What is a spiritual life? What does that mean?
For me, it means that I can move from spiritual experience to spiritual experience in one weekend. I can move from attending prayers at the local Mosque to surrounding myself with nature and animals while riding a horse. Then I can drive to Catholic Mass with my Sister-in-Law and then, the next day, I can attend my UU church. Afterward, I can end the day with yoga or chanting with Buddhist friends. It means that I am open to experiencing the divine in all religions and all experiences.
For some people this may be difficult. I urge you to start with meditating. Try another form of meditation that is foreign to you. After 1 week of practicing that meditation, ask yourself how you feel. Did you search for the beauty within that experience? After all, beauty is what links all of the wisdom of religions and experiences together.
In Process Theology, beauty is an important element to understanding the divine. That is, we all strive toward beauty in this world. That is the reason for all of these religious or spiritual experiences - whether that be in a mosque, synagogue, church, fellowship hall, temple, community center, yoga center, someone's living room, a personal meditation room, a concert, the theater, nature.
Isn't that what I was searching for and finding when I recited portions of the Qur'an or when I spoke to the horse who would carry me on her back so sweetly? Isn't that what I felt when I held the hands of a stranger while singing the Lord's Prayer with my eyes closed? Isn't that what I witnessed when I attended my UU church and sang songs about justice and equality for all? Isn't that what I experienced when I chanted portions of the Lotus Sutra with friends?
Beauty is the way to the divine. Beauty is healing. Beauty is what we all long for. Seek and ye shall find...Beauty.
Lotus Blossom
You, too, can emerge through the muddy waters -- transformed!
