Reconstructive Spirituality: A View From The Other End

Most of spiritual practices that seem to be commonly circulated are focused on getting you into that initial space to open and face your internal issues so that you can spark transformation. These practices give you space to find your inner beauty and truth. It's a lovely space to move into, but a lot of times, there're a lot of walls and internal barriers that people have to move through to get to that area. Really, it can take a kind of spiritual jack-hammer (10 days of vipassan meditation comes to mind as an example of what some people do) to break through all the mental gunk and other garbage that has clouded up our energies. That's just to break through into the space where we can do the work to acknowledge, accept, and transmute our pains as well as to realize our joys and love. But there's another part of this that I think is equally important: putting yourself back together.

Despite my best efforts, I'm not so transcendent as to be able to live without borders to the world's negativity and upset energies. Some day perhaps, I'll be able to let it all pass through me like a hot wind, but being as I am, I can still be harmed by these things because they can latch on to some of the issues that I still have in myself. That means that I can get sick very easily or otherwise be put out of commission, having to meditate a lot to reground and regain my energy. Which brings me to the topic of this blog post: how to reconstruct yourself authentically to live in the every day world, but without falling back into the old constructs that required the jackhammer approach in the first place.

Find A Few Good People: Then Find a Few More
More and more, I find myself drawn to spiritual community. It's becoming almost an obsession, but I have found how important having a sangha (a Buddhist term) can be to stabilizing yourself. Most people can find comfort in being around kind, like-minded people, although some people are more solitary. For me, I really don't care too much about old things like hanging out drinking, and I'd much prefer to talk about spirituality for hours on end. So finding people to do that with has been a big help for stabilizing myself and at times, getting through more difficult issues within myself.

Find a Teacher, a Master if You're Lucky
I'm not a fan of how it seems most people approach teachers. Many spiritual seekers seem to approach them with their hands outstretched as if they're beggers with nothing at all in their souls. They often look for their teachers to give them everything on the spiritual path. But the teacher has nothing to give them, and a true teacher can successfully navigate that internal poverty of spiritual seekers to show them the deep richness already there. There are teachers in so many wonderful traditions from Buddhism to Hinduism to Christianity. Many are springing up around Eckhart Tolle, whom I would consider a master in many regards.

However, not all teachers are masters. To find someone who is a fully actualized being truly is a great gift, and it's not likely to happen until you're really ready for it. I feel fortunate to have found a master in my life time, and he gives me access to such wonderful joy and spiritual friendship. I think this latter helps me the most as I rebuild myself so that I don't get caught in the longing and the loneliness that I occasionally deal with as I forge out into deep spiritual waters, where few other people go.

Gentleness and Self-Compassion
I think the last thing that I would say about reconstructing your energy and being at the end of a time of transformation is that gentleness and self-compassion are essentials. You don't need the jackhammer anymore. You barely need a feather duster to brush away a lot of things and clear your energy. You also need to take this time to rebuild your energy. You just expended a ton of energy to move through a major transformation point (these last from months to years in general from what I know, although some are sure to be shorter and more intense; you'll know when you have one =). There are bound to be more issues that you can work on (there usually are). But for now, you need to rest and regenerate and start to explore this brand new space that you've created for yourself. More spiritual energy and transformation are bound to come to you now that you are so open, but they'll do so in their own time. So take this time to enjoy what you've worked so hard for and be sure to do every thing with a light and gentle touch.