Thousandroads

Paths, tools, and guides are three very important aspects of a spiritual journey to elaborate on.

I. PATHS:
A path is usually an established tradition of spiritual inquiry (Zen Buddhism, Christianity, Catholicism, Taoism, and the Scientific Method are examples). Perhaps we are already in of a tradition that clicks with us, or one we grew up embracing.

Starting with an established path is practically a requirement. Charting the waters without one is like trying to sail to the New World from Europe without a compass (and with blinders and no crew). Well, I'm exaggerating a bit, but it is almost mandatory to follow an already charted course in the beginning. Later on, we leave the chart behind and chart our own path.

II. TOOLS:
When we are clear what path serves as our backbone, we include tools that help us explore different aspects of ourselves. Some of these tools, broken into these aspects, are:
spirit tools (vipassana meditation, zen meditation, centering prayer) *
body tools (weightlifting, yoga),
mental tools (scripture study, analysis),
expression tools (improvisation, acting, blogging),
sexual tools (tantra, visualization practices),
work tools (right livelihood, organization),
ethical tools (moral/ethical code),
shadow tools (psychotherapy, psychoanalysis).

There are 1000s of tools out there -- the key is to focus on a handful of them. Which ones to pick? The ones that challenge us, yet still resonate with us, and still address all major aspects of ourselves. As a note, spirit tools especially are of primary importance (for obvious reasons).

III. GUIDES:
Well, we have a path, and we have tools to help us walk on the path -- but we are not set, yet. It also really helps to have a guide. A guide is someone or something who helps us make day to day decisions in the right direction. Not many of us have the benefit of having someone show us the ropes, and even fewer of us have one we can trust. However, nothing to fear. There are surrogate guides in the form of I-Ching and Tarot Cards we can use. More about them in future posts.

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So now that I've clearly outlined the groundwork for the spiritual path, we're ready to start talking about my own adventures and discoveries (the fun stuff!) Right?? No wait, there's an important thing to keep in mind from the beginning -- the shadow! The shadow is so important that I'll dedicate my entire next post to it. A spiritual journey that ignores the shadow is screwed.