Why Spiritual Practices? The Journey of Waking Up

The Deeper Purpose Behind Spiritual Practices

Spiritual practices like meditation or prayer are often undertaken to reach goals like peace or enlightenment. But the deeper purpose behind spiritual practice is waking up from the trance of ordinary consciousness to the extraordinary potential innate within us. Setting out on a journey without a destination opens up infinite possibilities.

  • Spiritual practice takes us beyond conceptual thinking into direct experiential knowing.
  • It cultivates presence, equanimity, and compassion to meet each moment with wisdom.
  • The spiritual practices themselves plant seeds that unravel consciousness constructs over time.
pema chodron spiritual practices

Enlightenment is always an accident, but practice makes us accident-prone. – Pema Chödrön

  • Spiritual practices are vehicles to take us beyond the thinking mind’s limitations and glimpse our boundless nature.
  • They cultivate presence and provide skills to integrate awakened consciousness into everyday life.
  • The journey itself, not the imaginary destination, flowers into awakening.

By persisting in spiritual practice, we become accident-prone to the wonder and wisdom ever-present within and around us. The journey unfolds us if we travel without a fixed goal.

Leave a Comment