Closing the Gap: From Spiritual Concept to Spiritual Experience

Thus sayeth the divine Holy One: “I have called you by your name; you are Mine. Your name is what I gave you. It is your Essence, what you are here to bring into being.”

Who shall remain faithful to this call? Who shall hear it and say: “Yes, I am Yours?” Only those who are faithful to the truths of their deepest heart. Only those. There are many who cannot readily be faithful, even if they might wish to, because they perceive a ‘gap’ between their deepest heart and their daily life experience. They feel it as a chasm that cannot be crossed, and so do not attempt to make the crossing. In this way they remain faith-less, or without faith in what they can be and in what they can accomplish.

“I have called you by your name, but you must rise up to meet Me,” says the Holy One. “I cannot do it for you. You must choose to cross the chasm into the unknown and keep going without knowing where you are going or how you will get there. The gap is not a deterrent. Your faithfulness creates a bridge to the other side of the chasm.

“What is it that I must be faithful to?” asks the mind. “To the values of your deepest heart. To what you hold to be most important. To the knowing that I have called you by your name. Faithfulness to inner truth is the bridge that closes the gap. Do not think this truth is lacking in you. It is not lacking. It is present.

The ‘gap’ exists where there is a spiritual concept or idea about something but not the actual experience of that something. It is the mysterious path of spiritual awakening. Reaching is everything. Longing to cross is everything. One must be persistent and not give up. One must take responsibility for making the climb up the mountain. One must stop thinking that someone else can do it, or give it, or create it. No, it is only you who can cross the gap between concept and experience.

“I have called you by your name” is waiting for you on the other side of the gap “I have called you by your name” believes in your potential to find the way. When you reach toward the other side of the chasm, the other side draws nearer. It cannot make the crossing for you, but it can draw nearer, making it easier to cross. This is what we call divine Grace.

The ‘gap’ is created by the mind that has lost contact with its deeper roots in Being. It now thinks it acts alone. It now tries to act without its deeper roots in truth. That is why even very spiritual people get lost in concepts. Because they are accustomed to their mind conveying to them that thought is the same as experience. It is not. Thought is ‘about’ something. It is not within something. It views its object from a distance, however slight. Experience is ‘within’ something. It just is.

The divine Holy One is calling you by your name, by your Essence. He/She/It is saying “Come to me, my beloved.” Reach across the gap. Do not give up. Do not settle for less than what is possible. Only your heart can bring you to the realm of possibility. It can lead you beyond concept to an experience of truth.

“I have called you by name. You are Mine,” sayeth the divine Holy One, “and I shall wait for you to find Me, for I am the Truth that is everpresent and everlasting. I am what you seek and what you already are beyond the ‘gap.’