First, know yourself, as Marcus Aurelius put it.
The way to do this, and perhaps the only way to do it, is to go within, the one and only place where you could ever really meet yourself-inside yourself.
Easterners figured out how to do this long before the advent of Christianity.
So, we could learn from them.
They call it "meditation.
" Now, what's unfortunate for westerners is that many Christians mistakenly think meditation is some kind of odd practice that "all of those other people do in other religions," but that Christians do not practice.
What these Christians do not know, however, is that meditation, or what they typically call prayer, is about the only kind of praying we ever see Jesus doing.
Take, for example, the words of Jesus when he said, "And, when you pray, do not pray as the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues"-public prayer is still the most common kind of prayer in virtually every church regardless of this clear admonition against it-"but, when you pray," continues Jesus, "go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
" If this is not a clear injunction to the kind of praying more in keeping with what Easterners do in meditation, then what is it? It is in the inner sanctuary of your heart that you will meet yourself and Source itself.
There, in the quiet, stillness of transparency toward God and honesty with ones-self, the transformation of the human soul takes place.
Visit this place regularly.
For me, on most days, I go there in the morning and, again, before falling a sleep at night.
You need not stay long.
You need not say anything.
In fact, learning to quiet the mind, to bring stillness to the relentless stream of thoughts, will likely be the greatest challenge you'll face in what I call "the sacred art of knowing God.
" But, those who persevere will discover the rich reservoir of God's indescribable presence-a presence replete with acceptance, mercy and grace-what the French novelist, Romaine Rolland, called, "the oceanic feeling.
" What I'm describing here is what Brother Lawrence called, "practicing the presence of God.
" The second suggestion is this: Do nothing and accomplish more.
If it is more of God you'd like to know, then give up the western notion that there is anything you must "do" in order to know.
There is nothing you must do to know God.
You know God already.
It is the ego that taunts you with "shoulds," and "oughts," and an endless number of things you must do in order to be deserving of God.
Make it your spiritual practice to be still instead.
Better still, make it your spiritual practice just to "be.
" The psalmist put it this way, "Be still and know that I am God.
" This is all it takes.
Try this, and see what happens.