April 11 2016

Last week we started down the path of spiritual decision making and how it relates to the many daily choices we make.  Let’s first clarify what we mean by spiritual.  As a trained spiritual director and celebrant, I talk about being spiritual in a religious context, but I also talk about it in terms of wholeness. In this “decision making” context let’s discuss spiritual in terms of wholeness. Wholeness is something available to and hidden within all things. Being spiritual is using our heads, hearts and bodies to connect to that hidden wholeness and be fully alive.  As Howard Rice wrote in Reformed Spirituality, “…the opposite of spiritual is not physical, but lifeless, dull and monotonous.  To be spiritual is to be filled with vigor for life, to be enthusiastic about life, to really love life, and to dare to live deeply and fully.”  Much of my work is helping people seek, connect, and hold onto that hidden wholeness, even in the midst of darkness and grief.  Being fully alive feels different during times of joy and times of sorrow, but both are possible.  Spiritual decision making is making decisions using our heads, hearts and bodies while paying attention to that hidden wholeness.

“There is in all visible things, a hidden wholeness.”       ~Thomas Merton