April 4: Day 94

STONE ONE CONTINUED
 
Assert: I assert that I am responsible for my own spiritual path.

Instruction: Open your spiritual mind.

Allowing ourselves to experience more than one form of spirituality or religious path helps us to open our spiritual minds to all ways The Divine wants to communicate with us, and by opening our minds, it helps us to incorporate all of our life experiences in meaningful ways. If we close our minds to spiritual concepts from other religious and spiritual beliefs, we can end up living guarded lives that are fearful of things outside our closed way of thinking. Our openness allows us to welcome as family those who are Buddhist, Hindu, Native American, Christian, and other forms of religious experience as well as those who claim no religious experience. Those who believe in only one way are often closed-minded and opposed to other ways of thinking. They see enemies all around them. Spiritual openness works in the opposite direction and doesn’t see enemies but friends. It doesn’t anticipate conflicts but looks forward to understanding other paths that can shed light on their path.

We might not agree with everything we hear from other religious belief systems or from other forms of spirituality, but we don’t need to attack their position or defend ours. We understand that people are different, are raised differently, and come from different nations, societies, and mindsets. Besides, just because we don’t understand or agree with someone else’s way of discovering The Divine doesn’t mean we might not have a change of mind and heart at a later time. Things change, and so do we. Given enough time, we might find that every path leads to The Divine, but few, if any, travel the exact same route. By taking responsibility for our own path, we are not judging other paths as wrong or less than ours. We comprehend that The Divine knows its children and knows how to reach them. We might go about our quest by different means, but as long as we are following Love, we will all find our ways Home.

Today’s Assignment is to take a moment to open your heart and mind to other ways of believing. Read something from a different religious tradition or talk with someone who believes differently than you do. What can you learn from listening and considering? You don’t have to argue or defend. Simply listen.