Your Journey Is Your Journey

Discover Soul's Path

“I was the son of a plumber on my way to discovering what it means to care for your soul. In my twenties, I was quite unconscious, just trying to make my way, looking for a life work and a way to stay alive. But a life work has always been at the core of my spirituality. The search, however mundane...was my path toward logos, the ultimate meaning.”

Thomas Moore (The Soul of Christmas, p.131)

Thomas Moore has been many things—monk, musician, psychotherapist, professor, author. His path is long and circuitous. Some of us are built that way—we move through the decades of our lives invested in what interests us in the moment. His spiritual journey has involved him in a variety of professions, but the core of that journey has always been discovering his soul's connection to the All.

There are those of us who choose a path early in life and never veer from it. We find our soul work in long years of perfecting our skill and deepening our knowledge in one arena. And in that pursuit, we learn the lessons our soul is here to learn through experience and growth.

We cannot all walk the same path and still be authentic. The call of the soul may be toward a life of radical nonconformity. I watched some of the Olympic athletes on television last night and marveled at the dedication they show in honing their abilities. They give up almost everything else, even as children, to achieve the expertise required to compete on the grand stage of the Olympic games. What discipline, hard work, sacrifice, and pushing through pain that requires! I think of people who travel and live in the frozen land of Antarctica, in the most extreme climate on earth—just so they can do their research. They give up a “normal” life to do what calls to them from the valley of soul. We may not think of these paths as spiritual, but everything we do is soul work in one form or another.

Your path is your path, and only you will know when you are following it. It may not look like anyone else's journey, and you may feel yourself to be on the outskirts of the human community. Sometimes the path is lonely. But, more and more, I am convinced that if we follow where we are led, accepting that this is who we are, and this is what comes next, we will find that journey to be ultimately fulfilling. Each of us is a unique expression of soul. Our life is our teacher.

                                                                In the Spirit,

                                                                    Jane