Seek and You Will Find
“To cultivate an inner life; to rise, toil, and retire with attention and love; to ‘contain the Universe in the pocket of (our) heart,’ as Black Elk puts it: this is a lofty goal and in many cases a distant one…Our fast-food, fast-paced, fast-fix culture offers little support for the contemplative way. This hectic pace afflicts us all. We live in the thick of things, and too often the thick of things turns into a thicket, a thorny tangle of plans, appointments, emergencies, and obligations through which we hack our way willy-nilly.”
Philip Zaleski and Paul Kaufman
Gifts of the Spirit
I discovered this book, Gifts of the Spirit, on my bookcase this morning and simply opened it to a page. The heading is ‘How to Seek the Gifts of the Spirit.’ It seemed like a good place to start. Do you ever use that particular divination method? When you have a troublesome issue cluttering up your mind or distracting you---just opening a book and seeing what comes up? Often it will give you a piece of information that seems relevant; sometimes it will even tell you what to do. I sometimes like to draw a rune-stone out of a bag and read the meaning of the rune, or draw a medicine card from the pack and see what animal shows up. It’s a good way to allow intuition to guide rather than always depending on the rational, logical, left side of the brain.
Here are some guidelines suggested for cultivating the gifts of the spirit. First, patience is required. Like the rest of life, awakening is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. I like to think of it as being akin to developing a habit—it takes several weeks of daily practice for almost anything to become habitual. Select a method of contemplation such as meditation, prayer, silent awareness, walking a labyrinth; whatever you choose as your practice, do it at the same time every day until it becomes an integral part of life. Don’t expect immediate results. “No spiritual master comes by wisdom instantly…” Even the Buddha had to work at it. Simply do it, and allow the unfolding to happen rather trying to force it.
Secondly, have courage. Some contemplative practices may feel a little weird at first---like doing Tai Chi outside in the early morning, or sitting in meditation in a public place that feels sacred to you, or saying Grace in a restaurant. You may seem out of step to people who know you and even to strangers, but if the practice enhances your inner life, do it in spite of the embarrassment. As we would say around here, “Buck up, Buddy.” Embarrassment, too, is a teacher.
Finally, know that you cannot fail. There is an ancient saying, ‘if you take one step toward God, God will take a thousand toward you.’ Keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking and don’t give up.
In the spirit,
Jane
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