L. Dwight Turner
Some of us have a tendency to over-complicate even the most simple truths in life and I plead guilty in the first-degree when it comes to taking an issue that is fairly basic and turning it into an exercise in speculative philosophy. By God’s grace, I have become somewhat less inclined to do this as I have grown older, but I full well recognize the tendency to over-analyze a situation is still there. If Paul were here, he would more than likely say that this is one of my “strongholds” and he would be correct.
One of the silver linings that emerged out of my confrontation with this problematic aspect of my character, however, has proved quite useful. In a number of ways, this point of light in an otherwise dark encounter with my own defects of character is the opposite of my tendency to turn placing postage stamp in the correct location an exercise in higher calculus. In fact, it involves making things less complicated.
Allow me to give you an example.
Whenever we take even a minimal view of the scope of issues involved in living a spiritually meaningful life in today’s world, it can surely be overwhelming. The fact is the world in which we live and move and have our being is far more complex and multi-faceted than the one where Buddha, Krishna, or Jesus operated. Granted, as limited humans we are dealing with most of the fundamental problems that the contemporaries of these great spiritual figures dealt with many years ago, but those problems surface in many ways and in numerous contexts that were unheard of in ancient times. To make matters more complicated, we have to find ways in which we can filter our faith experiences, especially as related to our growth or lack thereof, so that they make at least a modicum of sense. In other words, we need to find ways in which we can make our spiritual journey more comprehensible, particularly to ourselves.
This process is the opposite of my tendency to over-complicate things. Here we are talking about simplifying complex things, rather than complicating basically sensible things. Of course, it can be argued that any path of spiritual formation is a simple at its core, but I, for one, don’t buy that argument. As they say down here in the South, “…that dog won’t hunt.” The reality is, the spiritual path can be very confusing at times, particularly when it comes to personal ethics, making proper decisions, and engaging in spiritual disciplines. Making the situation more complicated is the cacophony of conflicting opinions on just about any issue on might raise. The need for something a bit simpler is critical, especially for the new believer.
At Sacred Mind Alliance we have explored numerous ways of mapping out the process of spiritual growth in a contemporary context and most have been genuinely effective. What I want to share here, however, is a map I developed for my own use. It has been modified somewhat over the years, but I still go back to these basic themes whenever I find I need more clarity and less confusion in my daily walk of faith. What I am about to share is in no way comprehensive, but it does work as a pragmatic outline of the faith, boiled down to four workable divisions. This particular way of looking at the faith has been effective for me, and it may be for you. Please keep in mind, however, I am not suggesting what follows is the best way, the only way, or that it will work for everyone. At the end of the day, I think each of us has to find our own way of making complex issues simple and more easily addressed.
The method I used for breaking the path of what I came to call “Faith Formation” into manageable units involved four divisions. In my personal journal I called these divisions “The Four Mirrors of Faith Formation” and came to see that this title fit perfectly for what I was doing. I used the word “mirrors” for several important reasons. First of all, this approach was not like a ladder, where you take one step after another. When put into actual practice, each division proved to be intimately connected with the other three. It was as if, like four mirrors on each side of an object, each mirror reflected not only the object, but the reflections in the other mirrors as well.
In order to deepen this analogy, I placed a small sculpture of Guan Yin, a Buddhist Bodhisattva of Compassion on a table and placed four identical mirrors on each side. Amazingly, as I looked in each mirror I did not see one dove, but many as each primary reflection contained the other reflections. I had the awareness that these four mirrors were like a spiritual hologram, with each part containing within it the perfect totality of every other part.
The Four Mirrors of Faith Formation, which I continue to use as my own personal model for applying the faith to my own life, are:
The Mirror of Connection
The Mirror of Comprehension
The Mirror of Cultivation
The Mirror of Contribution
As stated earlier, I could have come up with more divisions, many more. Further, with my propensity for alliteration, I most likely could have started all of them with the letter “C.” However, my goal was to keep this process as simple as possible and still have a workable, comprehensive matrix through which I could process my faith.
The Mirror of Connection is just that, connection with the Divine. In this mirror, I seek to deepen my connection with God through several practices. First, it involves prayer, the practice of meditation, spiritual reading, and contact with the natural world. This last practice has revealed itself to be one of the most powerful ways I have found to deepen the level of my contact with and experience of God’s presence.
The Mirror of Comprehension is concerned with the garnering of practical wisdom, particularly in regards to spiritual laws and principles in general and the pragmatic application of these laws to daily living. The primary aim in this mirror is gaining knowledge of the interface between the spiritual world and this physical world. Also central is deepening not only our understanding, but also our practical experience of the interconnectivity of all life and the birth of a transformational compassion in the heart.
In working with the Mirror of Cultivation my primary objective is to put myself into a spiritual posture of openness and receptivity to the work of Sacred Spirit. This particular mirror is aimed at the cultivation of what I have come to call “Sacred Character,” which in turn is built on the foundation of “Noble Integrity.” In addition, the formation of character and integrity is further made possible by the clarification and development of a comprehensive worldview and an internalized system of values based on that worldview.
As I work with these mirrors, I understand on an experiential level that my primary purpose in life becomes making a positive, spiritual contribution to the world in which I live. In brief, the Mirror of Contribution is concerned with the use of my talents, spiritual gifts, and whatever else God has placed at my disposal in order to make the world a better place. This does not necessarily mean some great, Noble Peace Prize winning contribution, although for a select few, this may be true. For most of us, the Mirror of Contribution is concerned with doing whatever we can to bring a high level of functioning to whatever setting we may be placed. This process could involve family, work, the environment, or any number of things.
Earlier, I mentioned that the spiritual journey can be explained in many ways and certainly in ways that are deeper and more complex than the four-mirrored approach I have just described. What I have attempted to do in this brief article is to present a model and matrix that has worked well for me. I am a person who thrives on exploring highly complex, difficult to comprehend models so things and, for this very reason, I have learned that it is precisely those things that I need to avoid. In an overworked but accurate slogan, I need to keep it simple.
© L. D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved
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