Spiritual guidance, part I

February 2, 3:39 PMLA Religion & Spirituality ExaminerKurt Barstow

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The Soul's Compass

In my last article, I agonized to a certain extent about how one was to sort through the guidance of the soul given that 1) there are different conceptions of soul in the first place, 2) if understood as something more individualized than pure spirit and expressive of uniqueness, it might not always be easy to distinguish its desires from more egoic aspects of personality, and 3) there may be either wounds or defenses that to a certain extent obscure our vision. I perhaps have spent a little too much time worrying over distinctions between mind and soul and spirit, for all these aspects of ourselves--as well as heart and body--are involved in seeking and uncovering spiritual wisdom, or truth. We are a whole organism and all parts of our organism come into play--no matter the extent to which we are aware of this--in experience. But what I was trying to register was a certain amount of confusion in my own life that I would attach specifically to coming into dialogue with the soul, taking on a perspective e that is larger than the contracted ego, but perhaps more intimately involved with some of the nitty-gritty details and idiosyncracies of my particular life than pure spirit (whatever that might be in a world where it is all connected anyhow). What I mean is, in my formulation of it, soul, even though it is a higher-level faculty than body or mind (isolated on their own) might care a great deal about me expressing myself, having an appropriate vocation, and doing the right thing in my relationships in this lifetime--things that have to do with a particular destiny. In contrast to this, I can experience Spirit, or witness consciousness, or Big Mind while sitting on my meditation cushion and feel all aspects of my life merely as small, fleeting sensations, emotions, or thoughts that exist within this larger container. Spirit is something that seems cleaner and clearer and larger than soul, even though soul obviously leads to spirit. Soul, it seems to me, not being the most transcendent aspect of our being but rather an aspect in between mind and spirit, is a more likely place to find the kind of confusion and conflict I was trying to allude to.
 

One way of getting out of this particular labyrinth is to not get quite so involved with terminology and distinctions. In their admirable book The Soul's Compass: What Is Spiritual Guidance?, Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. and Gordon Dveirin, Ed.D., do exactly this by concentrating on the issue of guidance rather than soul per se. Soul, authentic self, true nature, God, and spirit are all used somewhat interchangeably because the question at hand for the authors is how are we able to intuit, know, and follow spiritual guidance, especially since this doesn't generally come to ordinary people directly from God in the form of two tablets but as intimations, patterns, life events, leadings, revelations, inner understanding, and so on. This is one reason the book starts out not with soul, but with interfaith dialogue--which is its own method of gathering information on spiritual guidance from  variety of "sages," representing many faith traditions. The title, The Soul's Compass, is explained in this way: "When we're in the essential core (what some traditions refer to as the self with a capital S), we organically align to True North--wisdom, God, or Ultimate Reality. It's as if our heart is at the center of the compass." The largest magnetic deviance to this True North bearing is fear, followed by other habits of mind, like judgment, pride, willfulness, sloth, and desire. The authors point out that, "While there's guidance out there about everything in life, the kind that we're most concerned with here sheds light on the spiritual journey itself. Are we going in a direction that helps us become less selfish, more compassionate, and peaceful? Or have we gone off on a tangent that keeps us tethered to old habits and perceptions, which perpetuate fear, greed, and ignorance?"
 

As part of their set-up for the interfaith dialogue on spiritual guidance that follows they quote Brother Wayne Teasdale's The Mystic Heart: "The real religion of humankind can be said to be spirituality itself, because mystical spirituality is the origin of all the world religions. If this is so, and I believe it is, we might also say that interspirituality--the sharing of ultimate experiences across traditions--is the religion of the third millennium. Interspirituality is the foundation that can prepare the way for a planet-wide enlightened culture, and a continuing community among the religions that is substantial, vital, and creatve." What follows is the way representatives of those religious traditions describe "Our own true Self--the answer to the question Who am I?," which "is the individualized expression of Ultimate Reality."
 

Representation of the Simorgh

So what forms does guidance take? That is the subject of Chapter 2, which is broken up into "everything," the felt sense (goose bumps or fealings of peace, for example), signs and synchronicities, the intention to listen for guidance, intuition, and dreams. Quaker educator Patricia Loring, discussing this topic broadly says, "Spiritual guidance... involves an ever-increasing level of openness and awareness. Over a lifetime, we are led to open in the direction of absolutely everyone and everything around us as a potential messenger of God--a goal toward which we reach all our lives without expecting to reach it." And of signs shaman/poet Oriah Mountain Dreamer says, "If I'm confronted with a pattern and something's off--if the path is blocked over and over, and there's no alignment and flow--I take it as a cue to stop pushing and take time to sit and discern." Discussing the way our own intention plays into gudance, Sufi Sheikh Kabir Helminski points out, "To the degree to which we're conscious, coherent, and live with pure intention--this is very important--the more we have intention and devotion, that's the extent to which our life will take on greater and greater aspects of synchronicity. Life itself becomes meaningful. To the extent that we're willing and conscious students, the Educator of the Universe can give us deeper and richer instructions and teachings." The section on dreams begins with a Sufi teaching story, The Conference of the Birds, in which all the world's birds are told that they have a king, the Simorgh, who lives far away. Some of the birds decide to make the long journey and discuss along the way how all birds, though different, must have a common origin. Only thirty of the birds who set out arrive and to an empty throne at that. Then they realize that they are in fact the Simorgh (Si, meaning thirty and morgh, meaning birds). Sufi guide Taj Inyat says of this, "You have to own your own being, but not in a grandiose way." And the authors continue, "This owning your own being speaks to having the humility of inner authority, being able to sit on the throne of the Simorgh and know that the Divine is one with your own true Self." Finally, Sally Kempton, formerly Swami Durgananda, ties this into dreams as a locus for finding your inner authority. She says, "Even when you have a close relationship with a teacher, there is wisdom that can be given in the dream state that can't be given face-to-face, because, in a sense, you have to get it yourself, from inside. That's just the reality of how human beings grow towards God. There are recognitions you have to come to yourself, just as there is a point when you realize that the true teacher is not a separate person, but a face that you put on your own inner Self."

(To be cont'd)