Here is a take on natural, organic spiritual growth.
Spirituality grows naturally, organically and profits from bumps along the
road. If existentialist philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard is to be believed, self-reflection matures over time. In the first stirrings, everything is concrete, exciting and disconnected, but it is happening ͞outside ourselves.͟ This external environment does not speak; it shouts! It is replete with unreflective experiences that disperse who we are. It remains un-integrated. We react to those experiences like one addicted. We cannot get enough of them. Everything, good, bad and in-between is attractive. These promptings are so diverse that we have a difficult time defining ourselves as we relate to them. Over time this over-exuberance wears thin. We strive for something more meaningful and consistent, so as to become more ͞comfortable in our own skin.͟
Embracing that desire for meaning, and profiting from this uneasiness, we progress; we experience ourselves as ethical
entities; i.e., we see that our decisions make a difference in terms of who we become and what kind of impact we have on ourselves and on others. We become “someone.” Our self-understanding and our social role is reflective of our values and our behavior. This is an enhanced experience
of personhood – the sum of our decisions unifies us into an entity, a person, an ethical agent with a role to play.
We see ourselves and are known by our values. The congruence between values and behavior identifies us to ourselves and to others.
As we continue to mature, to experience life and experience ourselves as ethical agents, we yearn to have an enduring impact, to do lasting good for others. We want transcendence, to leave something behind, a legacy. However, this new bump in the road is the realization that this ethical impact, though strong, is mired in the finite: finite as to time and as to lasting outcomes. Our decisions, though significant, do not perdure. They are finite in both time and finite in an impact that is limited by our limited sphere of influence and our time horizon. We want more. Is this really all there is? What happens when I am gone?
We can profit from this feeling. We can seek to reach out from the comfort of our ethical center for that which is Infinite, Other, Almighty. We can put our trust in this relationship with the Infinite rather than in our own limited ethical consistency. We do not stop being ethical and moral. Rather, we experience of our limitations. This reaching out to the Infinite identifies the limitedness of our own ethical stance. We realize that we cannot go it alone to be spiritually mature.
When we leave behind the comfort of our ethical consistency, we can become more merciful, less judgmental of others and more accepting of our own empty places that only can be filled by the Almighty. We discover that what is missing can be filled by God͛’s presence and God͛’s mercy. The spiritual danger at this point is to stay rooted in our own ethical sufficiency and self-righteousness. God is squeezed out, we identify no empty places.
The spiritually maturing person, is primed to move on—to find sufficiency not in self but in the Other, i.e., in God.
This is not about being religious alone. In fact, along with its many benefits, religion can keep us mired in ethical sufficiency – casting aspersion at others who are not quite as “put-together,” as we think we are. Even if our “religion” is secular, remaining rooted in our own morality can make us judgmental and disparaging of those not quite as moral as we perceive ourselves.
One can mistake religiosity for spirituality. A person thinks they can be spiritual by being moral giants. To get beyond religiosity, one sheds the self-satisfied feeling that comes from measuring up to a set of rules, be they religious or secular.
As noted, the spiritually mature person might well be a secular humanist. But a humanist may be secular as to politics (as one should be,) but the secular description does not always fit. As noted, humanism can be holy in itself. Humanism can be spiritual or it can be self-righteous. But the spiritually mature person, religious or humanist, finds the insufficiency in their moral efforts. It is an insufficiency that can only be filled outside of themselves!
This journey is symbolized by Abram. At God’s invitation he leaves the comfort of his own place to go where God had beckoned. All are eventually called to make Abram’s journey; i.e., to move onward from their own comfortable place.
As the religious or humanist lets go of their complacency, they are likely to experience a flow-experience as they find themselves part of something greater than themselves. Abram is promised a progeny as numerous as the sands on the seashore, the stars in the sky. The spiritually maturing person may experience a similar promise as they dive into a creation that is messy and unpredictable, but ever-developing, growing, and coming to fruition.
Paul writes in the epistle to the Romans, “All creation is straining on tiptoe to see the children of God come into their own.͟” (Romans 8:22) The spiritually maturing person can be taken up into this journey as they come into their own.
What can help the spiritually maturing person deepen this experience? Honest relationships with others and prayer. The prayerful portion includes various experiences of prayer and reflection: vocal prayer, community prayer, meditation, contemplation, reflection, mindfulness, sharing.
This spiritually maturing person is still time-bound and rooted in finite experiences, but those experiences draw added meaning as they become embraced by something and someone vast, an Almighty beyond ourselves but also close and immanent.
Prayer, reflection, meditation, contemplation are modes in which we relate more deeply to our authentic inner selves and to the God who resides there.͛ This movement is natural, organic, and personal.
There appears to be two tipping points on this journey. The first tipping point occurs when one is dissatisfied with their own aimless pursuit of pleasure. The cure is to become ethical, moral, consistent and congruent as to values and behavior. The second tipping point comes when one experiences the limitations of being a human being. Our good works are not enough, our integrated self is necessary but not sufficient. The cure is an opening to the Other, to God. The person is ready to fill their own insufficiency with the fullness of the Almighty.
We all experience these tipping points. We each can profit from them or we can stay fearfully or satisfied where we are. In embracing these tipping points, we open ourselves to a fullness beyond our imagination.