Inner Coaching

In my first post I said that spirituality is -

– an AWARENESS of depth, complexity & time in everything,

- an ATTENTION to that which is inside me, around me, beyond me,

– a MOVEMENT of meaning making beyond the ego to the eternal and ultimate,

– A PRACTICE of doing, being and belonging

Here are some reflections on spirituality as a movement.

3. Spirituality is a MOVEMENT of meaning making beyond the ego to the eternal and ultimate.

I really like the word ‘flow’. I find myself using it more often and am told it is an important word in Taoism. A river flows in one direction but takes many directions before arriving at the sea. A dance flows again in many directions but usually comes to back to the same spot. A conversation flows and can be so creative.

I want to explore the idea that spirituality is not static, it is not firmly placed or rooted somewhere. I want to insist that spirituality has movement or flow. The direction of that flow I believe is away from the ego towards the eternal or ultimate. I am convinced that every form of spirituality, every inner working of the spirit wants to, or needs to temper the human ego. Maybe this is the subject of another journal entry – but surely we must admit that the ego is a bit of a problem. It seems to be quite needy and demanding My ego can lead me to do and say some pretty horrible things. I am really uncomfortable when I let it run amuck. Every world faith and I feel every secular spirituality will want to address the problem of the ego’s boisterousness and propose that the task of spirituality is to create a flow away from the demands of the ego to that which is beyond me and my little world. St Augustine said “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you (God)”. Substitute the word God, if needed, to the word ‘eternal’ or ‘Being’ or ‘inner-self’. But St Augustine is suggesting that there is a human restlessness when we are rooted firmly in our ego’s demands. The inner-life will want to flow beyond me / us to that which is other than me. Spirituality is not about ‘me’ it is about allowing our inner life to flow to that which is beyond or which is even more authentically me. I feel sure that the flow or movement is ‘meaning making’. I will write about this when I think about ‘faith’ and existentialism. Suffice to suggest that the flow is a movement of meaning making towards that which is ultimate.

What I have just realised is that the river, dance and conversation all the things which flow all need to follow some basic rules for there to be flow. So I ask are there any ‘rules’ for spirituality to flow? I can only think of one ‘letting go’. I can’t allow the inner-life to flourish and flow if I cannot ‘let go’.

A spiritual response to this flow is a joyful dance or stuckness