Wednesday, April 29, 2009

All Life Is Spiritual

When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to.
-Pema Chodron

The idea of living a spiritual life is full of notions about what that might mean and how it is supposed to look. I am currently trying to live a spiritual life that overcomes many years of Catholic guilt as well as other people's ideas about what a spiritual life is. I wish I could talk about it without even using the term "spiritual life". For me the spiritual path is an unmarked trail into the unknown. It's debatable whether or not the path I am on is even spiritual. My experience tells me that what often feels spiritual is perhaps not spiritual at all while that which seems unspiritual may be the most spiritual of all. One of my goals is to eliminate the whole question of what's spiritual and what is not spiritual. My goal is to simply live and evolve into a more authentic person. I find that much about religion is an obstacle to attaining this goal. Religion has too many expectations, too many rules, to say nothing about being judgmental and exclusive. Although I do not live a monastic life, I like the archetype of the wandering monk. I am not talking about the kind of wandering monk criticized by St. Benedict in his Rule for Monasteries. I am thinking more about a kind of "monk" who has no roots in this world. Something that is perhaps closer to a Brahmin in the Buddhist tradition. This kind of "monk" is someone like myself who is open to where life takes him and who tries to see all the experiences of life as lessons from which to learn. In addition to an openness to what life can teach you, there is also an openness to the transcendent and the extraordinary that can be found in the ordinary events and moments of daily life. It's almost a return to the primeval experience of the "Other" before religion took over spirituality. Does this make sense to anyone but me?

Speaking of the spiritual life....check this out. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Mystic.

I can't explain why, but the phrase came to mind, "the lad doth protest too much."

What is really up with all this?

Vicente de la Fuente said...

Gaining an understanding of the reality of spiritual life and its relevance to our day-to-day concerns is very important and necessary. It is more consuming and embracing step is to bring this wisdom into the world through action. Words, and even noble emotion, will not suffice.