Friday, January 11, 2008

ILLUSION and INTENT


The following is an answer I wrote to someone I guide in response to a question she asked about what to do when nothing seems to be happening. It is a question that has come up quite a bit lately so I thought I would post my response to her hoping that it might also answer someone else with the same sort of question. In deference to the individual I am not posting the original question but I do not think it is really needed.

"I think there comes a time in one's spiritual life when the illusion of one's intent begins to pale. It is as if one must go deeper but we don't know quite how to do it. Consequently we might tend to feel that our spiritual life is becoming quite meaningless. This is a place where pushing thru becomes the important thing. I think it is when the trappings no longer seem quite so important and something else must arise within us. All of the things we do are part of our support system, they are the things that we latch onto in order to make some sense of the inner turmoil of true spirituality. For awhile they make us comfortable and, for some, they are the most important thing. But eventually a person might come to understand that all of these rituals only are the bare surface of an extremely deep experience. Really, they are cultural, just as most things are. I imagine that you have reached this place. Now the real question is why go on?"
Much Love, Musawwir