“The way to spiritual maturity is through personal and interactive experience. We travel to wisdom along the roads that our soul is drawn to explore, eventually evolving a map that we begin to understand. Even within formal religions this journey must take place; otherwise, spiritual stasis sets in.
In the old language of craftspeople, there are three aspects to the spiritual path: first we are the apprentice, painstakingly learning the basics of our craft; then we become journeymen, trained apprentices who are able to travel from place to place practising our craft; finally we become masters of our craft and are honoured as repositories of skill. Our journey to wisdom, to a mature spirit, must go through all three phases. And even when we have arrived spiritually, we face the devastating revelation that the spiritual path is just that – a path, not a destination.
This is a lonely realisation for many, yet we are not unaccompanied on our path. Upon it we encounter others who are travelling our way, some of whom will become close personal friends because they are spiritual kindred. These encounters and spiritual friendships mould our understandings as soul calls to soul, bringing new insights and concepts. By working with such friends, we realise that the validity of our journey, we absorb new concepts that modify our own, we become more practical and less theoretical, and we change and grow in spirit.”
From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews
Chorlton Unitarians 