One
of the most challenging aspects of my vocation as a spiritual teacher
is the fact that people so often want to affix a single label to my
perspective, one that is tied to one of the great world religions.
However, I find that such labels never work for me; they somehow seem so
limiting. After all, was Jesus a Christian, or was the Buddha a
Buddhist? No, they weren't. In my search for a categorical
"box," I used to say that I am a "contemplative"; that is, a person who
seeks union with Ultimate Reality through a lifestyle of silence,
solitude, simplicity, service, and time spent in the natural world.
That was OK in the 80s and 90s, when the word "contemplative" was more
popular. But now, very few people even know what that word means. In
my search for a category that makes sense, I've also experimented with
using a regional label. For example, I sometimes say that I practice a
combination of Cascadian, Rocky Mountain and Southwest spirituality.
But that sort of regional approach, however true, may take some time to
catch on. Therefore, in the meantime - and I've mentioned this before
on another post - HERE is what I tell people. I am a tree, with roots
in evangelical Christianity and Quakerism. My trunk is made up of
Contemplative or Mystical Christianity. My branches and leaves, then, are composed
of choice insights from Buddhism, Native American spirituality,
Hinduism, Taoism, Sufism, Contemplative Judaism, Transpersonal
Psychology, the spirituality of American Nature Writers, and Enneagram
Work, for starters. However, I have to admit that I identify more with
the FOREST in which that tree grows than with the tree itself. In other
words, the thing that attracts me most in all of these different faiths
and traditions is the imagery they employ which comes from the natural
world. Thus, "Wilderness Spirituality" comes perhaps the closest to
what I practice. But ultimately, no label works. When the Buddha was
asked what he was, he replied simply: "Awake." Now THAT is definitely something
I aspire to!
Photo: Fremont Cottonwoods growing at the edge of Horsetooth Reservoir; Larimer County, CO; October 22, 2013
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