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As a seminary student, I felt inadequate reading theology books so dense I could barely complete my assigned reading. I was miserable sitting in meditation class. How could I get anywhere on my spiritual journey if I couldn’t sit quietly in meditation? If I couldn’t get through Tillich’s Systematic Theology? I got the impression that the spiritual journey was like the New York Marathon- thousands of people training and racing, and a few elite winners.
But something fundamental about this paradigm does not harmonize with the idea of a loving God. Think of how diverse Humanity is- folks who have been to school and haven’t. Folks who run marathons and folks who can’t walk. Eventually it dawned on me- whatever the spiritual journey might be, at its core it must be so simple that even I could do it. I began to look at the spiritual journey in a different way. Instead of wondering how I could win the spirituality Super Bowl, I began to ask “What kind of spiritual journey could include all of us?” and “what is the spiritual journey we are already all on?”
The Christian Mystic Teresa of Avila was an Abbess at a convent in Spain in the 1500s. She was a Spiritual Director to the nuns there, and always trying to help them discern their path. She wrote volumes about the spiritual journey, but often came back to one point; whenever you are confused about your journey, start with practicing love for those around you. She wrote: "The surest way to determine whether one possesses the love of God is to see whether he or she loves his or her neighbor. These two loves are never separated. Rest assured, the more you progress in love of neighbor the more your love of God will increase."
This I find to be comforting advice. The Spiritual Journey can be confusing. Meditation can be tedious, and theology can be un-readably dense, but all of us have neighbors. Every time we interact with our family, our roommates, our co-workers, our neighbors we are on a spiritual journey whether we know it or not.
If you have trouble with meditation, or prayer, or other spiritual practices, you are still on the journey. Whenever we are lost and not sure where the journey is leading, we return to love. Each time we interact with others we have a chance to practice love. The journey is unfolding now and in every moment, just open your heart to love and you are on your way.
