integral spirituality

Integral spirituality for me begins with that which is core in life or foundational.

This core is fired by a love that is all-consuming in a way

that life is lived with integrity and authenticity.

It is not superficial but

a synchronicity of a person’s inner and outer being,

a person’s belief and practice,

a person’s word and action,

a person’s faith and works

a person’s soul and role.

It is not a smorgasbord spirituality

where we pick and choose what we like

and leave out what we don’t like.

We do not get to choose impersonal issues

that only require talk and argumentation,

but rather heart-wrenching issues

that make a difference in people’s lives;

a life lived as a friend of “sinners”,

the outcast and the outliers,

the poor and downtrodden,

the tattered and torn,

the battered and bruised

It is not defined by

comfortableness or security or certainty

but rather impels us into a life of reflection

that requires of us direct action

that emerges directly out of our closest relationships.

It is full of risk and discomfort,

Pain and sorrow,

questions and mystery.

demanding a response of wonder and awe.

“If we truly are growing in love with our neighbors who are suffering at the hands of unjust systems—if that love is deep enough and authentic enough—then finding ourselves opposing those unjust systems will follow as naturally as the morning follows the night…. I don’t think we go out looking for oppressive systems to confront, like Don Quixote went out looking for windmills to attack. Our doing must flow naturally out of our being. Our doing for justice must flow naturally out of our being in love with those for whom there is no justice.”

K. Killian Noe
Source: Finding Our Way Home

“We stand there with those whose dignity has been denied. We locate ourselves with the poor and the powerless and the voiceless. At the edges, we join the easily despised and the readily left out. We stand with the demonized so that the demonizing will stop. We situate ourselves right next to the disposable so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.”

Gregory J. Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

Tagged: authenticity, connection, depth, integrity

Posted in: Living with open hands