A “Religious” Walk Home

I had an intense “religious” experience one night while walking home from my small Swiss village of Worb.  An experience that not only prompted childhood memories of my past but gave my present day desires and future longings a place and time to be experienced as well.

The pathway home was lit only by the reflective light of the full moon which reminded me of walking down a dark Pennsylvania road as a boy wanting nothing more than to know who I was in relation to this big world.  And yet at the same time, the dark Swiss countryside was calling me to be present not only to my desires of today, but to the cravings I felt for what is yet to come in the future.

The trickling water of the distant creek gave my intense desires the adequate means to move freely from my past, to my present, and then to my future.  The stillness of the air emptied my mind so that there was ample space for the transcendent to reign.  While the walk itself, up the steep hill, ignited the cravings within my heart…cravings to live and to love.

I have been asked many times why I am so “religious”.  And whether it is directly asked, or implied through other means, I never have an answer.  Maybe it is because at times I detect condescension in the question by those who think of themselves as not having to be “religious”, or maybe it is my own fears and insecurities of being labeled that keep me from speaking.  Either way, I never seem to answer.

Religious:

relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity

-Merriam-Webster

During these times, to be called “religious” comes with it all kinds of connotations, assumptions, and projections that may or may not have anything to do with the reality of truth.  A truth that I have found has more to do with reality than fantasy.

For example, there is an assumption that those who call themselves “religious” are pie in the sky kind of people who are not rooted in everyday life.  In other words, they are above the messiness of life so every day seems to be the best day of their lives as they walk around with perma-grins on their faces.  Or, another assumption is that “religious” people are above the fray of desire itself, as if they are numb to the human experience.  Either way, the assumption is that being “religious” means that you are not in touch with reality.

Although there are many so called “religious” people who might project this view, this is a reality I do not relate to.

My days are full of happiness, anger, self-centeredness, service to others, pride, humility, lust, and love.  It is a mixed bag of extreme desires.  Desires found in everyday relationships and experiences yet transformed by the divine.  Consequently I have found that being “religious” is not a threat to my humanity rather it the necessary means to give context for an extremely enriching life.  It provides the venue to live “normal” moments at a fever pitch.

Now I realize that some might call this experience more spiritual than religious, and I must admit, the walk home the other night was a very spiritual and mystical experience.  But at its core, it was a “religious” one.  For spiritual moments on their own become orphans to a deeper truth and products of my own ego.

The walk home the other night was a “religious” one.  It was a “religious” one because its context can be found on an altar.  An altar that is not regulated to time.

The walk that sparked my desires of the past, present, and future in a 20 minute span up a hill in Switzerland has its home outside of myself.  A home in which my desires are seen, known, and experienced within the “Everlasting Instant”.

Worthy is our earthly Jesus!

Worthy is our cosmic Christ!

Worthy your defeat and victory.

Worthy still your peace and strife.

You the everlasting instant

You, who are our death and life.

– Sylvia Dunstan