It’s funny how we think traveling to the top of the mountain means we’ll be able to see more clearly. We think that spiritual growth takes us higher and we become wiser or stronger or more peaceful and at ease. We’ve done the work, spiritual work, inside work, work that we hope will give us clarity…and yet here we are, scratching our head, seemingly no further along. We thought for sure all this effort would gift us the mountaintop view. Clarity at last. And yet, life is still murky, uncertain and we can’t really see very far at all.
What happened to the view from the mountaintop? I thought I was moving in that direction!
The metaphor was apparent as I arrived at the Art of Living Retreat Center in April. Thirty miles from Boone the fog began to thicken. Even my GPS warned of limited visibility…twice. As I got closer, the fog was even more dense on the winding road to the top of the mountain. It was hard to see. Turns out on this day, there was no view from the top. Socked in. Bare bones trees against a solid white curtain. No view from the top of the mountain. Not that day and not the next day either.
If you can’t see clearly out there, I thought, maybe bring your gaze closer in. Maybe the top is an illusion. Maybe there is no top and there is no bottom. We’ve been told it’s a climb, this spiritual journey. Maybe it’s not a climb at all. There might be fog and it might be clear. Maybe it’s just as simple as that.
And the view that will satisfy my soul will be the one directed within.
With great humility
Paula
