Greetings Friends,
Thank you for reading and listening this week! Below is a short contemplation from Brother Lawrence's classic The Practice of the Presence of God, along with links to last week’s podcasts and meditations.
Until next week, be wise and be well!
📿 Letting Go of the Fruits
This week’s contemplation comes from a seventeenth-century lay brother from a Carmelite monastery known as Brother Lawrence. He is the author of the classic work The Practice of the Presence of God (compiled after his death).
Brother Lawrence wrote,
Our sanctification does not depend upon changing what we do, but in doing for God’s sake what we normally do for our own sake. It is sad to see how many people mistake the means for the end, addicting themselves to religious works, which they perform very imperfectly because of their human or selfish motives.
The most excellent method he had found of going to God was to do our normal activities without any view of pleasing men, and (as far as we are able) purely for the love of God.
Regardless of religious beliefs (or lack thereof), it’s interesting to consider one’s motives. A consistent theme across philosophical and spiritual traditions is doing good for its own sake.
The Bhagavad Gita says,
Do not let the fruit of action be your motive….
Similarly, Christian scripture advises,
When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing….
Contemplation Questions (Pick one or create your own!):
What does it mean to embody works for the common good?
How does one begin to discover the “why” of their actions?
This Week’s Meditations…
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Thank you for reading/listening this week; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
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I love this perspective, thank you so much for sharing this 👏