Desert of the Mind - Jer 12:11

Neville's Inner Vision

To me, this verse is not a geography lesson but a disclosure of consciousness. The desolate land is the state of mind that arises when the I AM within is not laid to heart; when attention wanders from the living center, thoughts go dry, desires fade, and even the outer world echoes that neglect with a mourning air. The whole land becomes desolate because I forget to tend it with deliberate feeling and imagination. Yet this desolation is not punitive; it is merely a wakeful invitation to return home to the I AM, to revise the assumption that I am separate from my own mind. In the quiet, I realize that the power that makes a barren field bloom is the same I AM that perceives. I can choose to plant attentiveness, energy, and gratitude in the soil of my consciousness, to water my thoughts with intentional feelings, and to harvest peace, purpose, and renewal. By judging no one and nothing outside, I stop abandoning the inner garden and begin supplying it with constant, loving attention through the imagination.