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Open to the Light
A man had what he thought to be the best wine ever. He bragged enthusiastically about its deliciousness. One day, this man invited a friend to his home to see this bottle of wine. He had it sitting on a table, having gotten the bottle from the wine cellar before the friend arrived. The conversation went as follows -
May I buy a bottle of this wine?
No, I'm sorry, this is my only bottle.
Well, where did you get it from?
It was in the cellar when I bought the house.
How many bottles of wine were here?
Just this one bottle; so, I have not opened it to drink any of it.
If this is the only bottle, and you have not drunk any of it, how do you know it is the best wine ever made?
Oh, because the man I bought the house from told me.
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In the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 34.8a reads: "Taste and see the LORD is good." This points to experience. "Experience" is from the Latin experientia, "a trial, proof, experiment; knowledge gained by repeated trials."
Our claims of knowledge of Living Truth are theoretical unless we have gained that knowledge by experience, or putting it to the test. This is true even as we can say how something tastes by its taste on the tongue. This intimacy of taste and tongue parallels the intimacy of knowing through intimacy with Life.
The taste of Spirit is confirmed in the heart by the experience of Spirit. Until we experience Spirit, we have only an idea of It. To encounter It, we know It. Spirit and experience of Spirit are one, not two.
This meeting-with leads us beyond confession or belief. The means of Grace cannot give us the taste of Grace, yet they can prepare us to receive the taste... then, we know. Once we know, we cannot unknow.
In this knowing by experience, we know the power of Grace, even as we know the power of the Sun's Light by looking into the Sunlight. In II Timothy 3.4, an early Christian writes in caution, "They have an outward show of religion (or, piety, godliness, devotion) but deny its power. Avoid this kind of people." In the encounter with Grace, one knows the power of Grace and, so, is unable and unwilling to deny it. This knowing begins an ever-deepening realization of that power, for knowledge of Grace grows. And who can say that such experience has an end?
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*© Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
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