spirituality – Page 4

Peace On Earth

December 20, 2018

. . . As I see it, the human task is threefold. First, the human spirit must connect to the Eternal by turning toward God’s immanence and ineffability with yearning. Second, each person must explore the inner reality of his or her humanity, facing unmet potential and catastrophic failure with unmitigated honesty and grace. Finally, each one of us must face the unlovable neighbor, the enemy outside of our embrace, and the shadow skulking in the recesses of our own hearts. Only then can we declare God’s perplexing and unlikely peace on earth. . . . Read More

The Balance Between Action And Contemplation

September 18, 2018

Note: Richard Rohr has written much about the balance between action and contemplation, a common spiritual duality we all navigate. In fact, he is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Many of these ideas are informed by his writing.

I have been thinking a lot about the balance between action and contemplation. I first learned of this precarious duality when I was in college (around 18 years ago) and it continues to be a dynamic push and pull in my life. Many of us struggle with contemplation, the practice of focusing inward using the many forms of self-reflection, prayer and meditation. We live in an impulsive and compulsive culture that values action versus reflection, so we are not given to this apparent inaction, but action without contemplation will be impulsive and misguided. Contemplation without action is equally unconstructive, however. Why do honest and deep reflection and then fail to act on the knowledge gained? A healthy life strikes a balance of action and contemplation. Read More

The Dreaded Black-Or-White Thinking Turned On Ourselves

September 2, 2018

We need to get past our black-or-white thinking. We all learn some version of right and wrong when we are growing up. The problem is many of us get stuck there and never move beyond this type of thinking. I’m not saying there aren’t right and wrong. It’s important to be able to do some critical thinking about things – even ourselves at times, but if you just land on a set of strict rules and apply it in any and every situation, you’re missing the point. First of all, you will consistently be presented with people and situations that challenge your set of rules. That’s one problem. The bigger problem is that you’ll judge yourself and everyone else based on those rules. You’ll spend your life trying to make sure you stay on the “right side of the law,” and condemn people who don’t. Inevitably, that will be you at times. Read More

Reconciliation/Repair

May 21, 2017

You will always be in conflict and there will always be a need for reconciliation and repair. The people around you are different than you, and your competing desires produce tension, sometimes agonizingly so. It is not hard to see the world around you is in turmoil. You are probably even in conflict within yourself. Repair, or reconciliation, is what brings all things together. Any beauty we see is the orchestrating of disparate parts into a state of resonance. We must learn to enact this type of reconciliation and practice it routinely. If we do not do it daily, things fragment and fall apart. Read More

#WhiteHelmets

January 2, 2017

I am captivated by this story about the white helmets (watch the first 12 minutes of the video above). This takes place in a different world than the one in which most of us live. It is a different culture and a different political climate: a dictatorship in which the dictator seeks to bomb his own subjects into submission. People are not even safe in their own homes. This is not the first regime of this kind in the Middle East, but it is a far cry from the relative comfort we enjoy in the west. Yet compassionate humanity is juxtaposed with the darkest violence and cruelty.

What strikes me about this group of rescuers is their willingness to risk their own lives for the chance to save others. This is not the only story of humans giving up their lives for one another. I write about all who have chosen to risk life and limb for others. Anyone who has put themselves in the position to sacrifice for others has reached a level of spirituality to which we can all aspire: they have given their most precious life for something they believe in. As they sacrifice their lives, they say to us, “There is something that exists beyond life that is more important than life itself.” This is what gives our lives meaning. We might be tempted to think they are foolish to risk their lives depending on their cause, but we can also not help being inspired: “Could I be that brave?” The unmistakeable meaning that is demonstrated in such selfless sacrifice is that love trumps all. Our connection with one another is worth dying for. Read More

Listen For The Sound

April 22, 2014

If you listen, you can connect with this voice which is underneath all the things that normally fill our senses. It is happening on a different wavelength, a different plane, but you can tune in to it if you have some patience. All the things right in front of us and all the things people are saying tend to distract us from it and sometimes we forget it is there, but our minds and souls are meant to be in a state of resonance with it. Call it the real reality, call it process, call it “what is really going on”, call it the eternal – whatever you want. It is real and it is that which our spiritual practices help us to access. Our spiritual practices are there to help us push back all the distractions and noise and tune in to reality. Read More

Growing Down

June 3, 2013

We often think that as we grow spiritually, we will leave people behind. We tend to struggle with how to approach or talk to people we see as “beneath us” because we are just so “spiritually mature.” We act like we have entered some other realm they cannot even come near.

Then I look at Jesus, who embodied perfect consciousness, all wisdom, maturity and strength and I see how he treated people who might have been seen as “beneath him.” Beggars, cripples, the utterly poor, spiritual zeroes, prostitutes, sinners, the demon-possessed, little children – these were his beloveds. He called them to himself, loved them and had a profound effect on them – each one. They were better for having been near him, and something tells me they did not feel belittled, but valued and helped. Read More

Your Emotional World

May 24, 2013

We should pay attention to our emotions. It is our emotions that are the barometer for where our hearts are and where we are going. These subtle inner shifts in our feeling system are what the Spirit uses to shape us and teach us. It is problematic that we are always trying to dull important emotions and in that way, render the work of the Spirit ineffective. Our pathology springs from our attempts to always dumb down, lock up and forget about the myriad emotions that have been given to us to engage and use. Read More