Verse 38: “I am revealing in words what I saw in my Father’s presence; and you are revealing in action what you learned from your father.”
In this Scripture, Jesus makes a distinction to the Pharisees between following God the Father and following the earthly father. While in a physical body, we experience the Divine Father as the inner dynamic, stimulating, life-generating force we often call Spirit.
Symbolically, the Pharisees represent our ego/self when we follow the learned “should, must, ought to” messages of the outer world (represented by the earthly father). Like the Pharisees, we are often attached to what we have experienced and inherited from the past. We can be convinced of its “rightness” or resigned to its presence. We may hold on to it even though something more life giving is present in the now.
All of us have struggled to change a behavior, to shift a mood, to cultivate a different belief, or to relate more truthfully. We must deal with the reality that our body and mind, the vehicle through which psyche/soul flows, operates out of patterns. Our automatic body functions—breathing, digestion, heartbeat—go on because of patterns or repetitive paths the energy takes. Our emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies also function in this way.
Some patterns allow for a free flow of our libido/life force; some patterns stop or divert our Divine Essence to unhealthy ways. The unhealthy ways usually have arisen based on the meaning and interpretation we have given to past experiences. The sense we make of our body sensations, emotions, thoughts, and feelings are conditioned by the outer world. The resulting reflexive body sensations, emotions, thoughts, and feelings may or may not allow for a healthy, free-flowing expression of the Divine life force through us.
Carl Jung once wrote we cannot solve a problem in the same state of consciousness in which it was conceived. When we want to change something, we need a connection to the Inner Divine that will pull us beyond the repetitive, conditioned patterns. By seeking to know the larger Self/God Within, we open to moments of feeling and knowing the Divine authority within us. It is the Self that has the power, compassion, and energy that can shift the ego and the adaptive, conditioned self.
Inner Reflection
Where and how you are loyal to the learned patterns of the past? Identify undesired repetitive experiences to see the “father” patterns. Where are you open to the new, life-creating movement of the Inner Divine Spirit? Where do you sense a new way, the presence of the Divine Self, but stay attached to the old? In whatever way your Inner Divine Spirit leads, set intention to follow the guidance and authority of the Inner Divine.