The Path to Self-Discovery

Our spiritual journeys are as diverse as the stars in the sky.

They may take us on different paths, but they all lead to the same destination - a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

We hear a lot about spirituality. But what is it?

 

It’s defined as concern for the human spirit, or wanting to be connected to something greater than oneself. Even that is a fuzzy kind of definition, don’t you think?

 

Each of us is on a spiritual journey, whether we know it or not. We all walk different paths on that journey, see and experience different things.

If you’ve ever been hiking in the mountains, you will see at the base, or in the low foothills that the ground is criss-crossed by many different trails, some of them manmade, others made by animals. If you don’t know where to go, you can pick any of them. That path might or might not lead you to where you wanted to go.

The point is that there isn’t only one path to a spiritual destination. Some paths lead deep into a forest, others skirt along the edges of the hills in the sunlight. Climbing hills, or mountains pose challenges to us all. You look up and see the top of the mountain in the distance and you realize you still have quite a ways to go.

 

You’ll have different experiences along the way, see and realize different things around you and within yourself.

 

But by far the biggest surprise when climbing to the top of a hill, or mountain, is that there is almost always another, higher one ahead! You couldn’t see it before because it was obscured by the mountain you just climbed. You may have a magnificent view all around you, where you now stand. Perhaps you are content with this panorama and decide to climb back down, leaving the higher one for another time.

 

This is how I see our spiritual journeys – that they are unique to each of us and that there is no right or wrong way to get there, just different ways.

 

For too long, our world has remained divided by what each group calls the Creator, or even groups that refuse to acknowledge a Creator at all. We have names, rituals and rules that might define what we call faith and belief.

 

Can we imagine a place where we all agree that no matter the name we use, no matter the rituals we follow, we are all in search of connection with the ONE, the same force?

 

Mankind has created these many divisions. Can we dissolve those barriers maybe? Your journey through the mountains will be different from mine.

 

Are we really all so different in the end?