Being
Mortal
“The
practice of being human is the practice of coming awake, staying
awake and returning to wakefulness when we go to sleep. We go to
sleep because we're mortal—not because there's anything wrong with
us.”
Mark
Nepo (Seven Thousand Ways to Listen)
In
the Spirituality Group, we talk about the difference between knowing
and practicing—we can know all the steps to inner peace, and yet
when we're confronted with something (or someone) that provokes us,
we step off the path and into the weeds. In any vexing situation, our
ability to practice our spirituality is tested. When we fail the
test, some of us, myself included, experience it as a set-back. “If
I were truly a spiritual person,” we think, “I would not be
disturbed by this. I would fall back on my faith, or my practice, and
move along without a hitch.” But that is not the case—we're still
mortal beings, equipped with emotions, intuition, and our own
particular set of justice rules.
Having
a spiritual practice helps us to climb out of the weeds sooner, but
it does not prevent us from floundering around in there for a while.
If you are like me, you may go through a series of emotional stages,
from feeling angry, to feeling hurt, to self-recrimination and blame,
then back to anger. We often do that dance several more times before
arriving at our final destination—resolution and peace. This does
not make us pathological. It makes us human.
Coming
awake is not a once in a lifetime event; it's a process. We may take
three steps forward and two back, but we're still making progress. We
have to practice our practice—come back to ourselves, and what we
know to be true for us. Gradually, we fall into the weeds less often,
and climb out quicker. Hopefully, in the meantime, we learn to be as
kind to ourselves as we are to our friends and our pets.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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