Self Discipline & Spiritual Dry Spells

(I feel the need to preface this post by stating something many of you may already know: I have been a student of the world's religions since I was about twelve. Seriously. And I continue to this day to read widely and deeply in all traditions. I may be focused but I do not wear blinders.)

As you know from a post earlier this week, I am in the midst of what I think of as a Spiritual Dry Spell. I don't see this as unusual or as lasting. I know that we cycle in and out of this and thus my metaphor with the roller coaster.

Ups and Downs. We get them in every aspect of our lives.

The important thing is to realize when we are in the down swing. Paying attention is a basic requirement for spiritual evolution.

Tess, from Anchors & Masts, summed up my own feelings best in her comment about "continuing to do what you do while exploring new ways of doing." (I paraphrase.)

Exactly. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

I am pleased that I noticed this down swing before it turned into something more dangerously existential, and I am pleased that I have not done what I would normally do.

You see, being a student of world religions has some inherent traps. For me, the primary one is treating my spiritual life like a cheap buffet, when, for me, it needs to be more of a fancy, sit down dinner. One you've saved up for.

It's important, for me, to commit, to be devoted.

I will probably say this a million times in my life, but it's like the Dalai Lama says -- you have to pick a path to the top of the mountain or you will continue to circle the base, and soon you will have dug a ditch with your feet and you will be farther from the top than ever.

In the past, and especially in the Fall, when I get to this place of spiritual dryness, I would just change my path. (Which entails walking back to the base of the mountain and doing a lot of circling.)

I would think that it was about the outside stuff. I would think I was using the wrong tools. That I was missing something. (Like when I can't stop changing the radio station.)

We all know that this just leads to Spiritual Materialism -- Ego building through "collection" of "wisdom" or "training."

I am rereading The Illuminated Prayer by Coleman Barks. He is the most amazing translator of Rumi ever. An amazing poet and writer in his own right. This book is about the Sufi concept of 5 times prayer, and I am reading it to put life back into my own, very Marian centered, prayer life.

A quote that stopped me and made me sit and write:

Self-discipline is an essential part of the spiritual landscape, and obligations -- with no wiggle room -- can be useful tools to tame our more churlish elements.

In the current spiritual landscape of this time and place, it is uncool to speak of obligations. It sounds heavy and dripping with the musty scent of Bible belt rules and regulations.

It is sad when we can't see out of these tiny little boxes into the bigger ideas that we are in desperate need of.

It seems to me that we could all use a little bit of obligation in our lives. A little more discipline and commitment and devotion.

It is good to be flexible, but at some point, we also have to develop strength and balance.

Because, ironically, it is through obligation, discipline, commitment, and devotion that we eventually happen upon Freedom. Rumi:

What nine months does for the embryo
Forty early mornings will do
for your growing awareness.

Not to take Rumi too literally (that would be a shame), I am committing today to a 40 morning practice of just sitting with a candle flame to remind me that I am re-igniting.

How about you? Is there a 40 day commitment that could rejuvenate you as we transition toward the new season?


(Photo & Text Copyright: Christine C. Reed, blisschick.net, 2009)