The Nature of Spiritual Development - Paragraphs 5 and 6

We’ve got smaller paragraphs again so let’s tackle two to them. Here’s our text:

“Although no one can travel many paths or live all religions at once, nevertheless, the key revelations may be encountered within a single journey, even encountered without going outside one’s traditional path. Should these key revelations not be found in our path, then of course it would be necessary to go outside to find them. But where they are part and parcel of the path, the need to go outside does not arise.

As usually happens, however, even when we encounter these revelations in our own tradition, we may not realize they are key revelations of other religions as well. With some knowledge of other religions, however, we may see these revelations in the larger context of our world religions. Thus one advantage of pointing out these revelations, is to see our individual journey in the large context of God’s timeless revelation to all men.”

Two things are striking in this passage. First, it is possible from certain paths to encounter all “God’s timeless revelation(s).” The second is that if a particular path does not house one or more of these timeless revelations they may be sought elsewhere, from a different path. Despite the striking nature of these two points we will not be discussing them here but instead focus on another aspect of this text that I find resonance with, which is the idea of singular. Learning to be a singular person takes practice and it is difficult to even understand what it means to be a singular person with so many distractions in our daily life. 

Let’s talk about distractions for a moment, and let’s begin with our western society, which endorses a “you can have it all” attitude. This attitude, or belief, is so pervasive in our psyche that it goes unnoticed, and the sinister consequences are often dismissed. When I sit with the state of the world, my felt sense is one of being bogged down, it seems restlessness abounds. People seem tired, lost, and frankly, afraid. Why? I believe some aspect of the psyche senses the truth; it is impossible to have it all. Take a moment to watch the world. You will see masses running around like chickens with no heads. When I look around, watch TV commercials, or listen in on a Starbucks’ conversation the content being expressed is filled with discontentment. 

I say all that to highlight the wisdom of which Roberts speaks. It is impossible to jump from one thing to the next and hope to land anywhere but onto the surface of things. Roberts is saying you need to pick a path and commit. Yes, she is talking about a spiritual path, but from my perspective any path will do as long as the ultimate destination has something to do with Love. She is saying pick a path, get on it for the long haul, and enjoy the process instead of worrying about the destination. She is also saying be singular in your focus. Pick a voice, hopefully your own inner wisdom, and stick with it.

I’ve heard this same wisdom of fidelity from Jim Finley in his podcast Turning to the Mystics and from Cynthia Bourgeault in a recent interview with Ryan Kohls. Richard Rohr says all spokes lead to the center and Thomas Merton had no issue meeting the Dalhi Lama to exchange notes on their respective paths. Others in this camp include Mirabai Starr in Ordinary Mystic, Father Keating with the development of centering prayer, Thich Nhat Hanh’s gentle yet persistent nature, Pema Chodron’s practical wisdom, Buddha, and our beloved Jesus. All of these were and are singular people, yet all these have something in common; a single Love. And the message from these wise ones is the same, at the deeper levels of religion the paths converge into the Mystery.

When Roberts says, “no one can travel many paths or live all religions at once” she is speaking a great truth. Our cultural conditioning has weakened our ability to dive deep. The deep diving I speak of is into the inner world. Martin Laird calls it Into The Silent Land, a place where you learn much about your motivations and shadow world, but you also learn much about a Reality that is unknown to us because we are so busy, so fractured, and so scattered. We do not take the time or commitment to befriend the silent partner. 

What these words ask of me is to stay true to my one path. It has taken time to apprehend what this path is and what it looks like in the context of my life. The mystics mentioned above provide a sense of my path. Your path may look different, and that is as it should be, as the path is located in the context of your life. My path, at least at this time, is akin to Meister Eckhart’s living without a why or walking the darkness in the Cloud of Unknowing. It is a path of negation, of patience and attunement, of welcoming all of myself to each moment. It is a slow path where intentionality pays off. Teilhard de Chardin says “trust in the slow work of God.” Merton said he had no idea where he was going. Here is the entirety of his beautiful prayer/poem.

“My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

So how is it going, how is living in the world while trying to not be of it working for me? Most days it feels a lot like Merton said, “I have no idea where I am going” and that’s because I often don’t “see the road ahead.” But what I really like in this prayer/poem is the line that says “but I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.” Such beautiful, comforting words. That is one big desire in me, to follow, to worship, and to serve this magnetic pull towards true North, and while I don’t know exactly where I am going there is sheer joy in waking up and partaking in what each day holds.  

At the end of the day Roberts says “the key revelations may be encountered within a single journey” and that is what I hold on to. That this very singular journey of mine, which takes place in God (Acts 17:28) and alongside a communion of saints (Heb. 12:1), will lead me home to Love. I also bear in mind Robert’s words that the “large context of God’s timeless revelation” is much more grand and beyond my comprehension than anything I could imagine. In the meantime I try to live the singular life through intentionality, showing up to my practices, and responding as Love even though I fail each day.  And you know what, that is OK, because I trust that Love will lead me “by the right road.”