By Mary Morrell
Plan to travel light on the spiritual journey
Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than time: and not only time but temporalities, not only temporal things but temporal affections, not only temporal affections but the very taint and smell of time.
~Meister Eckhart
One of the questions that people often pose to me is, “How do you come up with all the ideas for everything you write?”
The truth is I am not always the one to come up with the ideas. They are often the insights of those around me. Fortunately, one of the most valuable things my father taught me was the art of listening!
Without it, I might not have heard my friend and consummate chef Greg when he mentioned the perfect name for an upcoming journal, Fear Drops, or my friend Nancy who laughed so hard over the flaming barbecue grill episode that I knew it was worth writing about.
Today, my insight comes from Deacon Carl, who spoke eloquently during the Sunday homily about the need to “travel light.”
Certainly, when it comes to the spiritual life as Christians, the advice is powerful.
Excess baggage, which serves as an obstacle to our spiritual growth, comes in many forms — fear, anxiety, negative attitudes, feeling unloved or unwanted, materialism, greed, selfishness, the list is long. One among them, at least for me, stands out.
Time.
The baggage of time becomes very apparent when I begin my vacation at the shore. For the first few days I am still living in the world of watches and clocks and all the “shoulds” that go along with that way of life.
But soon, though it takes some effort, I am caught up in the rhythm of the water and wind, the pulse of life in tune with sea-gulls and mourning doves and the laughter of children. When I am finally able to let go of time, finally able to stop running on the wheel of our culture, my body, and more importantly, my heart and soul, enter into a period of real rest and peace.
Then I can truly understand the words of the insightful Sufi poet Rumi, who wrote, “Come out of the circle of time and come into the circle of love.”
Unlike the circle of time, which marks our steps and focuses our attention too much into the past and future, the circle of love is immeasurable, a mystery of communion in the present moment.
Gregg D. Jacobs, a senior research scientist at Harvard medical school and author of The Ancestral Mind, writes, “From our earliest awareness we’re taught to believe that what counts most in our lives will occur ‘when we grow up’ or ‘when we have children’ or ‘when we get that promotion’ or ‘when we retire.’ We are trained not to seek satisfaction in the present moment but to strive for and expect that happiness to unfold at some future date.”
Happiness is elusive when we are caught in the circle of time and it is often hard to acknowledge that now is all we have. But when we realize that God is in the “now,” our lives will change for the better, our baggage of time will be left behind and we will know the joy of living each moment in the circle of love.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law