thesoulpurposedotorg

Perhaps I first heard this term in a British movie or novel. Or perhaps it was my own mother who said in response to my exuberance “Contain yourself!” This is hard to do! Easier as the years go by, self-containment has become a virtue I admire and one I attempt to espouse. Whether it be joy, sorrow, pain, fear, or anger, “containing myself” seems to enable a moment of extremity to become a teaching moment with the gift of wisdom. It is not, however, my natural state! Such containment is a painful and constant discipline.

Imagine God containing God-self in the body of an infant child. Was that painful? Did it take the energy of the universe to make this possible? The images of God’s creation in space that we have just now begun to see through the Hubble telescope show a God of exuberance and joyous dance, riotous color and un-contained passion. But to become a human child took Self-Containment that is un-imaginable and therefore, unbelievable to many.

People tell me their sorrows, their fears, their life stories in the strangest of places. This has been true for me most of my life. Even while visiting in Vienna and Munich, old women came up to me and spoke passionately about their children or grandchildren. I had no idea what they were saying until my daughter came to my/their aid and made my ignorance clear. The inevitable laughter ensued and instead of embarrassment, the woman would say, in English, “but you seemed to really understand!”

It seems that self-containment is a signal to others that the emotions and memories they fear will somehow be treated as holy. There is a sense of safety that comes from one who is self-contained yet open-hearted. Yet another paradox of the spirit-led life: Open your heart and Contain yourself!

I once read of a teaching of Christ from the Koran. I believe it went something like this: “See with your heart but do not let your heart be in what you see.” In the process of becoming the Christ-child, God saw with God’s heart and contained God-self for our sake.