembering ourselves at our core.
Our core nature,
Our essential nature of our being.
The eternal self that is not limited or confined to the finite limitations of time and space and body and physiology.
And when we connect to that nature,
We have this feeling like we're not of the world.
We're not of the world of time and space of the physical dimension.
We are in a sense beyond all of that.
We're eternal.
We're infinite.
We are a ray of the infinite light.
Now,
When we connect to that light,
That primordial light,
It's what I call the kaduma,
The primordial light of creation.
And we recognize that we are of that nature,
Then a tendency may be to disconnect from the world,
To reject the world because we found something way beyond it,
Way more primordial,
Original,
Fundamental,
Foundational,
Core,
Essential.
However,
What we discover is that actually that being in the world as that ray of light is the fulfillment of the infinite light itself.
That becoming embodied as a finite form and remaining transparent to and a full expression of that light is the fulfillment of the infinite.
And it is what this phrase is pointing to,
To be in the world but not of the world,
To be both fully in the world and transparent to that nature that is beyond the world.
And that is the potential of each of us.
That's my understanding of that phrase.
