by Michael Maciel

There’s a downside to being connected. Being one with others can be powerful when everyone works together, but when panic strikes, or when there is widespread confusion, being connected can be your worst enemy. That’s when you need to disconnect and become centered.

In Christian Mysticism, we understand that the area around the altar is a sanctuary, a refuge, a place set apart from the world. In some churches, the sanctuary has a physical barrier, such as a partition or fence that separates it from the rest of the chapel. This is an outer symbol for an inner reality.

Where is your inner sanctuary?

If you were a devout Catholic, you would be going to church every morning and receiving Communion. You would walk up to the border between this world and the heaven world (the sanctuary), kneel down, and receive the body and blood of Christ.

This is the symbolic equivalent of going within to your own inner sanctuary and receiving your spiritual food from above, from that part of you that is in direct contact with the spiritual cosmos. It is your cosmic reset button. You, and ONLY you, can do this. God is always a one-on-one experience. God doesn’t do groups.

Sin is confusion. Sin is the inability to discern truth—even simple truths. Sin is being so separated from your inner connection with God that you cannot tell when someone is lying to you. Sin is not knowing how you feel.

When the world seems out of control, withdraw from it. Don’t withdraw from it permanently; withdraw from it REGULARLY. At least once a day. Fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, five minutes—just DO it.

The control buttons for a merry-go-round are not on the merry-go-round. They are on a separate console that’s mounted somewhere STATIONARY. That console is inside you. Find it. Use it. Refuse to let the world spin you around. You cannot help the world if you are caught up in its confusion.