iVillage

We mentioned above that our incarnation or life may not be the constant we might imagine. In fact, incarnation is more like something that is renewed or reinstated every day of our lives—in each moment. Like waves on a beach, our every action and thought propels and shapes us toward or away from our sense of self and future.

For starters, it can be helpful to recognize that incarnation is a work in progress, rather than an accomplished fact or state. Incarnation is continuous, ongoing. The end and the means are identical. In other words, the place we are trying to get to and the way we are traveling to get there are one and the same. The place that we are trying to get to is to live happily. Years ago, I wrote,

“Look at yourself,
No better, and yet, not worse.
Now get yourself together in a bunch,
And call what carriage as ye may, your hearse.”

We can all testify to the fact that we are, as Shakespeare pointed out, no more ourselves than we now here live.