SoulCollage® - THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE

I am the one who calls you to “Repent!”
You’re thinking so small.
Lay aside your riches and treasures,
your notions of truth.
Move! From the small mind of EOS,
through the Eye of the Needle
into Beginner’s Mind.
Open your hands and heart;
receive the Mind of Christ
no either/or, us/them, mine/yours,
but instead only the Whole.
Look for the new perspective.


Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 3:5

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Matthew 1”9:24

The “needle”: Bourgeault’s “transformed consciousness”, Zen Roshi’s “beginner’s mind”, Merton’s “point of nothingness”, Jesus’ “poor in spirit”.

The “camel”: our “egoic operating system” [EOS], the small mind, the dualistic thought process, the either/or “binary mind that always perceives from a sense of scarcity and keeps track of the score through comparison and contrast”.

“Repent”: move “beyond the mind…into the larger mind…escape from the orbit of the [EOS]…and move instead into that nondual knowingness of the heart which can see and live from the perspective of wholeness.”

“At the center point of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and illusion, a point of pure truth, a point of spark which belongs entirely to God.” Thomas
Merton

Sometimes it seems Someone Else is doing SoulCollage® for me.

At my class Saturday, I was drawn to this camel—couldn’t put it down. What the heck is this about? Didn’t have a clue, except: “I really like this camel and I know that it has something to say.” So, I cut him out and brought him home.

This morning I picked up Cynthia’s book, and began reading Chapter 4 on repentance, The Path of Metanoia. The camel’s picture popped into my mind! It was so much fun! I could hear Jesus laughing all the way to my studio as I raced to find my camel, and I could hear him, too: “Eye of the needle, Sheila”. Sometimes things just click, and you know you know. You don’t know how you know, but you know you know. And it’s just delicious.

I think I just might learn to love that nasty old word “repentance” again. Surprise!

All quotes except those noted are from Cynthia Bourgeault’s book, The Wisdom Jesus”.