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Spiritual Seekers Who Desire Deepening

Spiritual Seekers Who Desire Deepening

So what does it mean to be a spiritual seeker who desires deepening?

Part of this definition is intuitive for me:  It refers to me! It refers to my own sense of myself as a spiritual being with a constant sense of what Roman Catholic religious sisters (and especially Benedictines) call seeking passionately after God.

But I begin at the end. Let me start at the beginning.

Spiritual

I serve people who are Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, atheist, Disciples of Christ, and Pagan of various stripes and flavors. I welcome people of any faith or none.monk's hands open, resting in his lap

What all of these folks—all of you—have in common, even someone who identifies as atheist, is a sense of The More. You have a sense of All That Is, of the great reality in which we live, what Sufi Muslims call the One, or the Real.

You wonderful people are also likely to appreciate spiritual practice in some way. You may read or write, meditate as you sit or walk or swim to meditate. You have a sense of a routine practice of openness to their own Deepest, Wisest Selves and to the Flame that burns there but does not consume them. You know, somewhere in themselves that the routine of practice is helpful in some way.

You are spiritual.

Spiritual Seekers

And they—you—are seekers. You don’t believe that you have all the answers, where Spirit or God/dess or the Universe are concerned. You ask questions, you wonder, you dream about what may be.

You are travelers. You are journeyers. You are people who are open, curious, and wondering. You are often characterized by wonder itself and by awe at the glories of Earth and the Universe. You have your means of transport, and when that doesn’t suit, sometimes you shift vehicles. Sometimes you are a hiker with a sturdy walking stick. Sometimes you are zooming down the street in a scooter. Sometimes, even, you are an astronaut, looking for the truth among the stars.

Spiritual Seekers Who Desire

Meanwhile, you have a deep desire. You are not complacent. Oh, not at all!

white statue of goddess faceYou, as the Charge of the Star Goddess says, have “seeking and yearning.” And you know the Mystery, as that invocation continues, “that if that which you seek you do not find within yourself, you will never find it without.”

Desire is often described in sexual terms. And in religion after religion after religion, the mystics describe union with the Divine as erotic. The famous statue of St. Teresa in Ecstasy is a powerful example. My own inexplicable but undeniable experiences of erotic union with God/dess have sometimes been intensely erotic. Sometimes shockingly, unexpectedly so.

Desire is a powerful thing. And while you may not experience it as sexual desire, I know that many of you have desire for the Sacred at your heart. And a desire for deepening into your own powerful wisdom.

Spiritual Seekers Who Desire Deepening

Deepening is the process of our consciousness coming into more and more reliable contact with our intuition, our understanding, our empathy, and our wisdom. Deepening means that we come to trust ourselves more—and to be more trustworthy!

Deepening means that we come to learn more and more about our own vocation in the world. “Don’t ask what the world needs. Find what brings you more alive and do it. Because what the world needs is more people who are alive.” Rev. Howard Thurman said these words, and I believe he was right on.

balancing rock from garden of the godsDeepening is also learning to “Let our lives speak,” as Parker Palmer writes, and to perceive the communications of our lives.

Deepening leads us to discernment, to good judgment and the ability to make good, reliable decisions.

You, you spiritual seekers who desire deepening, are ones who become discerning, wise, joyful, and self-aware.

And we can do this work together. I do not create it in any way. But I can be a companion, a guide, somewhat who moves and had moved through the sacred pathways for many years. I’d love to hear from you, but this post is not about business, not about me. It is about you. It is about who I am learning you to be and learning about your glorious selves.

Thank you and so much love!

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