Only somewhat jokingly, our dear friend says of her equally dear husband “Dan can turn any hobby into a job.” Many of us might identify. Our culture promotes a certain doggedness, even regarding play. And certainly our spiritual life is no exception.
Spiritual practices are often steeped in shoulds. Rules and expectations abound, with the bar held quite high in terms of achievement. We don’t only want to pray or meditate. We want to be free of everyday preoccupations when we do so, and live perfectly the insights received when we return to the world.
Of course, judgment follows swiftly on the heels of such an approach. Too often we feel we’re falling short, failing in our intention. So we try harder, and fall short again and again.
Spiritual practices based on such goals are problematic, in that they arise from ego, the very element such practices are designed to soften and heal. When, for example, we’re attached to the idea of being a competent meditator or a respectable practitioner of any faith, we are hooked on striving, a condition that can, in itself, prevent theletting go we seek.
Plus it makes the whole thing rather a drag, ya know? Joy decreases to the extent that spiritual endeavors become a chore. We may still toil away, but the fun is gone. And when burden outweighs delight, we are less likely to show up wholeheartedly. We then encounter fewer moments of transcendence, and criticize our best efforts. And so, the loop continues.
A helpful teaching in this regard comes to us from the Sufi tradition. Ishq allah ma'bud allah has been translated as "God is love, lover and beloved". Christian thought arrives at a similar understanding, most notably in St. Augustine's writings on the Trinity.
And oh, how practice shifts when seen as an opportunity to meet the Beloved! And in seeing ourselves as God's beloved in return, we can more easily accept ourselves simply as we are, wandering minds, foibles and all.
This is not to imply that there is no need for commitment in spiritual life. Of course there is. We will, though, approach practice sessions more lightly and with greater joy when viewed as a meeting with the Beloved.
A helpful teaching in this regard comes to us from the Sufi tradition. Ishq allah ma'bud allah has been translated as "God is love, lover and beloved". Christian thought arrives at a similar understanding, most notably in St. Augustine's writings on the Trinity.
And oh, how practice shifts when seen as an opportunity to meet the Beloved! And in seeing ourselves as God's beloved in return, we can more easily accept ourselves simply as we are, wandering minds, foibles and all.
This is not to imply that there is no need for commitment in spiritual life. Of course there is. We will, though, approach practice sessions more lightly and with greater joy when viewed as a meeting with the Beloved.
We’re on this planet to have an Earthly experience, and that entails having incessantly busy minds and lives that call us back to them when we try to be still or to open to something larger than ourselves. There’s no shame in that. It is simply our nature to access a larger awareness imperfectly and only for fleeting moments. Ah, but what a gift those moments are!
Our friend Dan has always lived primarily and strongly out of love. Of late, though, he has taken the raw material of his life to grow love even more deeply. May we each do the same, one imperfectly perfect moment at a time.
💖
Leia
