The Room Within

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.

(From Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, 1966, by Thomas Merton, 1915-1968, an American Trappist monk and prolific, influential author in Roman Catholic theology.)

Twia could represent Merton’s point of nothingness, but Christ-within might be a better term given Merton’s Catholicism. Christ-within is a representation of the inner self, or our true nature, in other Christian circles as well, such as Quakers who view it as the inner light and Unity where it shines as God’s reflection in us. In this way, it offers many Christians a direct connection with God because it is the principle that God is in everyone.

This principle in Christianity is the Christ-within, or the center of our being. In Hinduism it is Atman, our spiritual essence or eternal soul. Buddhism ensures that we are the Buddha through our Buddha nature, or potential from within to awaken in compassion and wisdom. And since the Tao is all, I am the Tao. In other words, I am that which I am, or twia, and when we open the door to the room within, we are entering the reality of our true nature.

The idea of the room within as the place in which the inner self dwells is found in The Gospel According to John (14:1-14) where Jesus says that we are not to worry about the future. Why not? Because anxiety gets us nowhere. We have plenty to do in the moment. Mostly, we must prepare the room within for remembering our true nature.

John has Jesus tell us that he knows of a place with many rooms and that he will make them ready for us. The common interpretation of this place is Heaven, but I like to think that the place is the whole of humanity and that we, as individuals, are the many rooms – made ready by the Christ-within (although for me, Christ-within is twia). We are asked to do nothing but know that Christ, or twia, will light the room within.

What does it mean to know? On the practical side it is to open the door and clear the room of our junk. The room is cluttered with such stuff as loneliness; doubts about love and worthiness; fear of not having enough money, possessions, and accomplishments; unmet desires and greed; and hate and resentment. And in the darkest corner, are stacked piles of pain and suffering that we cannot bear to look at.

So, what are we to do? Nothing. Having opened the door to twia, the room is made ready as we hold peace of heart. In the still silence of the moment we are embraced by an emptiness cleared of our junk. The stuff of the past is gone in the moment of realizing that it was never there. It cluttered the room only because we gave it meaning. Without meaning, we lose our attachments to it and release it to twia. In the moment of release, we are ready to remember we are twia and not the me of the body. In the room within, with the past swept away, we dwell anew in the moment letting twia guide us in remembering the way of the path.