Return to your heart

If we were to seek the key to the authenticity of the spiritual journey, that key would perhaps be depth, writes Jean-Marie Howe (23). She goes on to discuss our inability to grasp such thoughts, because we do not understand depth of life. We understand product. We can grasp goals. But depths leave us a bit bewildered. 

Howe believes this is because depths involve spiritual being, a concept we do not often consider. Being is the silent building of ourselves, our consciousness, our motives. To work with being means to understand silence, meditation, Lectio and stillness. Becoming can be likened to working with art, it needs brush strokes that are carefully placed and in sync with what else is on the canvas. Becoming is like fashioning something out of soft clay, or following the music heard in the mind even before it is put on paper. Spiritual being involes creating, transforming, listening and surrendering, all done without diminishing ourselves.

To participate in the journey toward depth and spiritual being, we have but to return to our heart (24). For our heart is the treasure hidden in the field. It is hidden because it is not immediately obvious. It is a treasure because it contains all that we need to become. 

Return to your heart. Find your treasure. And you will have the key to authenticity on your spiritual journey.

What Happened to Heart?

You often hear the comment, "It's all about faith." Perhaps that prompted James Fowler to write his book, "Stages of Faith". Fowler examines how faith is carried out in the lives of people, in religion and belief. He quotes from Smith, who reminds us that the word credo which is often translated into I believe really means I give my heart to or I hereby commit myself to. Perhaps the shift is subtle. But I do find it a huge difference. Fowler goes so far as to say these linguistic shifts...are causally and symptomatically related to a larger cultural shift...to see faith as belief or a belief system. What happened to the heart?

It's in our heart more than our head that we discern the presence of God. It's in our heart more than our head that we learn the meaning of belief systems. It's in our heart where we find love.

I think part of this shift comes from the scientific revolution that claims to have the ability to prove all truths. We want our faith to be more intellectual, more factual, more documented. Nothing wrong with that until we come to a crisis, when the facts either fail us or fail to lift us, we struggle with disillusionment, and we look for comfort more than answers. This is a time we will understand why it is important to also live by heart, to have that relationship with God, to know he is within.

Let's make our Credo an I give my heart to. Let's not let the present atmosphere of intelligence within the religious community rob us of our personal relationship with God.

Blossoming in the Mountain Tops

Flowers in Mountain Top of Pyrenees

If flowers can grow on the mountain top of the Pyrenees, in the midst of stones and gravel, harsh climate and endless winds, why cannot we weather any storm? I wouldn't say it has to do with faith. I would say, it has to do with heart. And for a heart to stay strong, we need a network, a network of family, friends, and soul mates. They become like rain, sunshine, and soil to help us stay strong and blossom. Just like the wild flowers in the mountain tops.