I received this bit of wisdom from an old friend who walks a blended spiritual path:
Some have a narrow and direct Path in which they are exclusively trained. Others have a Path which wanders, creating its own identity from the footprints left behind. The Lord and Lady have set me upon a course which goes where I am directed, places me where they want me to be and act, and leaves me to my own once I have served their needs. It is an interesting affair, but it is one which many of us recognize. [qos], I believe my best advice is not to strive excessively for your Path, but to follow that portion which lies before your feet. And let them take you where you need to be.
Seminary doesn't recognize this path, not really. It wants a person to identify with a denominational tradition and go deep in that one path, to serve an established community. But that has never been my way (or Way?).
When I was a twelve year old child -- or just leaving childhood, I should say -- I started to have fantasies about journeying between worlds. These fantasies became the mythic backdrop of my daily life. Those fantasies, which are part of what I (mostly) left behind during the archetypal death and rebirth which I experienced last winter, have been taking on even deeper significance at this point in my life as I look back and see the patterns from which I instinctively designed my ideal life. (I can't say they "died" utterly, since they are so deeply part of me, but now they are mostly part of my history and shaping, not something I actively engage with anymore.)
Some have a narrow and direct Path in which they are exclusively trained. Others have a Path which wanders, creating its own identity from the footprints left behind. The Lord and Lady have set me upon a course which goes where I am directed, places me where they want me to be and act, and leaves me to my own once I have served their needs. It is an interesting affair, but it is one which many of us recognize. [qos], I believe my best advice is not to strive excessively for your Path, but to follow that portion which lies before your feet. And let them take you where you need to be.
Seminary doesn't recognize this path, not really. It wants a person to identify with a denominational tradition and go deep in that one path, to serve an established community. But that has never been my way (or Way?).
When I was a twelve year old child -- or just leaving childhood, I should say -- I started to have fantasies about journeying between worlds. These fantasies became the mythic backdrop of my daily life. Those fantasies, which are part of what I (mostly) left behind during the archetypal death and rebirth which I experienced last winter, have been taking on even deeper significance at this point in my life as I look back and see the patterns from which I instinctively designed my ideal life. (I can't say they "died" utterly, since they are so deeply part of me, but now they are mostly part of my history and shaping, not something I actively engage with anymore.)