Getting started takes some time
Joining a new spiritual community is always confusing and disturbing at the beginning. If the path is familiar, it's not new.
Everyone feels as if they have come in in the middle of the movie.
For
me, the whole idea of a spiritual path was a major change. At first I
didn't get it and I didn't want it. I kept coming back though, because
at the end of each experience I felt better than at the beginning.
Like
stepping into a different time and place, some things were familiar,
some were uncomfortable, and a lot were hard to swallow. But I was in
enough pain to close my eyes and gulp.
Looking
back after years on the path, I think I understand some of what happened
to me. The common experiences -- meetings, ceremonies, sponsorship,
intimate conversation, literature, and growing service -- taken together
for long enough, form a context in which my mind is reformed.
The
new vocabulary and concepts gradually coalesce into a new understanding
of reality. The accumulation of other people's stories provides
memories while I am accumulating my own. New mental models and new
experience change my perceptions, expectations, and actions.
Funny, I haven't seen the whole movie yet, but I know I've got a part.
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