"Life" by Juan Ramón Jiménez
What I used to regard as a glory shut in my face,
was a door, opening
toward this clarity:
Country without a name:
Nothing can destroy it, this road
of doors, opening, one after another,
always toward reality:
Life without calculation!
While everyday carries within it the opportunity for inner realization, there is something to dedicating a time and space for deepening our spiritual reflection, a rhythm and routine. Humanity has discovered and developed countless and conflicting ways of connecting and maintaining a spiritual perspective over the long course of human history. You most likely have experienced a variety of religious/spiritual ideas, ceremonies, rituals, prayer, attitudes and ways of interacting in the course of your life, but sooner or later we settle in with that which nourishes and strengthens us personally. For me, the cornerstone remains meditation which at times melts into prayer and vice-verse.
When reflecting on my own spiritual journey, I can identify a handful of specific experiences that were turning points--points of no return with the spiritual life. By that I mean, they marked a shift where there was no possibility of turning back to an earlier understanding or way of living. I cannot say those were all ecstatic or joyous moments, but rather a cracking of a fixed viewpoint and an expansion, revelation...growth.
Each peak was followed by busy times of adjustment of my life to the new growth. Not that I always understood it in that way, nor that I "chose" all the adjustments, but such growth brings the excitement of both renewal and discovery. Realistically, in between such times there are plateaus and beyond plateaus, dry spells that stretch to the limit before cracking open another door of expansion. This is the way humans grow, beyond the physical growth of childhood.
When spiritual practice becomes a necessary part of your own daily life, the routine and rhythm sustain you. As British writer/mystic Paul Brunton (1898-1981)wrote: "...When we put the mind in repose and recollect who we are our effort needs no further reward. We have secured balm for the day and all life looks good." We don't look for the life changing but for the life sustaining, our daily spiritual bread. A practice of meditation, led by your own intuitive promptings, will not leave you where you started, but you may not truly appreciate that if you are looking for the life changing peak. Let the calculating mind rest today, the mind that strategizes, weighs and measures. Be fed and grow strong. Doors will open when it's time. (Susan Nettleton)