WHAT DRAWS US TO THE SPIRITUAL PATH?
Last Wednesday evening several of my friends and I gathered together to begin what we hope will be a time to come together every week to discuss spiritual topics and to share the spiritual path with one another. I opened the discussion with the purpose of our being together and that this included being open and tolerant of other people’s opinions, ideas, experiences, and beliefs. I then opened the floor for anyone to begin to share something that was a question or something they wanted to discuss.
The first person to speak wanted to explore what it means to live a spiritual life. It was an excellent way for this group to begin. The meeting of souls went very well as it does in this Internet medium with the added nicety that we were face to face, could hug one another if we felt moved to, and had lovely refreshments afterwards with more fellowship with one another. We gathered around the kitchen island laden with delectable finger foods prepared with loving and thoughtful hands and there began a continuum of spiritual discussion. I think sooner or later we recognize wherever we go, with whomever we speak, and no matter the topic that we carry our spiritual vista with us. Everything, every discussion can be done from a spiritual standpoint no matter what. It only takes some awareness on our part to begin to be able to do that.
This morning these questions became ones I wanted to explore: What makes people become drawn to a spiritual path? What causes people to seek a deeper path from perhaps the one they are currently on?
I think many if not most will admit that they had some crisis in their lives or some event that brought them to a place of surrender. Perhaps it was a curiosity that had not yet begun to be satisfied with their present orientation. Perhaps it was an indescribable yearning deep inside that called to them. It could have been almost anything or combination of things but what is most important is that there was a shift within and they heard and answered the call no matter how the wake-up call came.
There seems to be an innate longing and need that abides in all of us and that is to love and to be loved. Personally I believe that this is part of what calls us to a spiritual path.
In his book After the Ecstasy, Laundry Jack Kornfield says this:
The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another, when we are there in the most attentive or caring way. This simple and profound intimacy is the love that we all long for. These moments of touching and being touched can become a foundation for a path with heart, and they take place in the most immediate and direct way. Mother Teresa put it like this: “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”
How we get on the path is not important but that we get there is. The path is not really a way. I think the path is an awareness we have that we are trying to find something we think we have lost but was there all along. We think we travel a long way but we never left where we were. The only thing that changes is our degree of awareness or awakening to the Love within. We find what was there all along. Until we have that very personal experience of connection with our Source we are incapable of becoming the limitless, loving, clairvoyant (that is clear seeing) being that we are. The more we are aware of our connection with Source and therefore with all that is; the more we are in tune with the will of God; the more we become the love that we are and the more peace and joy we will experience. We will also most likely see, if we are willing, that every thing that has ever happened to us was a call to Love, to Source, to awakening. It was and is all good. Whatever helps to get us awakened and alive for the first time in our lives doesn’t matter; that we did, does.
The first person to speak wanted to explore what it means to live a spiritual life. It was an excellent way for this group to begin. The meeting of souls went very well as it does in this Internet medium with the added nicety that we were face to face, could hug one another if we felt moved to, and had lovely refreshments afterwards with more fellowship with one another. We gathered around the kitchen island laden with delectable finger foods prepared with loving and thoughtful hands and there began a continuum of spiritual discussion. I think sooner or later we recognize wherever we go, with whomever we speak, and no matter the topic that we carry our spiritual vista with us. Everything, every discussion can be done from a spiritual standpoint no matter what. It only takes some awareness on our part to begin to be able to do that.
This morning these questions became ones I wanted to explore: What makes people become drawn to a spiritual path? What causes people to seek a deeper path from perhaps the one they are currently on?
I think many if not most will admit that they had some crisis in their lives or some event that brought them to a place of surrender. Perhaps it was a curiosity that had not yet begun to be satisfied with their present orientation. Perhaps it was an indescribable yearning deep inside that called to them. It could have been almost anything or combination of things but what is most important is that there was a shift within and they heard and answered the call no matter how the wake-up call came.
There seems to be an innate longing and need that abides in all of us and that is to love and to be loved. Personally I believe that this is part of what calls us to a spiritual path.
In his book After the Ecstasy, Laundry Jack Kornfield says this:
The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another, when we are there in the most attentive or caring way. This simple and profound intimacy is the love that we all long for. These moments of touching and being touched can become a foundation for a path with heart, and they take place in the most immediate and direct way. Mother Teresa put it like this: “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”
How we get on the path is not important but that we get there is. The path is not really a way. I think the path is an awareness we have that we are trying to find something we think we have lost but was there all along. We think we travel a long way but we never left where we were. The only thing that changes is our degree of awareness or awakening to the Love within. We find what was there all along. Until we have that very personal experience of connection with our Source we are incapable of becoming the limitless, loving, clairvoyant (that is clear seeing) being that we are. The more we are aware of our connection with Source and therefore with all that is; the more we are in tune with the will of God; the more we become the love that we are and the more peace and joy we will experience. We will also most likely see, if we are willing, that every thing that has ever happened to us was a call to Love, to Source, to awakening. It was and is all good. Whatever helps to get us awakened and alive for the first time in our lives doesn’t matter; that we did, does.
posted by Brendisima | 4:44 AM
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