Behold! It’s an old word, fallen out of use for quite some time now. To me, it’s kind of a strange word. It almost has a mysterious or magical quality to it. Technically, it means to look upon or gaze upon. To “behold”, then, is to “see”. I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is, “what do we see, and what does it mean”. Whether it be an object or a person, we notice something, we become aware of something. My friends, this is a good thing, for it helps us understand that we are conscious, we can think, we can feel, we are aware. Let it be said, we are indeed alive! The problem we face, however, is that once we become aware, once we behold, we stop there. Our involvement with the experience we are having ends there. In a way, then, our experience is not complete.
Although observation is a critical skill we must have in life, for this is how we learn, what we see must also somehow be applied, otherwise what has come to our awareness has no value. The implication is that once we see something, we need to do something with it. As you all know, our goal here in this Earthly existence is to learn how to create. What we behold, then, must be brought forward into our lives in a practical way. Everything we see may have some use for us to improve ourselves, our lives, our world. I say, may have some use, for just because we become aware of something, doesn’t necessarily mean we have to bring it in and use it. Although, it is worth a try! The important thing to recognize is there are possibilities. We have the opportunity to choose, and then we must apply. Once we take action, once we do something, what we have observed or beheld has served its purpose. This completes the creative process. Sounds easy enough, does it not? Maybe, not so easy!
The very reason we behold someone or something, and then stop there, has some very important implications for us to consider. Let’s say we admire someone. They have some great ability. This person and the ability they show us seems magical, and then we become mesmerized by it. My friends, it seems magical, because we believe we do not have the same ability. We believe we cannot have it, that we cannot bring it into our own lives and use it also. We behold the beholden, and the creative process ends. What this creates in our lives is unfortunate, a real problem, and we’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s take a look at someone most of us behold in every possible way, the World Teacher, the Christ. My friends, we might as well go to the highest possible role models, that of our Great Spiritual Teachers, and the point I’m attempting to make will be that much clearer to you.
We behold the Great Ones, we see the miracles they perform. Then we make a most unnecessary and unfortunate assumption. That is, we can never be like them, or do what they are able to do. We admire, we are in awe, and we let that be the end of it. The same holds true about anyone we admire in our lives. Again, if we remain beholden, if we let that be enough, we will never understand who we are. You see, we fail to recognize that what we observe is only the first step in the creative process. The next step is to do something. The Christ and all other Spiritual Teachers came to show us who we are also. We do have the same abilities as they do. We come from the same stock. It is this we must accept, for if we do not, all of their hard work has served no purpose. Their lives have no meaning. Dare I say, our lives have no meaning or purpose either. To turn this all round, we need to know today, beyond any doubt, that we must do and be the same as them. Now, if we expect to be a Christ or a Buddha today or even tomorrow, I’m afraid we will surely fail. Although this is our intended goal, and we are well on our way, we have to be realistic. But, to believe it is not possible, we will never even try. We have to begin. What will give us a great start is to know that even the Christ himself did not arrive at his glorious state of being in one moment. He is not special or unique. He worked very hard to achieve. My fellow souls, if we are to truly behold Him, we must behold ourselves, for we are the same. It is only a matter of time and effort.
If we continue to be mesmerized by that which we behold, and do nothing to follow up, what do you think happens next? Well, it is a great misunderstanding that will happen next. We create the idea that we will be taken care of. We believe it is possible for someone else to do things for us. If you are wondering why the world is in the condition that it is in, this is the reason why. The difficult, but necessary realization we must have is that our suffering is created by a lack of willingness, participation, and a simple doing. Do you think the Christ came here to show off? Our common sense will surely tell us no. It must also be understood that He, and every other Great One, did not come here to save us. But, they did come to show us who we are and what we are capable of. They did give us every piece of information we need to save ourselves. It’s ok, I believe we are doing quite well. I also believe we could do a lot better. We know that apathy and inertia have no place in our current time. There is no more blame that can go anywhere anymore. We are given a beautiful world. We are given many fellow human beings who are equally beautiful. An even better world, an even better self? That’s up to us. My friends, behold, then do. Behold, then be the same.
Behold the beholden
We must behold ourselves
It is our opportunity today
*For those of you who have a little background in the esoteric traditions, the above image has some pretty decent symbology, if you care to take another look. For those of you just getting started, well, we can all appreciate color, shape, form, just a simple beauty. All is art, and all is beauty. All is energy, and all is quality. It is life. Each of us will indeed have our own interpretation, and this we will surely add to the greater whole. My friends, what a spectacular universe, what a beautiful world we all belong to! All that we see could not be what it is without us. Each of us has something to provide to make it even better. Yes, to create the better we have to do things. Why wait till later? We have everything we need. Let’s go ahead and create how we would like things to be, and let’s create it together. We have so much potential. We really have no idea who and what we are becoming. Anything and everything is possible for us today. All we have to do is the best we can. All we have to do is let it unfold. All we have to do is try.
Much love and support, be well