“It seems to me that I have greater peace… when I am not “trying to be contemplative.” Or trying to be anything special, but simply orienting my life fully and completely towards what seems to be required of a man like me at a time like this.”
“Simple and true, that, but so easily lost in Type A spiritual striving. What was required of me this morning was simply to make breakfast, despite my well-documented ineptitude. The deal is to do whatever’s needful and within reach, no matter how ordinary or whether I’m likely to do it well.”
Is it true, as monk and mystic Thomas Merton claims, that something as simple as not “trying to be contemplative” is more likely to lead to inner peace than striving for holiness? Is it true, as author and teacher Parker Palmer claims, that something as simple as making breakfast can be all that’s required to live a spiritual life? Is it true that simply being who we simply are in our day-to-day mostly mundane lives is all that’s necessary to live a life that matters?
Those of us who take seriously the inner-imperative to live meaningfully often take the sense of urgency to do so too seriously. Our striving to attain some noble goal of virtue or state of perfection can kidnap us from sensing the sacred in what is here and now – the lofty in the little.
One for whom the sanctity of the simple is not lost is Benedictine sister Joan Chittister who, in an essay titled “A Spirituality of Work,” wrote “When we grow radishes in a small container…we sustain the globe. When we sweep the street…we bring new order to the universe…When we wrap garbage and recycle cans, when we clean a room and put coasters under glasses…we become the creators of a new universe.”
Doing “what is needful and within reach” may not be world changing, but when we embrace the significance of the simple in our work and relationships, attending to them can change us into people more at peace with our self and our life. And as for how well we may or may not do what we do, that will matter less if we take to heart literary legend G. K. Chesterton’s claim that “If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing badly!”
Attuned to Soul 