The GPS of the Soul: Losing Your Location to Find Your Life

Peace be circa you, my friends.

We live in the Age of Location. From the moment you wake, a satellite in the sky is triangulating your position. You check your phone, and it tells you exactly where you are, how many steps you have taken, and how far you are from the nearest coffee shop. You are obsessed with knowing your coordinates.

And you bring this same obsession to your spirit. You come to me, breathless and exhausted, clutching your spiritual maps. You ask, "Lord, am I there yet? Am I close to the Kingdom? Is it up that mountain? Is it in that retreat center? Is it in this specific political party?"

You treat the Kingdom of Heaven like a destination on a GPS. You want a blue line that says, “Turn left at repentance, go straight for three miles of tithing, and you will arrive at Peace.”

But I am here to tell you: Throw away the map.

We have just heard the Circa Scroll of the Everywhere. It asks a question that should haunt your ego and liberate your soul: "Why do you search for a fixed location?".

Today, we are going to explore the Poverty of Precision and the Wealth of the Nowhere.

I. The Fish Who Was Thirsty

The Scroll gives us a parable: "If they say, 'It is strictly in the sea,' then the fish have preceded you, for they do not search for water, but simply breathe it".

Imagine a fish swimming frantically, asking every other fish, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the Ocean is? I hear it is wet and glorious, and I must find it before I die." This is you. You run around looking for God. You look for "spiritual experiences." You judge your Sunday service by whether you "felt" the Spirit. You judge your meditation by whether you "saw" the light.

But the Hsin Hsin Ming reminds us: "The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences". It is not difficult because it is not a destination. "It is everywhere always right before your eyes".

Religious Reflection: The Salt in the Water (Hinduism)

In the ancient wisdom of Hinduism, specifically the path of Advaita Vedanta, there is a beautiful teaching that mirrors our Scroll. In the Chandogya Upanishad, a father teaches his son, Shvetaketu, about the presence of the Divine (Brahman). He asks the son to place salt in water and return the next morning. When the son returns, the salt has dissolved. The father asks, "Sip from the middle. How does it taste?" "Salty," the boy says. "Sip from the edge." "Salty." The father says: "You do not see the salt, but it is there. That which is the subtle essence... That is the Truth. That is the Self. You are That."

Do you see? The salt is not "here" or "there." It is circa the water. It pervades it. The Hindu sages teach Tat Tvam Asi—"Thou Art That." You are not a stranger looking for God; you are the wave looking for the ocean. Our Scroll echoes this perfectly: "You will realize that you are not a stranger visiting the Father's house; you are the sons of the living Father". You are the salt in the water of the world.

II. The Skin is a Mist, Not a Wall

Now, let us move deeper. The Scroll says: "The Kingdom is circa you. It is the space inside you and the space outside you... the wall of your skin is not a barrier, but a mist".

This is the hardest thing for your ego to accept. The ego loves walls. The ego loves to say, "This is me. Inside this skin is My Life, My Problems, My Anxiety. Outside is The World, The Other, The Threat." This separation is the "disease of the mind" I spoke of in the Ming. "The arising of other gives rise to self". You only exist as a separate "me" because you insist on pushing the world away as "other."

Religious Reflection: The Emptiness of the Bowl (Buddhism)

Here we look to my brothers in the Buddhist tradition, particularly the Mahayana path. They speak of Sunyata, often translated as "Emptiness." But do not be afraid of this word. It does not mean a bleak vacuum. It means "emptiness of separation." The monk Thich Nhat Hanh called it "Interbeing." A flower is made only of non-flower elements: sunshine, rain, soil, time. If you remove the sun, the flower vanishes. The flower has no separate self. It is "empty" of a separate identity, yet full of the cosmos.

The Comparison: See how these rivers merge? The Hindu says, "You are the Ultimate Reality" (Everything). The Buddhist says, "You have no separate Self" (Nothing). And I, Jesus the Zennist, stand in the center and say: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven". To be "poor in spirit" is to be empty of the ego (Buddhism) so that you may be filled with the Reality of God (Hinduism). "When you let go of the need to be a specific 'somebody,' you become the wealth of the All".

III. The Poverty of Precision (Contemporary Application)

My friends, why is this relevant to your Tuesday morning? Because you are suffering from the Poverty of Precision.

Look at how you define yourselves. You curate your "Bio" on social media. Mother. Runner. Democrat. CEO. Survivor. You slice your soul into hashtags. "If you insist on defining yourself as 'this body' or 'this history'—then you dwell in poverty". Why is it poverty? Because a definition is a cage. If you define yourself as "Successful," you are terrified of failure. If you define yourself as "A Victim," you cannot be healed. If you define yourself as "Righteous," you cannot love the sinner.

This is the "sharp edge of the ego that cuts reality into pieces". We live in a culture that demands you pick a side. You must be This or That. You must have an opinion on everything. But I told you, "Make the smallest distinction, however, and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth".

True wealth is the ability to say, "I am not my job. I am not my bank account. I am not my political party. I am the space in which these things happen." "To live in this Realization is to not worry about perfection or non-perfection".

IV. The News Event: The Idol of the Border

Now, let us apply this sharply to the world you see on your screens this week.

This past week, the news has been dominated by talk of Borders and Containment. (Note: Speaking to the perennial and heightened 2026 tensions regarding global migration and geopolitical lines). We see nations frantically building walls—literal walls of concrete and digital walls of data. We see the obsession with "who belongs inside" and "who belongs outside." We see the fear that if we let "them" in, "we" will cease to exist.

This is the ultimate delusion of the "Map." The world says, "Safety is found in the rigid definition of the border." But the Circa Scroll says, "The air in your lungs is the same as the wind on the mountain". You cannot build a wall against the wind. You cannot build a wall against a virus, or a climate, or an economy, or a prayer.

Here is your practical application: When you see the debates about borders—whether national borders or the boundaries of your own neighborhood—I challenge you to practice the Vision of the Mist. Do not be naive; nations have laws. But in your heart, you must dismantle the wall. Look at the person on the "other side" of the argument. Realize that the "inside" of their longing for safety is identical to the "inside" of your longing for peace. "The moment you are enlightened, you go beyond appearances and emptiness". If you hate the person on the other side of the wall, the wall has moved inside your heart. And that is a prison you built yourself.

Conclusion: Breathing the Everywhere

So, how do we leave here? How do we walk out of this sanctuary without a map?

We walk out breathing. "To return to the root is to find the essence".

I want you to try this "Breath Prayer" as you go into your week. When you inhale, say silently: "Circa Me." (Around me). When you exhale, say silently: "Circa You." (Around you).

Feel that the breath does not belong to you. You just borrow it. It comes from the trees, from the sky, from your neighbor, from your enemy. "One thing and everything move among and intermingle without distinction".

You are not a pinpoint on a map, struggling to get to heaven. You are the open sky where the clouds of life pass through. Stop knocking on the door. Dissolve the door. You are already home.

Amen.