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 Thoughts to ponder as you go about your day |
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#6 When we think of life
as a journey, we think of spirituality in terms of progress. And when
we think in terms of progress we deny the fullness of where we are right
now. Sometimes when we take inventory, we decide we're doing well. But well in relation to what? All those other guys who are so incredibly slow! Why don't they get it? We wonder. Anybody who has fallen on their face as often as they have should have figured it out by now! What is with them, anyway? Or maybe we’re a little more generous in spirit and decide that we have to be patient with all those people who don't yet understand as much as we do. After all, we were back “there” once! If only they would listen! Maybe they're just not ready. Of course it is only a matter of time before such arrogance turns on us. When it does, our self-condemnation hurts as much as our previous pride made us feel good. Suddenly our own faults seem huge. We have, in fact, failed miserably. And fail we will when we measure ourselves against our hypothetical standards of what constitutes “progress.” When the judgment falls on us we can find ourselves crippled with self-hurt and regret. We may hear a voice reminding us of what a joke we are and how insincere our spiritual desires are: we don't even deserve to step inside the church, go to temple, pick up the book, or go back to the meeting. We are hopeless. And hypocritical too. Always the same promises. Never able to keep them. What can be worse than a hopeless hypocrite? Regardless of who is on the receiving end --ourselves or others--tracking progress is a time-consuming, energy-eating, dirty business. Judgment of others and self-condemnation are two faces of the same coin. They hurt like hell--literally. The surest way to freedom is to stop thinking in terms of progress, and to look instead to the present moment as holding its own special and wondrous rendition of spiritual fullness. Call it “Heaven Here.” The way to forgive ourselves and others is to step out of the progress paradigm and into Heaven Here. Stop denying that “now” is insufficient, or that Spirit’s grace will be fuller somewhere down the road. When you acknowledge Spirit’s presence and blessing where you are, you will not need to get anywhere. And this business of tracking, judging and condemning will fall away naturally. |
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