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What living a spiritual life is not:
it is not becoming a monk or a sister, an acolyte;
it is not entering a religious order;
it is not joining an ashram, though some who lead a spiritual life may choose these things.
It does not mean giving up sex or drinking, meat or coffee, though at some point, one may decide to let go of some or all of these things, for a day or a week or longer.
It does not mean chanting, in Sanskrit or Japanese or English, though you may find you want to try that. It does not mean singing hymns of praise, though you may feel so inspired.
It does not mean wearing only natural fibers and nothing made of leather. It does not mean wearing a mala or a rosary or a sacred thread.
It does not mean practicing yoga, turning the other cheek, always being nice, never having feelings of darkness or despair, anger and rage, depression and sadness.
It does not mean "making a mood" of peace and acceptance when we don't feel peaceful or accepting. It does not mean finding one small moment of succor and comfort, and then holding onto it, come hell or high water. It does not mean forcing ourselves to smile and always insisting on seeing the bright side. It does not mean making our friends and family crazy ignoring the "problems" we may be facing.
It does not mean never again fighting with a spouse or a friend.
It does not mean avoiding movies with violence, watching only PBS, singing only folk songs.
It does not mean never again to be petty or selfish, never again to stretch the truth or lie by omission, never again to make a mistake, stumble over ourselves, step on the toes of our fellows, be defensive.
It does not mean always being able to find the way to avoid using double negatives.
It does not mean beating ourselves up for being human. It does not mean beating ourselves up. At all.
Today I will find compassion for myself and allow myself permission to be human and fallible.
 Dune and Mountain, Death Valley
Copyright © 2011 Jeff Kober
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