There
are a wide variety of ways in which we can be “spiritual tourists.”
I should tell you a little about how I came to this name for this state
of spiritual inquiry. Each of us
here has done some traveling, my husband Dan and I have done a good bit by car
because we really like the way you can get close to the landscape. When I began teaching classes online 4 years ago, one of my
students was a very intelligent, creative woman from the South.
She had worked as a businesswoman and was very successful in her work.
She was able to do the written work of the course very clearly and to
express herself somewhat exuberantly and amusingly with her classmates.
Abruptly, she dropped the class and when she did so she sent me a long
email in which she admitted that the work was more than she had expected and
that she had come to view herself as a “spiritual tourist.”
This distinction in the way she had described her state of spiritual
participation came in a very authentic and honest communication and was the
beginning of my thinking about this idea.
In
any case, each of us can use this reference, this state of being a tourist as
a metaphor for how we approach our spirituality.
For instance, there are those who fly above the earth in a jumbo jet.
These are the folks who learn intellectually about the “high notes.”
They may know the names of some of the major religions and the
geographic places where they originated, but the practices and basic ideas of
those spiritual paths are obscured from their view, as if by the cloud of
unknowing.
Then
there are those who pilot their own small aircraft.
These fly closer to the ground and because they do, they get a much
better view, but these are the folks who are still learning facts and the
details, but they don’t really try out any of the specific practices or
think about what it would mean to apply the ideas in their lives.
While they may have a more detailed view, there is still missing any
practice of what one has learned. There
may be a bit of yearning to do so here, but these are still a people who are
moving so fast through their lives that they still can’t seem to find the
time to slow down, sit down, and go within, where what they have learned in
their inquiries might begin to seep in. The
possibilities of going within have not yet been revealed, but there is a sense
of intrigue, a sense that one day one not so far off, one will begin to engage
on a deeper level. The choice
about when is still open.
Now
this metaphor can get extended pretty far so that it includes parasailers,
paragliders – you know who I mean, these are the folks who take some kind of
motor driven vehicle or boat, and using it’s velocity, fly behind it.
This is a metaphor for those who begin following someone else’s
inspiration because they have not yet learned how to generate their own.
These are likely to be the folks who you see on TV following a great
evangelist or a guru. Now I know
that this can be an authentic path, and what we are talking about here are
those who are looking for someone else to do the work for them. They don’t yet know that there is a source of Truth
inspiration within themselves that is bottomless and rises whenever they call
upon it.
And
there are those of us who really are driving our cars over the landscape of
our spiritual lives. We see
things far off and we see some things close up.
Sometimes we drive right over to the experiences.
Sometimes we drive way too fast and all we see is a blur.
Sometimes we drive with a few people in the car with us and we all
report to one another what we see as we go along.
This is pretty much what being in an open spiritual community is like.
We don’t have to do all the work ourselves, we trust that someone in
our community will let us in on their experience, and as a result, we will
learn from their experience as well as our own.
We serve one another in this form of spiritual tourism.
In
all these descriptions there is a sense of aimlessness, a sense of wandering
around without a purpose. What
would make the greatest difference in our experience of how our spiritual
lives work?
Just
about everyone whom I have known who lives a deep and purposeful spiritual
life has certain qualities. These
are focus, commitment, a sense of oneself being worth the investment of time
and effort, and the knowledge that they were not alone.
All of these are founded on the profound knowledge that all is LOVE
and that God is the essence of love. In
New Thought we say that Love is also what we are.
That whatever God is, we are that too.
In How to Speak Religious Science, Dennis Merritt Jones
writes:
"He
that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is Love." Love is the self-givingness
of spirit to its creation and is a cosmic force whose sweep is irresistible.
Love is the highest vibration in the universe; nothing can withstand its
embrace. The opposite of love is fear. In the light and vibration of love, the
darkness of fear cannot exist. To know God’s presence is to experience
unconditional love. To see the presence of God in others is to love them.
Unconditional love is always the answer.
This
passage brings to mind what it would mean to be a tourist on foot, the kind of
tourist that the Peace Pilgrim was. Can
we be that courageous? Can we
trust God for each and every part of our experience, for each bite of food
that we eat, for the place where we sleep, for the nature of our work each day
and for the bounty of our personal spiritual experience?
Could we let go of the trappings of our life as she did in answer to
the call of Spirit? Can we go on
foot wherever spirit leads us? Notice
how extreme that might feel? And
yet, each of us has a yearning to go farther, to go deeper, to know God better
and there is really only one place where we need go to do so, within
ourselves. So let’s do that
today.
So
let’s clear off our laps, adopt a good meditation posture now, close our
eyes, and for a short bit of time, let us go within and contemplate what kind
of spiritual tourism we wish to engage ourselves in at this time in our lives.
Picture
yourself flying over the earth in a great jumbo jet.
Notice the great mountain ranges of Spirit, Hinduism, Buddhism and
Taoism with their great contemplative and meditative practices.
Will you take a smaller aircraft and fly closer to the ground of being
now? Will you commit yourself to
engaging in meditative practice, if for only ten minutes a day listening to
the still small voice within?
Will you take that smaller
aircraft and flying it over Zen Buddhism now, will you choose mindfulness
practice, choosing to be aware moment-by-moment in your life? Will you now choose to think more deeply before you speak,
knowing that your words have creative power?
Will you reverse the path of negative thoughts when they arise,
practicing more carefully the affirmation of the deepest desires of your heart
so that more often in your day you radiate out the light of love?
Will you affirm now the practice of thinking consciously for the good
of all humankind as often as you can, increasing the frequency of such
thoughts as you grow in the demonstration of Love for all?
When
the teacher Jesus said, "Know the truth and the truth shall set you
free," he was simply saying to the degree you know the real truth about
yourself, you will then be free and able to direct your own life in wonderful,
creative, meaningful ways, simply by understanding that your every thought is
creative.
The
practice of Truth is personal to each, and in the long run no one can live our
life for us. To each is given what he needs and the gifts of heaven come
to all alike. How we shall use these gifts is what
matters..."
Dr.
Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind
The
truth about you is, "God in you, as you is you." God really is all
that is. Know this truth and you are free to express your true Self!
Spiritual tourism is not something that we have to be worried about.
It is our self-exploration in action.
It is our self-knowingness and it is up to us how we go about it.
Emerson Center is a place dedicated to this exploration of self and we are
overjoyed that you have joined us for the tour!
Thank
you for being here today!
Emerson
Center for
