“As you start on the Way, the Way appears.” ~Rumi
These past days, with the rain coming down and the darker days descending as autumn approaches, have been good for self-reflection. It seems, for me, that fall always conjures up this inner work. Maybe it is just the school year rhythm that is so firmly planted within us that gets this movement happening. But whatever it is, I welcome it. And this fall I am particularly aware of it given my upcoming pilgrimage to Scotland. Those of us who are embarking on this adventure continue to affirm that this is not merely a trip but a longing for transformation.
Of course, one need not be heading off to far away places to be attentive to the unfolding of our life’s path. This is a gift that is present to us with the rising of each new day, at the beginning of each season, each year. The Quakers often speak of this presence to our unfolding life simply as ‘Way’. Most often, however, our human inclination is to stumble after things we think are outside of us, outside our reach. These are goals after which we strive. And yet, over the years I have come to believe that everything we need to do the work to which we are called, to be our authentic self, our God-created self, is present within us from the beginning. This discovering and uncovering of the way in which we are to walk is a life long process. Our circumstances, often created by others, can bump up against what we know to be true. The choices we make about those circumstances either help or hinder our discovery, our attention to the Way. Does this ring true for you?
In the lives of the early Christians, they often referred to Jesus’ teaching, even Jesus himself, as the Way. I love this idea. It helps move people away from the traditional practice of speaking about belief and places the emphasis on how, as people of faith, we pay attention to how Jesus lived, how he moved in the world, walked his path, created his Way of being in relationship with the Holy. This was what, I think, his life offers ours. Belief keeps us in our heads and often has been designed to keep others out of the circle while declaring how right the ‘believers’ are. Attending to walking the Way of Jesus, while perhaps more challenging, opens our hearts, softens our hearts to one another, to the world.
Sometimes Way, as the Quakers put it, is a path that is full of shadows, maybe even completely dark. These become difficult times for the one who is walking the path and often for those who stand by the side of the road with only their love as an offering. And yet I am somehow comforted and inspired by the words of Medieval mystic Meister Eckhart who describes this challenging life time as: “The Wayless Way, where the Sons(and Daughters) of God lose themselves and, at the same, find themselves.”
Isn’t this almost always how it goes? We awake each day with a notion of what the day( or our life) may hold, what we have planned for it to hold. We walk out into the world and sometimes our plans work out just as we hoped. But often Way calls to us from someplace just outside our vision, tugging at something that is planted deep within. We can choose to be open or not, to follow or run away.We can choose to change our route, make a course correction, close our eyes and hide. Though it may not always seem as if the choice is ours, it really is. If we have the courage and the heart to listen to the Spirit’s movement, Way will open.
No way, you say? Way!