THE SEARCH FOR THE SPIRITUAL

What does it mean to be spiritual? I never realized that there is so much confusion about this subject.

At a spiritual discussion group, some talked about spirituality in terms of a feeling of peace. However, there was no clear way to obtain these feelings or any agreement among the seekers. This left the others standing before a locked but attractive door without the key.

Others talked about spirituality as something to do — a matter of practicing virtue — as opposed to something to experience. However, they seemed a bit reticent about this proposal, which made spirituality a matter of performance rather than experience. They had hoped that spirituality would provide an alternative to the depressing and self-consuming attempt to achieve. I also suspected that some of these virtue-seekers already realized that their virtue had repeatedly failed them in regards to their most intimate relationships, but what else could they do?

Besides, these New York City moral relativists don’t even believe that virtue exists apart from a concept they cooked-up in their own minds. Why then be virtuous? To stimulate some pleasure-producing neural clusters? No wonder the confusion about spirituality.

Meanwhile, I was exploding with words, which demanded their wings, but they also needed a welcoming airport, but none was in view.

I wanted to point out that spirituality is a transcendent and transformational relationship with the ultimate spiritual Being, One who loved us so much that He proved it by dying for our sins. It’s a relationship nurtured by trust and obedience, a decision to place His concerns above everything else. However, an invisible and personal God would not appear on their radar.

I knew they wouldn’t hear me. What I had to offer is an Alien to a world seeking the acceptable. However, they keep searching the same empty pocket for a gold coin. Meanwhile, I had this coin grasped between my fingers, and so I spoke.