“For many of us there is a spiritual truth that the traditional centres of worship, spirituality and religion do not address and may not even allow.”

The Outer World

Whether it is just a bad dream or an illusion the world “out there” exists in some sense or other and, since I seem to be able to interact with it, it seems wise to seek help from it.

Purpose of Existence

Should the purpose of existence have any meaning at all, then it must surely be to deepen into the eternal, learn and experience, becoming who I really am. If I am living to learn then I will choose wise friends.

Living to Experience

Wisdom comes from experience; knowledge comes from thinking. Learning to experience I cast off the restraints of the ‘safe’', tried and tested ways I have learned to protect myself. These not only insulate me from reality in my life, they limit me also in terms of experience. True experience invites spontaneity—the unexpected—and leads to joy. The whole spectrum of experience is made real through the willingness to experience without your mind as a buffer. This way even sadness, grief and despair may be, apparently paradoxically, overcome. They may even enrich us along the way.

Material and Ritual

All matter is suffused with energy and that energy is to be respected and honored—appropriately. For many of us the very idea of honoring carries with it a bogus and forced aspect, since we were exhorted to honor our father and mother and all kinds of other things which we have rebelled against either inwardly or outwardly (or both). Honoring is important because it expresses our ability and our tendency to value both ourselves and our world. So it should not be taken too lightly and at the same time it should not be forced upon you so that the very act of expressing value and gratitude is rendered valueless and resented.

Ritual does not have to be prescribed. Ritual abounds, is indeed potential in everything we do, and becomes available to the person who is aware and witnessing. This way it becomes possible to treat your whole life as a ritual of deep meaning. Whenever we sense an opportunity for spontaneous ritual, we should allow it to lead us. We will find that it is a doorway further into ourselves, a deepening into ourselves and the world – the opportunity should never be missed.

In all material things we can learn to recognize symbols and open to their sense. It is not necessary to analyze the symbols or even to understand them. You should be able and open to living with them. Respect everything!

Exercise

Bring an act of sacredness into the mundane by selecting an activity or an area of your life for practice. Clean a corner of your house in awareness of the symbolic aspect of each individual item and each act you carry out. Deepen in this meditation over a period of time. Record your experiences and the feelings and insights you have while doing it.

Your Life is Your Dream of Truth

Your life is your dream of truth. You carry your dream inside you. So imbue life with respect and reverence and allow this to reflect back on you…and experience the flow of the inner and outer worlds as One.

Living in the Moment

I do not have to carry around this baggage of my existence any longer. Without it I may at last live freely. For it is only when I become free of myself that I am free to be myself. Experiencing the moment—where life is happening—I must let go of my expectations, my disappointments, my knowledge, my prejudice, my patterns, my longings and hopes, my neediness and plenty, all my dichotomies and live! and live fully.

BLOG entry #72

This article by Richard Harvey was originally published at http://www.therapyandspirituality.com/articles/  and it is part of an ongoing retrospective series of blogs. ‘Wise Friends’ was first published in 1998.