Last week we talked about the Mind of Christ, it’s meaning, and the life of the Spirit in us. We also talked about our Spiritual Journey and how it can get interrupted by the tremendous energy needed to accomplish the very necessary and good things we are here to do like career, family, etc. This is a natural process and we need to acknowledge the wonderful things we’ve done and have in life. It’s something to be proud of.
At the same time, they may take such effort that our Spiritual Journey gets lost in the inertia of life as it is. And here is where we need to pivot from focusing on the life we’ve constructed, to our inner lives – the life of the Spirit in each of us. How do we do that?
What we’re used to is taking things on, acquiring things, collecting things. Now, we must do the opposite: let go. Let go of the baggage we’ve taken on. By this I don’t mean letting go of the earthly things we’ve acquired. It’s less about that than letting go of what we’ve acquired within. The protective mechanisms, the defenses, the judging, and the rationalizations we’ve carefully constructed for them. The Spiritual Journey is about letting go of baggage that we’ve clung to for many years. They served as coping mechanisms and they’ve done their job, we’ve made it, we can let them go now.
Why do we need to let them go? Because they obscure our true selves. How do we do this? By allowing ourselves to be broken open. It’s ok to be broken in this way. It’s ok not to be so certain of things. It’s ok not to judge others, but simply let them be. By letting others be, we allow ourselves to simply be. And this is the first step in reclaiming our Spiritual Journey and our true selves.
Some of us can do this ourselves. Others of us need help. Spiritual Direction is about helping you find you way back to your true self, to the path of your own Spiritual Journey.
May you be blessed on your journey.
Peter