Spiritual
truths are not so much learned as recalled.
Some ideas we encounter, even if for the first time, don't strike us as
new information but more like memories being reawakened within us. It's as if our hearts innately possess these
truths and so we don't need lessons, only reminders of wisdom that we already
know.
Every one
of us is assigned to master something in our lives. You have already been given your assignment
and you have already encountered it, though you may not be aware that what
faces you is a curriculum, nor that this is the central task of your life....
What I am calling your curriculum shows up most clearly in issues that
repeatedly challenge you.
Being
humble doesn't mean being a nobody, it just means being no more of a somebody
than you ought to be.
Humility
is not the opposite of conceit.... Humility is not an extreme quality, but
rather a balanced, moderate, accurate understanding of yourself that you act on
in your life.
Where we
get into trouble with impatience is in our reactivity. The problem confronting you may be entirely
real: You're late. You need it now. There will be consequences. But whatever the problem, no matter how great
or how small, it is one thing to face those life issues just as they are, and
quite another to slop grief, worry, regret, impatience, and other such mental
condiments over the situation. Reactions
like these only increase our burden by adding a whole extra dimension of inner
suffering (and often hurtful behavior) to an already difficult experience.
The goal
is to do the work it takes to weave thankfulness deeply into the very fabric of
your being.
A person
whose possessions are messy is likely to have thoughts that are also
jumbled. If you are not careful about
the cleanliness of your house, you are also likely to be lax about the purity
of your spirit.
Honor is
due to all human beings not because of the greatness of their achievements but
more simply because they embody an inherently holy soul. When you activate this inner sensibility, you
want to keep things in order not just for order's sake, but also for the higher
purpose of honoring the people with whom you share relationships.
Your
spiritual practice will give you many gifts, but don't expect it to relieve you
of your human nature.
If you
are committed to your own growth, you
won't even want your struggles to end because they are the very pathway to
growth.
Laziness
thrives on rationalization.... I'd give so much to charity, if only I were
wealthy. I'd study and learn so much, if
only I were smarter. I'd be so helpful
to my friends, if only I were stronger.
When we
receive life through a screen of anxiety, we find that even when some worry
proves to be unfounded and we can finally breathe a sigh of relief, we don't,
because that anxious orientation quickly generates a perfectly functional
substitute in a matter of seconds.
The soul
needs silence as the body needs sleep.
Sleep to refresh; silence to cleanse.
Because
we live in a money-centric culture, we tend to think of generosity only as a
question of reaching into our wallets.
To
elevate your soul in the direction of holiness, you have to become more skilled
at anticipating the consequences of your actions and taking responsibility for
the details in all areas where you make choices, even in the most practical and
mundane sorts of ways -- or, more accurately, specifically in the practical and
mundane matters you might tend to overlook or to consider other than
spiritual.
You name
it (whatever "it" is), if that were the key to life, then the people
who had "it" would not suffer the way the rest of us do.
[Trust]
is the inner attitude that respects that whatever is happening in our lives is
nothing more or less than the curriculum that God gives us.
Every
experience of fear or worry that strikes you is nothing but a signal calling on
you to fan the inner sparks of your [trust].
Your task is to become aware of fear, anxiety, and clinging right as
these experiences are occurring within you, and to respond to them inwardly by
identifying them as signs of not trusting.
Think of
and be alert to those situations where you can feel yourself teetering on the
brink of a choice between one option you know to be good and another that,
while bound to be attractive, isn't in the best interests of the soul. Whenever you find yourself to be struggling
in that unconfirmed no-man's-land between that which elevates and that which
doesn't, try to name the territory where the struggle takes place.... What you
are really looking to detect are the little tremors that take place in everyday
life that are important not because they are large but because they reveal the
fault lines that run beneath the surface of your life. By becoming aware of the habits, patterns,
and tendencies that are revealed in the hundreds of choices you make every day,
especially in the areas that have the ripest potential for growth.
The
little voice that says to you, "Not tonight" is very likely the same
little voice that whispers in your ear at other times in your life, only to
trip you up and send you crashing. This
seductive, destructive little voice within you is actually the adversary you
need to contend with.
