Spiritual Guidance Blog

Last month I took one of my day-long cycling adventures. I had not ventured on this particular route before so I looked at the map before I ventured out to determine the best roads for cycling. As I examined the map I noticed a route that I thought would result in reduced car traffic on the road and make the ride safer for me. I also noticed that the proposed route cut through some backcountry and resulted in what looked like a bit of a shortcut for one leg of the journey. With an anticipated 100km+ round trip cycling adventure, I didn’t mind cutting off a few kilometers along the way.

As I arrived at the point where the shortcut began, I joyfully turned off the main highway and began my trek. I felt somewhat relieved for turning off the main road because the car traffic was heavy. After only a few minutes of cycling on the backcountry road, lines of cars started to pass me. Car after car, after car after car. I realized the route had no less traffic than the main highway. I was to realize after 10km that the reason for the heavy car traffic was a ski resort that turned to a summer amusement park was attracting a lot of families on this beautiful Saturday.

Did you notice I mentioned ski resort??? Where there is a ski resort, there are hills. And as I approached this ski resort, the topography became more and more undulating. Said another way…the cycle became more and more of a challenge. A few of hills were among the steepest I had ever descended and ascended. The descents were thrilling, but the ascents were grueling! I carried on, however. Shortly after I passed the ski resort, the terrain levelled out and the next 10km were quite picturesque and pleasant to cycle. I eventually came back out on the main highway that I had left 25km ago, feeling a bit smug that I had cut off some time from my adventure. After 7 hours of cycling, I arrived back home.

I had enjoyed the adventure so much that I vowed to make the trip again. So a couple of weeks later, I ventured back to the same route. But this time, I decided not to take the ‘shortcut’ and stayed on the main highway for the entire trip. I was pleasantly surprised that the longer way around was a much more gentle ride, compared to the very undulating terrain the supposed shortcut had offered me a couple of weeks earlier. And this time the round trip took me an hour less!...even though I went a longer, overall distance! So…

Not only did the supposed shortcut result in a much more grueling and difficult cycle, it actually didn’t save me any time at all! As it turns out, it took me longer to get to where I wanted to go! I laughed at my foible and the symbolism in the experience.

Are shortcuts worth it? In my cycling adventure, the supposed shortcut wasn’t a shortcut at all! I expended more energy than the long way around and it didn’t save me any time. It actually took me longer!

Robert Meagher has been ordained as an Interfaith Minister and certified as a Sacred Attention Therapy (SAT) Therapist. Robert is the Founder and Spiritual Director for Spiritual Guidance and Co-Founder of the Center for Human Awakening.

I was recently blessed with a blatant example of finger pointing and the blessed teaching in this act. When we point our finger at someone, it is crucially important to be aware of who we are actually pointing our finger at. There is a beautiful teaching that says, “When we point our finger at someone, there are always 3 fingers pointing back at us!”

After a recent weekly study group gathering, a relatively new participant, and devout Christian, came up to me and shared their dissatisfaction that the gathering had begun with another participant chiming a Tibetan Singing Bowl during the opening meditation. This disgruntled participant shared that the playing of the Tibetan Singing Bowl was an ‘idol’ (i.e., a distraction to connecting with Source/Divine) and had no place at the gatherings. Furthermore, the new participant shared that he felt the playing of the Tibetan Singing Bowl would be confusing for other participants and detract from the teachings shared during the weekly study group gatherings.

The very next day an interesting article came into my email ‘inbox’ from a spiritual-oriented news-feed. The article was about a Christian monk who was on an extended retreat in a Buddhist monastery. The monk recounted his difficulty with accepting some of the rituals of the Buddhist community, including the “incessant chiming and playing of bells and bowls and the praying to statues of Buddha.” The monk went on to criticize the Buddhist faithful for worshipping “idols” like bells, bowls, and Buddha statues, and denounced the practices as “a distraction from direct union with God.” Toward the end of the article, however, the monk revealed how he was graced with the awareness of his judgements and that he too had his own rituals and idols he placed before God, including the worshipping of his faith tradition’s prophet, Jesus. The monk knew that if he called for someone else to drop his/her idols, he would have to drop his.

Will the relatively new participant at the weekly study group gatherings have the same awareness as the Christian monk in the Buddhist monastery? Time will tell. The new participant may have indeed been concerned that other participants would be confused by the playing of the Tibetan Singing Bowl, but is it possible that they themselves were the confused one, and were merely projecting their confusion onto others?

And so it is with finger pointing, we are only ever pointing a finger at ourselves. Any grievance expressed toward another is merely a projection of a grievance toward ourselves. Look carefully at what you accuse the ‘other’ of doing, and you will find that you are accusing yourself.

Robert Meagher has been ordained as an Interfaith Minister and certified as a Sacred Attention Therapy (SAT) Therapist. Robert is the Founder and Spiritual Director for Spiritual Guidance and Co-Founder of the Center for Human Awakening.

Eight months after a tornado ripped through the city I live in, I cycled through a neighborhood where the tornado had touched down. What was once a neighborhood with houses lining the streets and old-growth trees creating a canopy over everything, was now a barren and desolate feeling landscape.

Most of the trees were gone. Many of the houses were still standing, however. You could clearly see where some houses had already been repaired, while others were in various states of repair or disrepair. It was also clear that many had been abandoned.

There was a large power line that cut through the centre of this neighborhood. On one side of the power line was destruction. On the other side of the power line was pristine, untouched property. The contrast was striking.

My thoughts ranged from the awe of the power of nature, to how lucky some properties were on one side of the power line, to how heart-wrenching it was to see the devastation on the other side of the power line...less than 100 meters away.

There was the momentary deluge of WHY questions that entered my psyche. Why did the tornado hit the community on that side of the power line? Why did the tornado leave the community on the other side of the power line untouched? Why did this happen at all!?

The experience made me realize that we ask the WHY question a lot! If anything untoward happens in our life, we tend to default to a litany of WHY questions, that typically starts with Why is this happening to me?...and then spreads out to include such endless inquiry as… Why are you doing that to me? Why are you being so mean? Why me? Why not someone else? Why are you hurting me? And the litany of WHY questions goes on infinitum.

I learned that asking WHY does not bring me peace. Asking WHY tends only to feed a loathsome self-pity and lead me into energies of anger and hatred.

My peace can only be found in an acceptance of what is; an acceptance of life on its terms, not how I want it to be. The sooner I can accept what is transpiring, the sooner I can return to a grounded sense of peace. It is during times, episodes and events that have an element of extreme upheaval about them that our acceptance is challenged.

Take, for example, the tornado and the resulting damage. How can one accept such an event and the devastation it produced? This kind of acceptance is only possible through a deep trust in life—that everything, with no exception, happens for our good. Even a tornado! Yes, life does seem to present us with challenges and challenging situations. But they will only seem like a challenge for as long as we resist them. Learn from them if we can; but accept them we must, if we are to be at peace.

Robert Meagher has been ordained as an Interfaith Minister and certified as a Sacred Attention Therapy (SAT) Therapist. Robert is the Founder and Spiritual Director for Spiritual Guidance and Co-Founder of the Center for Human Awakening.