spiraling down

Spirituality can be grounded in the awareness that everything reveals its spiritual depth if you go far enough into it. The soul is at home in the lower levels of everyday existence while the spirit pursues the cosmic heights. The soul proceeds by a process of deepening, getting nowhere, yet all the time rooting and ripening. Without the deep soul the spirit risks cutting itself off from humanity. Swept away by the spirit, we’d like to become angels, but steeped in the soul we’d like a good meal with friends. Without the ballast of the soul, the spirit drifts, floats, and zooms away from the earth…..Thomas Moore

this is a keen reminder to not compartmentalize our life…to move easily from the roots up through the stem…..beware of lofty ideals, of higher ‘spiritual’ values….it behooves us to do the dishes, love our family, and know our hearts……

Is there effort required on this path? Personally I find I have less and less energy to make an effort in any direction. You can’t make an effort without tension. Once you really know that what you’re looking for is your real nature, you lose the impetus to strive. This seeing is your natural state. Just be aware that you constantly react. As soon as you are aware of this process, you are already outside of it………Jean Klein

going down to root so that we may shoot up….

In this high place

it is as simple as this,

leave everything you know behind.

Step toward the cold surface,

say the old prayer of rough love

and open both arms.

Those who came with empty hands

will stare into the lake astonished,

there, in the cold light

reflecting pure snow

the true shape of your own face.

….David Whyte