Everyone is standing on the pathway of a spiritual journey. It is exciting for me when someone on this pathway opens their eyes and begins a journey along it. I know they are in for an exhilarating and fulfilling experience. On my passage I have learned and lost; felt exalted and humbled and have found great peace. There is an interesting thing I’ve noticed and want to pass along. That is the nature of the pathway; it is circular.

I have found myself studying, sometimes for years, only to sit back at completion and see that I seem to be right back where I started, albeit with more knowledge and increased enlightenment, but still surrounded by the same scenery as when I started. It was like fighting your way through the forest and always finding yourself back at the same clearing. After a few courses of this circular motion I came to realize the journey was more like going up a mountain. This mountain was climbed by going around and around it. The trip was longer and had its difficulties, but was still much easier than climbing straight up (and without the danger of falling straight down a steep, slippery slope). I came to see that each round that brought me back to that seemingly same commencement position was actually one more course up the mountain and I was gaining a longer perspective.

This pathway can be discouraging due to its length. I imagine that many people wonder what it’s all about when they arrive back at that familiar looking clearing and figure they have gone nowhere. I want to tell everyone that the path is as long as your life and the more times you find yourself back at that familiar place, the more you have gained. Keep going. Speed doesn’t matter. There is no rush. Being in motion, putting one foot ahead of the other on the journey is the important thing.

Like climbing a mountain, the base is wide, the path has many travellers and the forest is thick. As you plod on and gain elevation, many fall by the wayside. Continuing the path you find that it becomes one with other paths and you come to realize that humanity is one; we are all heading up the same mountain. Like Old Testament symbolism indicates, the higher up the mountain we go, the closer we come to the Supreme Being. The name we use for this being is now unimportant; the reality and truth of being is the important thing. This reality quickens our being and lives in our heart. After surmounting the darkness of the mountain below the clouds we emerge into the sunshine that always bathes the mountain side. We are gaining enlightenment.

Finally we arrive at a peak. We feel we have reached the pinnacle and are tempted to rest, but then we notice there is one more step to take and we discover that it leads us to travel on, down through a valley shadowed with doubt, before the path leads upward once more.

My journey seems to be at one of those summits now. I need to take a few more steps in order to transit to a new part of the path, perhaps a new path and maybe on a different mountain altogether. I am grateful for the rest I am having and the opportunity for introspection. I’m excited what the next part of the path will bring.

I have an idea, maybe more of a hope, of what’s in store. In the last little while I have lost my cherished connection with the Creator. I see no real use for prayer. I have no name for my friend since none is sufficient. However, I believe that this next phase will reveal a vibrant new connection, a meaningful way to access the power of being through prayer and I’m sure I will discover a name for Deity. By the way, I expect the name I discover to be revealed in the way First Nation people discover their spirit name. It will be a name personal to me.

The purpose of this blog is to keep you posted on this traveller’s progress and thereby encourage you to more vigorously engage your journey. Please feel free to share your journey with others too. Happy travelling.

Peace

Dave   

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