This is the second in a series of posts during the month of February about our new spiritual novel, Dialogues With the Lord of Time, which is being rolled out this month in various formats.
For this post, we’ll excerpt two sections.
When There Is Only One You
Father continued, “I encourage you to see things for what they are. If you but once look at anything clearly, directly, without judgment or emotion, you will see the truth of that situation. This is the idea behind Buddhist Vipassana meditation, whereby practitioners engage in mindful, insightful observation. You can use all the events in your life to see clearly once you get your mind out of the way. By so doing, you will weed out whatever hypocrisy exists within you. Because right now you are two people: the you who screens everything through the filter of your emotions and prejudices, and the real you—your soul or spiritual self—which is buried under all that. When you eliminate the bogus you, what is left is the real you. And when there is only one you there can be no hypocrisy, because hypocrisy must have two ‘yous’ in order to exist.”
The Highest Teaching
(Note: This excerpt is not the main character Father Christopher speaking, but rather a teaching, akin to a revelation, that Father Christopher transcribed in his Journal.)
“I will give you the highest teaching of all. You learned that the key to your healing rests with you, not anyone else. In the same way, the key to your spiritual transformation rests with you alone. You must change yourself. Do not try to change others. Become love and compassion incarnate, and those in need will find a way to your abode. They will derive a fountain of solace from you.
“To have devotion, become filled with undying faith. To trust, eliminate suspicion within. To give unstintingly, destroy all vestiges of selfishness. To forgive unconditionally, open your heart to everyone. For others to look upon you as loving, rid yourself of animosity and ill will. To walk in the footsteps of God, radiate limitless love unceasingly.”
We will close with a wonderful endorsement we were very fortunate to have received from Prof. Elizabeth Krajewski, which I’ll cite in its entirety:
“John Roger Barrie’s luminous text takes the reader on a voyage into the heart of the world’s great religious traditions. Told with humor and gentle wisdom, Barrie’s tale of the wise Father Christopher is at once deeply personal and utterly universal. It is a timeless parable of seeking, finding, and then integrating spiritual wisdom into human life, a task as urgent now as it has ever been.” —Elizabeth M. G. Krajewski, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor and World Religions Instructor, Humanities Dept., Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
We will continue in February with more posts on Dialogues With the Lord of Time, before resuming our regular posts in March. I should note that I am honored to have an article, “Inner and Outer Transformation” in the current opens in a new window“Transformation” issue of Parabola magazine, now available on selected newsstands everywhere, or online opens in a new windowhere.
All excerpts from Dialogues With the Lord of Time are copyright 2023 by John Roger Barrie, All Rights Reserved.
