Are you on a path or a journey?
For a long time, I refrained from using the word "spirituality". I asked everyone what it meant. I received answers ranging from "belief in Jesus" to "of the spirit".
Using a dictionary definition was useless. For decades, I wandered through the writings of sages and philosophers and still hadn't satisfied myself.
One sage, the American prophet Ralph Waldo Emerson, fascinated me, I read the Over-Soul and kept to his idea that nature heals all sorrow. I'm fortunate to live in the Sierras, hiked and bicycled through nature at her best and it finally came to me in one word; spirituality is connection.
And I saw it this way; a spiritual path, for a Christian, is a straight line and at the end of life, there's Jesus leaning against a heavenly Lamborgini holding the keys in one hand and a carafe of Cosmopolitan.
The spiritual path you can fall off and since it is well marked, you can climb back on and continue.
On the other hand, a journey is all over the place and you can't fall off of a journey and climb back on. There are very dark times and it could be raining hard, in the metaphorical sense. In the dark, you have the light of sensitivity and the culmination of the journey up to that point, sage wisdom from many philosophies and spiritual practices, you have the good tent of protection from the rain of the power to carry on knowing something, and the sustenance of knowing that the spiritual journey is about connection to all things living. This, I think, is what Emerson was saying.
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11 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Neither. I'm not going anywhere. I'm already here and always have been. There exists only now.
CallMeDave
Level 8
Jan 7, 2018
0
I'm just kinda wandering around in the woods at the moment (figuratively) without a path or even a destination. I've met golden hearts and inky-black souls, saints and charlatans along the way, and they've molded me into the person I am today. I've mourned the loss of dear friends, and happily set others adrift. I envy the birds their freedom of flight to change their surroundings, and the trees their patience to stand still in the face of adversity. I guess I would call that a journey...
twitch
Level 7
Jan 2, 2018
0
I am on a Mission!
- have fun be happy enjoy life
- fight the festering evil in our government every day in every way
These things are not always mutually exclusive.
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Dec 29, 2017
0
My Life will be an Adventure until My Last Breath!!!!!
GipsyOfNewSpain
Level 9
Dec 28, 2017
0
Definitely a journey "On a Long and Winding Road."
sassygirl3869
Level 9
Dec 23, 2017
0
Neither, I'm in an experience. Well, a journey I suppose. As someone who believes in reincarnation and another side, I view life as something to simply experience. Sure there are many people who create their own paths and journeys, as there are journeys in this life. However, those are just part of the experience. As for things like the feeling of destiny, that is just their own plan that perhaps they had prior to jumping into this life and that plan exists in their subconscious, so it feels like a supernatural push. Some people have reasons for coming back, others just take the jump simply to take the jump. I feel like I took the jump to experience the technology, like automobiles and flight. I've flown in a plane a few times and I love driving, so I've experienced what I wanted to.
Rynosss
Level 4
Dec 23, 2017
1
I think I confused journey with conquest and conquest would be more of a path. A journey doesn't necessarily mean there is a set goal. It is still an experience, though, an experience of the journey of life which is in itself a set of experiences, like you explained.
I’m on a journey with many winding meaningless paths.
Gatovicolo
Level 8
Dec 23, 2017
0
Perfect timing.
I feel like I'm on a walkabout. At 46 with 2 college degrees and almost 20 years in one industry, I still don't know where I want to go. I have about 3 years before my youngest turns 18 and I feel like I want to live my life differently then, than I do now. I just don't know what that means.
Chrisbiologist
Level 6
Dec 23, 2017
1
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