Today I reflect on Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" for August 5. He opens with a powerful line from Leonard Cohen's song, "Anthem": "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. . ." What a positive twist to our demand for perfection -- whether of our leaders, our plumbers, our children, our parents, or ourselves! Everything, he sings, has a crack. . . a necessary fault, as it were, so that something new may be born!
Some might call this universal imperfection original sin. What it is called, though, is not nearly so important as its consequence, which is that Jesus, the Light, enters to penetrate the darkness. The flaw is there; we need not be alarmed or surprised when we either discover it in ourselves or take too little time to correct it! That crack, that fault, that flaw has a purpose beyond our immediate understanding! Rohr commends to us the freedom that comes from recognizing this fundamental fact about our humanity. And, then, he encourages us to believe in and accept the light when it comes -- and it always comes!
Early Muslim architects of the exquisitely filigreed Alhambra deliberately carved a "mistake" into the filigree because for them only Allah is perfect! That could be another manifestation of Leonard Cohen's "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
photo originally found at: http://healing.about.com/b/2011/02/03/where-do-i-start.htm
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