Luke 6:43-49.
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed, and its destruction was complete.”
As the most devout believers of any faith tradition mature, they find themselves quietly and undramatically allowing the fruit of their lives to speak for itself more than relying on conversionist tactics. That’s truly the fruit of real conversion, when our lives (not our words) validate authentic transformation. The movement from basic knowledge to principled understanding to embodied integration is the idealized essence of mastery in any growth process.
Truth is meant to be lived — in our everyday, embodied lives. But truth can be hard to find when it has been hidden from us for so long behind our personality. The English word personality is derived from the Latin word for “mask.” Simply put, our personality is the mask we wear. Taking off that mask, trying to get behind the mask, is the work of the spiritual journey. A mark of spiritual growth is when we stop polishing the mask and instead start working on our character.
The English word character comes from the Greek word meaning “engraving into stone.” The Holy Spirit, like the most talented of sculptors, sculpts and mould us and reveal our soul’s essence in its purest form. Awakening to what the Holy Spirit exposes within us often leads to an urgent unmasking of our false identity, what has become our personality. Embracing a contemplative approach to working with the Holy Spirit allows for discernment to develop, and we soon realize that contrary to pop psychology, personality is not fixed. Spiritual growth and transformation are the result of exposing the masks or illusions of personality and getting to the core of identity. We wake up when we stop fuelling our own self-preoccupation and allow self-realization to serve as an invitation to deep union with ourselves and God, which naturally leads to solidarity with others.
