“THE FORGOTTEN MAN”
One morning, at 6am, I was brought up short seeing a man sleeping on cold asphalt…..he was embracing a bottle of liquor. Where does the mind go with this? “Pity, shame, judgment, step quick and get away from this human debris.” ”What can I do?” “Should I do anything at all?” “How did he let this happen to himself?”
A gentle realization came to me, it was as if I heard a whisper, ”He’s forgotten”. Not that ‘others’ have forgotten, but rather, he’s forgotten himself and has become an island of misery unto himself. Yes! It may take another to show him the way (be an example), but ultimately it is ‘he’ that ‘must remember’. To remember what? To remember that he can exercise the greatest of all gifts…..the ability to choose differently. He can say, “No” to the past. I have felt for years that within the parable of The Prodigal Son, six words hold a secret: “And when he came to himself….”. Could this possibly mean, “and when he awoke to his divine nature”, or, “and when he let go of his ego mind”. Oh, to say, “I have come to my ‘Self’, surrendered to Divine will, and forgotten the natural man.”
I could have easily called this piece….”Judge not the wounded soul”.
SCOTT ROGERS
13″ wide x 3 1/2″ high x 8″ deep
Edition of #30
October 2nd, 2017 at 5:17 AM
My husband and I were recently at the Eilterjorg museum in Indy. As we were viewing all the works, we both stopped short at your bronze piece and read the paragraph underneath. I could tell my husband lingered there a little longer as well and I asked him if he was thinking the same thing I was and he said “yes, I’m thinking about Jordan” Our son is in a good place (good job, accomplished, beautiful wife) as far as the world is concerned but he is in a far country as far as his relationship with God is concerned. This piece has helped me to pray for him that he would “come to himself” and realize his emptiness spiritually.