In my opinion, there are three words to consider when embarking on a spiritual way of life. We each have to surmount the difficulties inherent in these three words if we are to remain on a spiritual path. We have to be willing and able to rise above the limitations of these three words to find ease, joy and prosperity.
The first word is God. We must examine the situation where we accepted our current concept of God. Was it from a church, our parents, our reading or our own experiences of life? No matter where we got it and no matter what it is, one thing we need to recognize now is that the concept is not God. There is nothing we can know about God that is God. There is no idea we can entertain that actually is God. That is all only a concept, an idea. It is not God. God is an experience!
We love to talk about God, write about God, study about God, theorize about God--all good things--yet, it is only when we have the experience of God that we have God in our lives. And, no group can give us the experience of God. It is an individual experience, which might take place in a group, however, the individual will have the experience, not the group.
Statements of truth and learning are necessary steps in our progress as we build our consciousness. It is the experience of God that makes all the difference.
What has been your experience of God? Do you have a daily experience of God, the presence of God, in your life? I'd love to have you join the discussion here, so, please add your comments.
I'll write about the other two words we can consider in the next entries.
Until then, enjoy love, peace, beauty and prosperity.
Many blessings,
Rhoberta
Rhoberta Shaler, PhD
Author of Soul-Driven Living coming in Fall, 2008.
Founder, Spiritual Living Network
To help others move towards having that experience of God--and to remind us to do the same daily--we wrote Soul Solitude: Taking Time for Our Souls to Catch Up. During our years and years of teaching and learning, we recognized that it is so important to make the distinction between learning about God and experiencing God. We found that following the guidelines of Soul Solitude allows for that shift from knowing about to experiencing. If you'd like to read the book, click on the title above.
