What Is My Spiritual Path?

(Excerpt from Jason C. Steinle’s book—Upload Experience: Quarterlife Solutions)

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell remembers the exact moment his life changed. A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctorate program, Edgar was among the Apollo 14 crew that successfully landed on the moon in 1971. It was during the return trip to earth that his life was forever altered.

“A wonderful quietness had drifted into the cabin,” Mitchell explains in his book The Way of the Explorer. “The sensation was altogether foreign. Somehow I felt tuned into something much larger than myself, something much larger than the planet in the window; something incomprehensibly big. Even today, the perceptions still baffle me.”

Since that experience over 33 years ago, Mitchell has dedicated his life to researching human consciousness. In that single moment, he set foot on his spiritual path. He redirected his focus into an arena previously unknown to him: an exploration of the meaning and purpose of his life.

Mitchell is not alone. Many astronauts have reported similar “spiritual experiences” during space missions that changed their outlooks on life. For most of us, however, it’s not a trip to the moon that prompts our spiritual journey, rather it’s a feeling we get when we’re watching the sunset over Lake Michigan, witnessing an eagle soaring in Alaska, walking the quiet streets of New York in the pre-dawn, holding the delicate body of a newborn, standing alone at the grave of a friend, gazing into the glow of a campfire, or looking into the eyes of a lover. It’s in such moments as these that we, like Mitchell, get a glimpse of something incomprehensibly big. These instances are the seed crystals that prompt us to begin moving along our spiritual path. As spiritual teacher and author Wayne Dyer says, “We begin to realize we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

Your spiritual path is an individual path. Although it may involve a church, religion, or study group, it’s really about experiencing a connection to yourself, others, the universe, and God. “I think there is a huge dichotomy between religion and spirituality,” Nathan, my younger brother and a 25-year-old medical student, told me. “Religion is for the masses and spirituality is for the individual. For example, I personally grew up in religion—going to church every Sunday, confirmation classes, and Sunday school. I didn’t really have to search it out for myself, and sometimes when things are handed to you, you just don’t appreciate them or you don’t understand them.”

Nathan continued, “When I was in college, I eventually got the feeling for what spirituality meant. It’s much more individualistic. It’s something that’s self-directed. I discovered I could go and explore the areas I was interested in and the things in which I believe. Rather than have the dogma pushed upon me and holding me accountable, it was more of an enlightened experience to go and actively seek out spirituality; and it was much more positive than the gloom and doom of a lot of traditional religions.”

Nathan, like other quarterlifers I have interviewed, adopted his spiritual path because he wanted something more out of life. He was successful in academics, athletics, and had many friends, yet he sensed life contained greater riches. This is the same thing that happened to actor/director Mel Gibson. During an interview he told Diane Sawyer, “Let’s face it. I’ve been to the pinnacle of what secular utopia has to offer. I’ve got money, fame, this, that, and the other. It didn’t matter. There wasn’t enough. It’s not good enough. It leaves you empty. The more you eat, the emptier you get. I think everybody gets to a point in their life where that happens. They get to a moment of truth and go, ‘Well, what it’s all about?’ ”

When you get to that point, like Mitchell, Nathan, and Gibson, you demand a deeper experience in your life. This is the time that you may begin a Bikram yoga class, join a Bible study group, attend an Omega Institute conference, learn Transcendental Meditation, or stop eating pork! Why would you do any of these activities? They are methods that you hope will peel back the mundane-ness of everyday life and give you a glimpse into something much greater underlying it all. The ultimate goal of these activities is to heighten your awareness so that you may experience being fully alive. Unfortunately, this aspiration is often replaced by the idea that if a little of an activity is good, a lot is better.

“I think that people often make a mistake, when they start with spirituality, by trying to bite off too much,” Joan Borysenko, former director of the Harvard Mind/Body Research clinic and author of Mending the Body, Minding the Mind, told me. “They say to themselves, ‘Gee, I could go to that qigong class, I could go to that yoga class, I could learn to chant, I could meditate, I could juice, I’d better get up at three in the morning and do five hours’ a day.’ Most human beings won’t sustain that, and what I’ve seen people do is get into an all-or-nothing mode.

“What I say is start simple,” Borysenko continued. “‘Do what you can, not what you won’t.’ That’s my motto. Five minutes of meditation a day will make a big difference. If you can commit to five minutes that’s great. That’s much better than committing to an hour that you don’t get to.”

Just like exercising a muscle or taking a shower, doing a moderate amount every day is more beneficial than doing a lot at once. Think about it! If you showered for five hours straight once a month, would that be as effective as showering ten minutes every day of the month? Would working out for a solid day and a half, four times a year be better than working out three times a week every week? Of course not! It is better to wash and work out regularly. The same goes for spirituality. Meditating five minutes a day cleans your mind just like daily showers clean your body. The key to discovering your spiritual path is to allow your spiritual practice to become a way of life.

When I was 20, I packed up a van and moved to northern California to live and work at an ashram. I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that I needed to do it. My friends and family back home were terrified, and I could understand their concern. At the time, headlines across the country reported the group suicide of members of Heaven’s Gate, a cult also located in California. They feared I was going to be brainwashed and end up with the same fate. But, just like there are good cups and bad cups of coffee, so it is with organizations. Fortunately, the ashram I moved to was a good one. Over the course of the four months that I lived there, I learned the tools of meditation, yoga, Ayurvedic health care, visualization, energizing exercises, vegetarian cooking, journaling, introspection, and daily study. Despite all these valuable tools, the greatest lesson I learned was from the people I met.

The ashram was part of a greater community that was established in the 1960s. It’s one of the few successful communal living experiments surviving from that era. The doctors, artists, mothers, fathers, chefs, carpenters, therapists, authors, accountants, computer programmers, families, and gardeners who came to live in the community did so for one reason: to live their spiritual path.

For the first time, I experienced a group of people who came together in Sunday service, evening meditation, morning yoga, and even some meals for the sole purpose of devotion to God. But even more powerful to me than the scheduled meetings and events was the presence that members of the community exemplified. When I would help Graciela, the chef, in the kitchen it was the intention behind her work that inspired me. On the outside she was cooking, like any cook, and on the inside she was blessing the food, asking that it infuse vitality and clarity into all who ate it.

Each morning, working with Graciela, we meditated and prayed before starting in the kitchen. While preparing food we chanted songs, talked about spiritual lessons, and listened to inspirational tapes. After the food was cooked, we carefully placed it in dishes, blessed it, and served it to others. There was no separation between work and spirituality. They were one. I learned that life doesn’t have to be compartmentalized. I could integrate my spiritual life into my work, family, hobbies, and workouts through the intention behind those activities.

When the intention or purpose behind an activity is to experience a greater connection to yourself, others, the universe, and God, that activity becomes part of your spiritual path. This happened to Mitchell after his Apollo 14 mission. He combined his scientific knowledge and his newfound purpose of exploring human consciousness, and established the Institute of the Noetic Sciences. Gibson did the same thing when he combined his intention with his Hollywood expertise and embarked on producing and directing the film The Passion of the Christ. He has said that making the film was “the most meaningful experience” of his life.

Opportunity

Your spiritual path is an individual journey to experience new depths of connection to yourself, others, the universe, and God. The first step in discovering your spiritual path is not to separate spirituality from the rest of your life. Instead infuse spirituality into your work, family, hobbies, sports, and daily activities through your intention. When your intention is to experience a connection to God’s great creation, you can be shopping at the grocery store, stopped at a red light, sitting in church, standing on a mountaintop, or strolling with your kids through a museum and you will discover ways to make life a spiritual practice.

A simple way to establish your intention is to develop a habit of pausing before you embark on any activity. Taking a brief moment to focus your awareness makes all the difference in daily living. A statement I have found valuable when I need to re-focus my intention is: “How can I share love in this moment?” By simply pausing and saying that to myself before entering into a conversation, task, or project, I have found that events flow more smoothly and I feel a deeper connection to my life. This is the same concept behind the popular “WWJD” bracelets. For Christians who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, reflecting on the question, “What would Jesus do?” is a way of asking that their thoughts and actions be guided by love.

For the next week, try nothing more than to remind yourself, “How can I share love in this moment?” It may be helpful to write it on post-it notes and place them on your steering wheel and computer monitor, next to your toothbrush, and any other spot where you are likely to see them. This is a powerful reminder that every interaction and activity is an opportunity for spiritual growth.

Jason C Steinle the host of The Steinle Show talk radio and television programs. He is a Doctor of Chiropractic and Director of Health and Harmony Chiropractic and Wellness Center in Evergreen, CO. Jason is also the author of Upload Experience: Quarterlife Solutions which is available at www.amazon.com and at www.uploadexperience.com