Excerpt from Chapter 7 (p. 187)
Now we come to Receive as an operational mode of spiritual surrender. It is both passive and aggressive in how it occurs and how we look for it, hungrily, to satisfy our basic needs as well as deeper longings. I was confirmed at twelve years old to receive communion. This experience takes place in Catholic and apostolic churches around the world, and is an example of the principle’s religious manifestation.
Receive is related to perceive in that the root share is the French –ceivre from the Latin capere meaning “take.” Receive means “back-take,” whereas perceive means “entirely take.” The Key says advises us to draw closer to the path of the blessed. Only if we choose this path will we be able to use our perception for reception, for observing when a receiving or taking-back opportunity becomes available. Indeed, perceiving is receiving. It is similar to Ask in the way a thoughtful inquiry contains its answer. Receive has within it “entirely taking” or perceiving that something is there to literally be-hold. This perceptual readiness explains the openness of the principle—imagine arms open wide—which its dictionary definitions suggest:
- be given, presented with, or paid (something)
- detect or pick up (broadcast signals)
- form (an idea or impression) as a result of perception or experience
- consent to formally hear (an oath or confession)…
Each person or group takes what life gives, as in “she received her prize” or “businesses will receive a tax cut.” These meanings contain the notion of taking back something already given or understood. The other meanings are discussed later in this chapter. The definition continues:
- suffer, experience, or be subject to (specified treatment)
- (usu. be received) respond to (something) in a specified way
- meet with (a specified response or reaction)
- (as adj. received) widely accepted as authoritative or true
- provide space or accommodation for
Receive as “suffer” or “be subject to” leans toward the ability to “take it,” as in “withstand.” “Taking on,” as in interacting with, embracing and involving, corresponds to the “receiving line.” You are in line to get something in return for what your life has given. This is the norm at weddings, funerals, political campaigns, and red carpet occasions. Without the cultural input or giving-in of the public or community, there would be nothing to receive or take back. “Provide space or accommodation for” tells you to create enough space to receive:
O you who believe, if you are told, “Please make room, you shall make room
for each other to sit. God will then make room for you.
If you are asked to get up and move, get up and move.
God raises those among you who believe,
and those who acquire knowledge to higher ranks.
God is fully Cognizant of everything you do. –HQ Al-Mujaadalah/The Debate 58:11
The message is, be prepared to move over as well as to be raised up. We have to make room for others to receive just as we have.
WHAT MAKES RECEIVE A UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE?
There are many ways to accept the blessing of this principle, and connecting these facets reveals the extraordinary gift it is. This chapter explores how “…in the right path, the path of those whom You blessed” constitutes Receive as an ideal state and as an energy. Receive energy leads to the last two principles, Push and Expand.
In this way, the energy of loving living shifts from conception (Name, Praise, Master), navigates through collaboration (Unify, Serve, Ask), and evolves into infinity (Receive, Push, Expand). Receive reminds us of an impressionable and passive state, Push makes us think of effort and overcoming, and Expand means holding or including everything while also erasing limitations.
As the theme for the section, stillness refers to slowing down and withdrawing from a questing motion and movement of energy, which was palpable in Ask. Receive suggests the quiet work of hibernation through an accepting perseverance. The path of the blessed anticipates resolution and closure. Sections are: Special Delivery, Opening to Receive, The Right Path, The Law of Attraction, Trouble in Paradise, Ubuntu and Karma, Metaphysics, Purification, Shareholding, and Denial (my personal story).(…. continues)
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