Reverence

Hallelujah.

Reverence God and treat him like the God that he is.

I want you to begin to reverence God.

God will show himself strong in your life.

And he was suggesting that experiences, transcendental experiences of awe and wonder can sometimes transform people, open them up, but other times it can cause them to double down on their existing beliefs and structures, right? And there's also interesting books like Zen at War, where the idea and the experience of transcendental oneness might be the excuse to go ahead and participate in the slaughter of people, right? So there has to be some other factor.

Reverence is what Verveke was talking about, goodness, something like that.

And It's a curious thing because Einstein spent his life trying to be a very precise clarifier of things.

He would go over and over his own speech, his own mathematics, trying to get a very precise articulation of the principles of reality.

Well, I mean...

Reverence says that we must revere, and, you know, we're supposed to be on our knees and... you know, in reverence, as he stands above us and shows us the way.

Right?

Like, that's...

Okay.

Reverence, and then I loved some of the main points you brought out with reverence, that reverence doesn't always have to be somber, right? It can be.

It can be.

There can be a very somber quietness to reverence, but it can be joyful.

So of the weeds of worship which spring up in the priest-ridden mind.

Reverence may be cultivated by superstition.

Good conduct may be enforced by terror.

If superstition and terror be exploded, the reverence and good conduct must be cared for and be better directed.

Sometimes, after a painful mistake, people become so cautious they lose joy.

Learning reverence does not make David emotionally cold.

Reverence gives his celebration a stronger foundation.

Truth does not have to kill joy.

Truth can deepen joy.

David bringing the ark into Jerusalem teaches us that failure does not have to become the final chapter.

Corrected worship can become deeper worship.

Reverence and joy belong together.

So those are some that I came across, but then my favorite is probably this one.

Reverence is what happens when love and awe collide.

Okay.

Where'd that come from? That's good.

And they fall down and shout Hosanna.

I think reverence starts to...

Reverence can be loud.

I think they were shouting.

Accept no person against thine own person, nor against thy soul a lie.

Reverence not thy neighbor in his fall, and refrain not to speak in the time of salvation.

Hide not thy wisdom in her beauty, for by the tongue wisdom is discerned, and understanding and knowledge and learning by the word of the wise, and steadfastness in the works of justice.

In no wise speak against the truth, but be ashamed of the lie of thy ignorance.

This is a conviction that Edgar lacks.

Paul Woodruff, a professor of humanities at the University of Texas in Austin, expresses the importance of reverence.

Reverence begins in a deep understanding of human limitations.

From this grows the capacity to be in awe of whatever we believe lies outside our control, God, truth, justice, nature, even death.

The capacity for awe, as it grows, brings with it the capacity for respecting fellow human beings, flaws and all.

It allows him to accept his own and others' human limitations, the limitations that Edgar so resents.

It allows him to reconcile himself to the idea of a maker who continues to shape and direct events and to trust that maker after he has done all he can.

Reverence brings Felix peace.

I'm Dr. Laurel Trujillo, host and producer of the show.

And today, it's my pleasure to welcome Cynthia Abulafia, author of the book that we're going to be discussing, Embodying the Goddess, How to Awaken Curiosity and Reverence on the Spiritual Path.

Cynthia Abulafia is an author, academic, and lineage practitioner who studies and teaches the divine feminine.

She has taught yoga, non-dual self-inquiry, and the energetic body for over 20 years.

Like the smaller we feel we are, the more powerfully we can turn toward the infinite and whole.

Merge into it.

Also a reminder for our listeners today, my guest is Cynthia Abulafia, author of the book that we're discussing today, Embodying the Goddess, How to Awaken Curiosity and Reverence on the Spiritual Path.

You can find out more about Cynthia Abulafia at her website, Cynthia Abulafia is A-B-U-L-A-F-I-A, CynthiaAbulafia.com.