Practices From the Inside Out: Is There a Good Reason for Spiritual Life?

Is There a Good Reason for Spiritual Life?

Some of us seem to believe spiritual life does not need to have a good reason. We appear to think spiritual life simply exists and the best way for us to appreciate it is just get with the program.

It is easy for some of us, who have grown up with certain expectations, to assume spiritual life exists. We probably do not understand all the aspects of spiritual life but accept it.

Our hope is often to find a peaceful coexistence with spiritual life. We would like to understand enough of our experience to know where the lines are and when we cross one.

People talk to us about spiritual life and describe how it behaves. They tell us there are certain things we need to do and other things we must certainly avoid doing. Their view of spiritual life is all about stimulus and response.

When we ask questions about why those lines are where they are, they sometimes give us complicated explanations. They give us the impression they are telling us what someone else has told them or what they have read in a long book.

It is almost as if asking about the reasons behind spiritual life is one of those things we need to avoid.

I understand spiritual life differently. For me, spiritual life is all about getting a handle on the good reason behind it. It makes more sense to me to build a trusting relationship with spiritual life when I have an idea of what the point might be.

My experience with spiritual life has helped me appreciate what some of its good reason could be.

When I begin to understand some of spiritual life’s reasons I can start to appreciate what is going on.

What Would Be a Good Reason for Spiritual Life?

Many of the reasons I have been given for aspects of spiritual life do not really make much sense to me. It is easy to get into complex theories and philosophies which just confuse me pretty fast.

The people I know who are asking questions about the reasons behind spiritual life are not looking for theories. They are not trying to find vague, conceptual ideas which might be true.

Many of the people who ask me about whether spiritual life has a good reason are looking for hope.

People say so many things about spiritual life and we struggle to find ways they make sense. Often what we have been told about spiritual life does not fit with what we have experienced.

We know how it feels when we do not understand how God loves us. If that is true, we wish God had some other way of loving us.

Some of us hear the complicated ideas about spiritual life and cannot see how they fit together.

If there is a good reason behind spiritual life our everyday lives should be different.

We believe a good reason for spiritual life could change everything. If we could grasp that it should explain a lot more which confuses us.

I believe each of us discovers our own reasons for spiritual life. When someone asks me about a good reason for spiritual life they are not asking me to convince them. They want to be able to consider and reflect and learn from what I might say.

Our conversation is not about whether what I say is true or the right reason. Each of us is looking for our own reasons.

What would you say would be be a good reason for spiritual life for you?

Seeking a Good Reason for Spiritual Life

It can be a challenge for many of us to contemplate a good reason for spiritual life.

Some of us doubt whether anything like spiritual life really exists. Others of us believe spiritual life is so far beyond our understanding we have no way of finding its reasons.

Each of us has our own standard for what would be a good reason for spiritual life. Seeking a good reason for spiritual life is a path each of us needs to walk for ourselves.

What reasons would meet our own standards?

We know spiritual life is not about giving us charmed lives or bestowing special blessings on us. Many of us have learned the most important lessons from our most difficult and painful experiences.

I believe we seek a good reason for spiritual life by reflecting on what has happened to us. We live in a world where it is easy for us to react instead of responding, to forget as we bury ourselves in work. Some of us fill our lives with distractions and do not understand why we cannot see a good reason for spiritual life.

We need to clear our path of obstacles to contemplate our reasons.

Discovering a Good Reason for Spiritual Life

Another challenge in seeking a good reason for spiritual life is our reasons often change.

Discovering a good reason for spiritual life is not a final answer. Spiritual life is not a linear process which proceeds rationally or analytically. Our reasons vary, sometimes from day to day.

Spiritual life is not a calculation, not a math problem or an engineering challenge. We form our own relationships with spiritual life and come to see its personality.

Discovering a good reason for spiritual life is not about learning to predict how it will behave. We are not trying to protect ourselves from what spiritual life might do to us.

Our relationship to spiritual life is about being open to its presence and actions within us.

The more completely we are open to spiritual life the more deeply we will understand.

We grow in relationship and become as open as we can.

A good reason for spiritual life is not the end of our path, but a beginning.

Where have we found a good reason for spiritual life today?

How will we seek a good reason for spiritual life this week?

[Image by ulrich.rousseau]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com and his email address is [email protected].