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A Country Road
Jeff Davis County, Georgia
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And all of us [Christ-devotees], ... seeing the Beloved's glory as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Beloved, the Spirit.
-2 Corinthians 3.18
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"Nurture" is from the Late Latin nutritia, "a nursing, suckling." Nutritia derives from Latin nutrire, "to nourish, suckle." Spiritually, we are like infants. Being nursed is a need - a necessity.
Another way of saying this is you, to evolve spiritually - glory to glory - will need to keep receiving grace from Grace. No one grows beyond reliance on grace, even as a tree, no matter how aged and big, needs the same nutrients from light, rain, and soil as when young and small. No one is full-grown spiritually. Spiritual growth, often called spiritual formation or transformation, is a growing, always a receiving from something not the self.
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In spiritual formation you in essence, what is often called the True Self and what Buddhists refer to as Buddha Nature, does not undergo transformation, however. Through intentional spirituality, what is not of the Light undergoes change. Nothing is disposed of, only undergoes transformation.
The True Self and the Light shining through you becomes more radiant. Hence, there is nothing about you essentially needing nurture - that is, the person, the ego, is what undergoes transformation.
Basic goodness, an innocence, purity, and transparency before the opposites I'm good-I'm bad, is present to shine forth. Buddhists use the image of mud settling. As the self-mud settles, the Water of Life manifests progressively its pristine clarity. That Water itself was never not pure and clear. That-of-God does not change; that-of-God transforms that-not-of-God: this is why we speak of spiritual transformation, not reformation.
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I compare spiritual self-care to a menu. To eat a healthy diet, we may plan a menu to get the nutrition the body needs. We can devise a spiritual menu, too. The menu will differ from person to person. Some persons may integrate practices from varied traditions, others draw from one tradition.
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A wise, aged monk spent several hours daily in prayers and contemplation. His light was on well before the other monks and off well after theirs. Often he would skip a meal and be seen walking to the garden to sit in prayerful quiet. He always completed his daily tasks of manual labor.
A young monk asked the aged monk, “Brother, how do you get all the work done you do and spend so much time in prayer.” The wise monk replied, “Brother, were it not for all that time in prayer, I would never be able to get all that work done.”
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When we set aside a daily time and place to care spiritually for ourselves, we may sometimes think we are losing time. Not so. Sometimes, we may think there are more important things to do. Not so. Spiritual nurture is central, not peripheral, to our lives.
How do you nurture yourself spiritually? Are there excuses that arise not to do this? Are these avoidances? If so, what are you avoiding? Why is it that as we draw closer to our True Self, the little me - ego - tends to intensify its resistance intentional spiritual care? What are the benefits of good spiritual care?
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2023.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
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