Page 219 - Built For God Handbook (Annotated and Explained Edition) - The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching - The New Evangelization - Pope John Paul II

153

We are presented here with a commentary upon life, from the womb to the
tomb. At birth, a tiny infant is luminous, almost transparent. As it grows, four
major yet subtle spirit-soul contractions inevitably take place. The tiny child
first realizes it is separate from its mother, like in a mirror. Then it realizes
there is a separation between life and death – animate and inanimate. Third,
there is a separation of mind from body, as a conscious thinking self
emerges. Finally, there is a separation of its own luminosity and complexity
from its conscious awareness – the formation of a shadow.

We are born into a beautiful but wounded world, where lack of love and hurt
will inevitably find us, and we begin to wall off what scares us, what we can’t
handle. Many build self-protective, invisible, spiritual walls or defense
mechanisms of denial and rigidity that rob us of much peace and joy.
Fortunately, aging reverses this process, taking us back through these
separations, hopefully leading us to befriend our shadow. We are invited to
trust, risk, change, and heal to arrive once again at a certain original
innocence and luminosity.

A spiritual hymn articulates that compelling invitation: “Come back to me
with all your heart. Don't let fear keep us apart. Trees do bend, though
straight and tall; so must we to others call. Long have I waited for your
coming home to me, and living deeply our new life.”

b
a 1 Peter 2:1-3; Proverbs 11:19; Psalm 37:8-13; Proverbs 11:5;
Proverbs 28:10.