I believe in gathering a multitude of spiritual practices into a metaphorical basket in which I can access the one or two most needed at any moment. In order to do that I have walked a wide spiritual path, peering into a variety of religious traditions and exploring numerous traditions and tools.
At the same time I am a "genetic Lutheran" --the tradition of my childhood and the tradition that continues to call and sustain me.
Some say one either must choose a spiritual path that is wide or one that is deep. I admit I am someone who likes to have it all and doesn't want to miss anything with the potential to enrich this being I was created to be. Therefore, I maintain it is possible to create a spiritual path that is both wide and deep.
Last week I read a book that has been on my shelf for a long time, The December Project by Sara Davidson. The book is the result of conversations with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of the Jewish Renewal movement. Ever since hearing him speak at a hospice conference many years ago, I have respected his wisdom, especially regarding the spiritual work of aging. You might be familiar with his book From Age-ing to Sage-ing.
In The December Project Davidson and Reb Zalman discuss a key question, "What is the spiritual work of this time, and how do you prepare for the mystery?" When he was asked about his prayer life in the December years, for example, he said, "I just sit and let God love me." Davidson writes, "So he sees December as the time when you 'furnish your solitude with God.'" How good to practice now that kind of praying in anticipation of my December years. (I think I am in October, a time of becoming an elder, or maybe, more realistically, November, a time of serving as an elder.)
But where the book especially resonated with me was in the discussion of the wide or deep spiritual path. Reb Zalman classifies himself as a "spiritual mutt." He is
indebted to the lineage holders who keep original
teachings and rituals alive so that those of us walking
the wide path can take what we need and leave the
rest. If generation after generation hadn't preserved
the religion in its original form, we wouldn't be able
to adapt it for our own time and needs. We'd find
ourselves with a multitude of adaptations containing
fewer of the original touchstones, and our culture
would be impoverished indeed. p. 154
In other words, both wide and deep are needed.
He reinforces that when he explains that every religion is an "essential organ for the health of planet, providing certain kinds of wisdom the world needs."
…all forms of religion are masks that the divine
wears to communicate with us. Behind all religions,
there's a reality, and this reality wears whatever
clothes it needs to speak to a particular people. For
Jews, it's a Torah with a crown. For Christian, the
log-on to the infinite is Jesus." p. 93
Consider those words when you think there is only one path, especially a narrow one.
An Invitation
Have you traveled a wide path or a deep path? In what ways do you feel called to transform your path? I would love to know.
Resources
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
The December Project
Last night three very nice and strong young men came to my Dad's house to pick up the china cupboard we had listed on Craigslist. Sunday Marie and her husband came to see it, and she fell in love with it and clearly wanted it. However, this monster-sized one-piece stalwart of our family dining room was not going to leave the house easily. The couple examined and strategized how to manage the move, while my husband and I continued the ongoing packing and emptying of my Dad's house, readying it for a For Sale sign.
Last night they returned and I checked one more item off the list. Yes! We are moving on and moving out.
Moving On and Out as a Spiritual Path
If you have gone through this process of dealing with your parents' home and belongings, either because of their deaths or moving them into a senior living facility, you know how challenging doing this can be. Exhausting--emotionally and physically exhausting.
I know there are many ways to accomplish this process--all of them require time and lots of decisions, and none of them are without effort. Our family has chosen a more hands-on method perhaps than some of you have elected, but like being on a spiritual path, no one way is the right and only way.
Of course, this process of selling and cleaning and packing and sorting and choosing and tossing and delegating is a spiritual path, too, although sometimes it feels like a detour.
Challenges
Sunday as I waited for this charming couple to make their decision, I could feel my Sunday slipping away. I wanted to return to my "real life." I want the task of getting Dad's house ready to sell to be over --and to do what I want to do, but--and here's the rub--I don't really want to do the tasks right in front of me. When I arrive at Dad's, sometimes I am almost paralyzed. My husband and sister zoom around me, but I have a hard time revving up to get the job done.
You may have heard writers sometimes say that what they love about writing is "having written," and not the doing of the writing itself. I happen to love the writing process, but when it comes to Dad's house, I want it DONE. I want to look back at what we have accomplished.
I am not present to the task OR I wonder if I am too much present to it. Either way we are in the midst of it, and it will get done, thanks to our ongoing time and efforts. We will do it--we are doing it, but I am having a hard time viewing it as anything but duty, a drain on my time and energy. I feel my own life drifting away. Where's the room for the work I feel as a call? The writing I want and need to do? The groups I would like to start and the spiritual direction practice I would like to resurrect? The reconnecting with friends and family here and staying connected with friends and family at a distance? All that seems piled away in boxes going to Goodwill.
Pausing in the Midst
This much is clear: I need to pause occasionally, to find the moments of beauty, of grace, of love, of the Divine. I stop and watch the sparrows at the bird feeder outside our dining room window and Mr and Mrs Cardinal in the bushes. I allow my heart to open like the unbroken expanse of snow in Dad's backyard. I give myself a breather when I unearth a forgotten treasure like the tiny heart-shaped frame with a sweet picture of Mom and Dad in it. We engage in some memory sharing as we work and that lightens the load as well. I am delighted when the woman who bought many pieces of wicker for her new beauty salon sends me a thank you note. How nice is that!
I know this work offers me lessons about shedding your stuff before your family has to do it for you, but I pray I can see the opportunities as well. How is this time as life-enhancing as sitting at my desk and writing?
Words of Wisdom
Thomas Moore in his new book A Religion of One's Own, A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-moore/finding-religion_b_3955997.html encourages "digging into your work as though it were the meaning of your life." The operative words for me are "as if." Maybe I need to fake it a bit, hoping that the doing will expand into greater meaning. Moore quotes the Gospel of Thomas in which Jesus says, "Split a piece of wood. I am there."
God is there as I schlepp more boxes to Goodwill, as we throw years of neglect and denial into garbage bags. God is in that house as we prepare it for another family's history and life. We have had ours there, and as we detach ourselves enough to do the work that needs to be done, we need to remember that this too is sacred ground.
From the Tao Te Ching
See simplicity in the complicated
Achieve greatness in little things.
Today is another day in which it is necessary and good to devote myself to chopping wood, to doing the tasks one little thing at a time, to focus on what is in front of me at the moment, to breathe in the sense of God's presence around and within me. Amen
An Invitation
What aspects of your life right now feel more like a detour than your "real life"? What are your strategies for coping and growing and finding God's presence?
I believe in gathering a multitude of spiritual practices into a metaphorical basket in which I can access the one or two most needed at any moment. In order to do that I have walked a wide spiritual path, peering into a variety of religious traditions and exploring numerous traditions and tools. 
