On (Not) Being Spiritual

Huh?

I was taken aback by some quotes and thoughts as I was reading the book Cloister Talks by Jon Sweeney. The book relates Sweeney's experience spending time visiting with monks for a deeper understanding of his "spiritual" life and more. Well, toward the end of the book Sweeney is having a discussion with one of his monk friends.

"Do you ever wonder what is the purpose of all of the spiritual exercises we do?" [Sweeney] asked...."I do so much, I try so hard..." [Sweeney] began.

"So what? What does that matter?" [Father Luke responded.]

"What do you mean what does it matter? What else is there?"

"Plenty.
"You don't make yourself spiritual," Luke said. "And you are thinking mostly about yourself if you are self-consciously trying for that. Prayer and lectio and going to church- those are duties, not spiritualities. You don't chart your own course to holiness."

"Then what do I do?" I say with more pleading in my heart than he can possibly imagine.

"You can keep loving."

--p. 136.

Interesting thought, I responded. "Keep loving" sounds about right. What is, it though, that Sweeney is trying to pass on to us? Spirituality has become one of those postModern buzz words. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it. It has just turned into part of a mantra:

• It's not about religion; it's about being spiritual.
• Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for those who have already been there.
• I'm not religious. I'm spiritual.

So I read on, knowing that for some reason these words had some truth to them, but were they a reaction to the postModern thinking? Spirituality is important. Perhaps religion is too.

Later, Sweeney points out that his friend Father Luke doesn't use the words spiritual or spirituality very often. He asks Father Luke what the words mean to him.

"Not much, to be honest with you."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm not trying to be spiritual."

"Why not?"

"It's the wrong goal and the wrong path, both.
"The words of spirituality often don't ring true for me. They are always so comforting. But knowing God intimately isn't always a comfort. Anyone who has spent long periods of time listening for God's voice knows that the experience is not often warm or cozy or even inviting. It can be profoundly unsettling," he warned.

--p. 137

Ah, but there is more from Sweeney and his spiritual mentors:

Where does Jesus say to his disciples, "Be spiritual for I am spiritual?"

"Don't make prayer or service or study or whatever, something you set out to a do like a task. Love your neighbor to the point of giving yourself up to him. Then see what God would have you do next."

--p. 138

Do the next right thing, we hear in 12-Step meetings. That's God's will. Or as a late mentor of mine used to say, "When you come to a door, go through it. That's God's will." Back to Sweeney:

We aren't supposed to try and find spiritual experiences. We aren't supposed to measure our success by how we feel or what we've done. We are meant to become our true selves in Christ, which for many people may mean avoiding spirituality all together.

Each person discovers how he is an expression- a unique copy... of Christ in the world, with God's help.

--p. 138

The point, then, seems to be that spirituality is not a journey, a set of things we can do, or even necessarily the way to God. Spirituality has become a feeling issue and not a being issue. The discovery how we are each unique copies of Christ in the world, or perhaps, part of God's incarnation in the world. After all, isn't that who Jesus was- and is?

This is going to obviously take more time and pondering. But it is an interesting challenge to the postModern, self-oriented views that may have very well become, unknowingly, part of our understandings of our journeys of faith.