Unearthing the Gift

The thought of sharing more about my spiritual practice and path has been on my mind lately. Maybe it’s due to the absence of a clearly defined spiritual path, maybe it’s because I’ve spent 10 hours listening to Kathleen Norris share about her spiritual path and her dance/relationship/battle with acedia.

I have always considered myself a spiritual seeker. I didn’t grow up with a strong or strict religious upbringing. Some members of my family were Jehovah’s Witnesses, some were Catholic. I went to a few different churches and synagogues in my teen years. In my adult years, I was very antireligious. I wouldn’t say I was an atheist, but I was definitely more in the agnostic camp.

Then we fast forward to 2015, I started learning about tarot and new age spirituality, energy healing, crystal energy, goddesses, archangels, spirit guides. This is where I have been hanging out the last few years.

But even while learning about this new old spirituality, I was still using very psychological models of interpreting belief and phenomena. I realized that while I had knowledge of the different things, I didn’t really have the belief or the faith. I didn’t have the certainty that what I was learning, or what I was connecting with was responding to me.

That is when I realized that my spiritual journey was being sabotaged in some way. I had gone down the road of materialism, acquiring all the decks, getting all the crystals, but they were not doing what I was hoping they would do, to help me feel connected, to help me feel at peace.

Right now, I feel I am in a pause, or in limbo, or in a twilight moment. I am not exactly sure where my spiritual path is leading me, but I can only hope that it is leading me to myself. That is a constant belief that has not wavered, that our spiritual paths connect us to something deeper within ourselves.

Mini Book Review

Now for my mini review of Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life, by Kathleen Norris.

I can’t remember where I heard about this book, but I searched for it on the Libby app immediately. I checked it out as an ebook and started reading, but soon realized I would make more headway if I listened to the audiobook. So that is what I did. For the last 21 days, I have been listening to Kathleen Norris. I just finished my 10 hour long journey with her yesterday.

The book is very significant and I would like to get a copy to keep and reread someday. It inspired me to read and learn about the early Christian monastic traditions. It made me reflect on the all the spiritual and mystical traditions I have been in contact with, from the Jesuit scholars at Seattle University, to the Benedictine University near where I currently live.

The book has also reawakened my interest in prayer, and learning about the mystical traditions, reading the psalms, and going back to my favorite books from the Bible. I also want to read more books by Kathleen Norris, and she has a long list of books she mentions in her book, some of which I intend to read.

This book is also great for people who are on a creative path, it connects the two paths of spirituality and creativity, this has always been the way I see creativity, as an expression of our spirituality, and vice versa.

That concludes my mini review. I highly recommend this book for writers and spiritual seekers alike.