Spiritual Practices

We do not build disciplines and practices to earn spiritual life. It is not as if we need to accumulate enough spiritual life points to move up to the next level. Spiritual life is not a rating or certification we need to maintain. Our practices do not demonstrate how good or spiritual we are. We practice to learn […]

It is easy for us to get confused about spiritual life and winning. We live in a society which believes in winning. Winning and losing is how we determine who is right and who is wrong. Winning and losing is how we know who is guilty, and who is not. Winning is how we make decisions,

There are times when we begin to think that spiritual life is like summer vacation. We want to get away, do something different, enjoy an experience the kids will remember. We can plan and get organized to do something when work is not so busy. Maybe we can go to the mountains or the beach, to

Some of us love surprises. A thrill runs through us when we discover something we did not expect. Surprises are always new. We see surprises as gifts life gives us to keep us on our toes. Surprises help us be more open to the spiritual life in the world around us. Others see surprises as part of

Our lives do not include room for reflection. We do not have time to pay attention. We have gotten out of the habit of listening, even to ourselves. We are busy entertaining ourselves and each other. We carry music, books, movies, and other distractions on our devices wherever we go. We put much more effort into

There are people who think spiritual life is a way to run away from the real world. They see spiritual life as a crutch, an escape, a way to ignore or avoid what is really happening. Some people talk about my brother and sister monks as if they were hiding behind cloister walls. They seem

We like to think spiritual life grows deeper as we learn and gain experience. We believe spiritual life becomes stronger as we study ideas or memorize quotations. We see spiritual life as a product of what we know. When we know more, we will recognize more of the sacred depth all around us. I value

For as long as I can remember I have been told being right is better than being wrong. We are taught being right is essential to a happy life. In school, at home, in spiritual life, being right is important. Life is about finding right answers and sharing them with other people. Our lives will be

Spiritual life is a fire burning within us and in the world around us. It is energy which brightens our darkness and heats our cold loneliness. There are times when spiritual life is sparked in new ways, and times when may be reduced to embers. Spiritual life can be a torch to light our path or leave

Spiritual life is more than we expect, more than we imagine, more than we need, more than we might want. We think we have spiritual life figured out, we can grasp and understand it. We believe if we are nice and polite then spiritual life will become stronger in us. We know what we need to do to