The Shape of Spirituality?
The young boy was asked how he enjoyed his very first day at school. “I hated it,” he said, “I can’t read, I can’t write, and they won’t let me speak.” Fortunately, the shape of education has changed significantly from those tightly-controlled days, where learning took place according to one well-defined and strictly administered method. We were being shaped into a predetermined mould, an approach which applied across a range of disciplines.
A spiritual journey needs to reflect the journey, personality and experiences of the individual, not restricted by tradition and limited to ritual. True spirituality touches and integrates every aspect of our humanity: the social, political and economic, alongside the personal, psychological, emotional and moral aspects of life.
The great artiste Guggenheimer observed that “the quality of insight is determined by the degree of our ultimate integrity. Sound vision is the reward … intellectual, emotional, and spiritual integrity.” This integrity is nurtured not by accident but with deliberate attention to our spirituality.
How do you nurture yourself in the spiritual journey?
In a world obsessed with economic prosperity, and in more recent days national security, we seem to have forgotten the more basic question: “For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?” (Jesus). All the great spiritual leaders of our world have challenged us to see life’s journey as one which touches every aspect of our humanity, both communally and corporately.
What is the shape of your spirituality, and how does it connect with that of others?
Gary
October
23, 2005
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