ideology or belief system. I usually think I know what
they mean; but I also know that they are trying to put
words to an inward experience which is ultimately
beyond labels. But my deepest hope is that whatever
their experience or insight was, it will continue for
them, that it will take root, stay alive, grow.
Hopefully they will have heard that the practice is not
about getting anywhere else at all, not even to
pleasant or profound spiritual experiences. Hopefully
they will come to understand that mindfulness is
beyond all thinking, wishful and otherwise, that the
here and now is the stage on which this work unfolds
continuously.
The concept of spirituality can narrow our thinking
rather than extend it. All too commonly, some things
are thought of as spiritual while others are excluded.
Is science spiritual? Is being a mother or father
spiritual? Are dogs spiritual? Is the body spiritual? Is
the mind spiritual? Is childbirth? Is eating? Is painting,
or playing music, or taking a walk, or looking at a
flower? Is breathing spiritual, or climbing a mountain?
Obviously, it all depends on how you encounter it,
how you hold it in awareness.
Mindfulness allows everything to shine with the
luminosity that the word "spiritual" is meant to
connote. Einstein spoke of "that cosmic religious
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