Unfortunately, life circumstances come to us in cold and harsh ways. Being shamed as a child, being hurt by someone we loved, being betrayed by someone we trusted. All of us know what it feels like to be disappointed, let down, and to live with the fact that things did not work out like we had hoped. All of us have shared the experience of pain, of being wounded, and had to deal with loss. Sometimes our pain is self inflicted. Other times we are victims of someone else's abuse. The real crux of the matter is what will be our response to life's harshness. Will our heart be broken down and hardened or broken open enabling us to live life with a greater capacity? Our hearts can become hard, mean, closed, bitter, and resentful. Or our hearts can be opened up, expanded, and softened; made a moist and verdant heart.
Often, it requires some work, practice, and intentionality to reopen a closed and hardened heart. One of the great gifts to us from the world's religious traditions is the gift of many different technologies or tactics that can help take us from despair to ecstasy. For thousands of years holy men and women developed and passed down traditions and practices that could help lead us into the spiritual life. Hinduism gave us yoga and the chanting of Sanskrit. Buddhism gave us meditation. The Sufis gave us poetry and dance. The Native Americans gave us the sweat lodge. The historic Christian Church gave us beautiful cathedrals, organs, liturgy, and the sacraments. The black gospel tradition gave us Hammond B3 organs, a walking bass line, and a strong back beat on the snare drum. The list is endless. While I think it is helpful to honor the wide variety of technologies provided to us by the religious containers, it is very important to understand that they are not "ends"; they are "means". The tactics or practices are not the goal; they are paths to the goal. Unfortunately, some religious folk have gotten addicted to their technologies, turning their tactics into exclusive idols, even confusing their tactics with God. To them, God can only be known or experienced in their setting, with their style, among their practices. What a shame.
Anyone serious about living the spiritual life needs a good "tool box" filled with technologies that are effective to them. Tools to help tend, open, soften, and prepare the heart. However, remember please, your tool box of tactics are not the goal. The goal is a heart opened to live in divine union with the natural ecstasies that are present in every moment. A life raptured by the beauty of a sunrise. A life overcome by the smile of a friend. A life radically amazed by a simple touch. Thank God for the gift of hundreds of "technologies of the soul" that can and do help us. But let us go beyond, to a place where the whole universe is our Cathedral, where everyday is Sunday, where every creature is the Word of God, where every human being is the Beloved, where every sunrise is the Original Flaring Forth. Let us go to the place where there can be no between.
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