Spirituality is not a matter of belief. It is a matter of experience. It’s experience that lights the way, guided by intuition and the forces of the universe. A compelling urge carries us along and points us in one direction or another. It’s not about what we think, although thoughts play a role in the delivery of information.
If anything, belief seems to get in the way of spirituality. Belief creates disbelief, which can block receptivity, which is the key to full experience.
Staying open to my experience allows my perceptions to form around what is actually happening rather than what I believe could or should be happening. It gives me the freedom to directly encounter the mysteries of life. It allows me to not know and not understand, which is ultimately liberating because it lets me simply be with whatever is happening.
Staying open creates opportunities for profound humility to enter the picture. This is turn fosters the ability to continue to open to what might want to be revealed. Truth feeds on more truth, just as peace creates more peace. Joy shows up, too, and though it is merely a byproduct of the process, it pervades the field and seductively creates more openness.
This morning is a perfect example. I started out in an utterly foul mood, having had my sleep repeatedly interrupted by my old cat. Yet, I lit the candles, sat down in my chair, and was taken over immediately by openness, connectivity, and a flow of information. Yes, I’m making myself available, but that’s the extent of any doing on my part. And, even the making myself available part doesn’t feel like me doing anything, but rather like life experiencing itself.
It really does feel like life experiencing itself. The practices have established themselves. There’s a flow and I’m in it. The craziness with the cat is in it, too, it’s just not the most pleasurable part. Being disruptive, annoying, exasperating, frustrating, and infuriating doesn’t make it any less a part of the flow.
Staying open to the flow of experience makes life far more interesting and enjoyable. Staying open reduces suffering to more appropriate proportions. It allows for more accurate perspectives and possibilities for healing. It creates peace even in the midst of chaos.
What we call spirituality is actually the complex flow of life through all levels of reality. Whatever names and labels we put on it are attempts to capture the uncapturable. There’s nothing wrong with all the words and concepts, but it’s important to remember that that’s what they are. The deep knowing that comes from experiencing different levels is a felt sense you can feel in your bones and also in your heart, the center of your chest.
Breathe into the center of the chest, relax, and let reality reveal itself. It’s unlikely you’ll be disappointed.