Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Strategic Monk

Home
Contemplative
Practices From the Inside Out: Spiritual Life is Not For Sale

Practices From the Inside Out: Spiritual Life is Not For Sale

Last updated on: October 12, 2021 at 3:27 am by Greg Richardson

Practices From the Inside Out: Spiritual Life is Not For Sale 2021-10-12T03:27:37-08:00 Greg Richardson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Spiritual Life is Not For Sale

The pandemic has taught us, or helped us remember, many things. Some of us have learned about science, or public health, or history. We may have remembered the significance of spending time by ourselves. Many of us have realized spiritual life is not something we can buy or stockpile. Spiritual life is not for sale.

Our lives seem to be full of people trying to sell us things. Whenever we go online, watch television, or look at a magazine we are being subjected to someone trying to sell us something.

The culture we have created is all about buying and selling. We have started to assume everything is for sale.

It is a challenge for some of us to believe spiritual life is not for sale. There seems to be a price we need to pay to enter spiritual life, and ongoing fees along the way. We are overwhelmed by people trying to sell us books or programs for spiritual life, or other products to “help” us.

Some of us look to contemplative spirituality as a way to escape the pressures to buy into certain types of spiritual life.

Even as we try to develop contemplative practices we can feel people trying to sell us things.

The pandemic and the quarantine have helped remind me there is nothing I need to purchase to enhance spiritual life. There is no required reading, no manuals or supplements or study guides. Yes, there are resources which help explain some of my questions, but they are not essential to spiritual life.

Spiritual life is not for sale. We cannot buy more or sell what we have. Each of us has an inexhaustible supply of spiritual life.

Why do we feel it is scarce and we need more than we already have?

Spiritual Depth is Not For Sale

We have entered the final quarter of the year, three months full of celebrations of spiritual depth. It is easy for us to be distracted and assume these days of meaning are all about what we can buy and sell. We forget what these days mean, which is not for sale.

In three weeks we will focus our attention on the costumes and candy we can buy, ignoring the meaning of these days. Some of us will buy decorations for our houses or our yards which will distract us from all those who have died.

Even now, after all these months, we forget about spiritual depth which is not for sale.

Next month we will turn a day dedicated to grateful thankfulness into a festival of food and football. We may give a few moments to platitudes of gratitude, but it is easy for us to move on quickly to entertainment and eating.

We push ourselves to eat quickly so we can head out for the Black Friday sales.

Cutting short the attention we pay to gratitude, we spend the entire month of December focused on buying and spending. Some of us buy even more decorations so we can quickly take down our October scenes and put up the ones for December.

We have forgotten the spiritual depth of these days in December, if we ever understood it. Our month is spent in a flurry of buying and spending. We do not find the time to stop and listen, to reflect, to remember spiritual depth.

Spiritual life is not for sale.

Many of us do not take time even at the end of the year to remember, to think back, or look forward to the new year arriving.

Receiving What is Not For Sale

Some of us no longer recognize what is not for sale.

We are busy acquiring and counting, making sure the balance sheets of our lives look good.

For some of us, spiritual life is a loss. We may never have paid much attention to the experience of spiritual life. Its may be intimidating, scaring us away. Some of us have scars from what we thought was spiritual life and have no desire to explore it any further.

We have locked spiritual life into a specific category and put it out of our minds. It takes too much time or is too scary or too boring. We are not interested in giving it another chance.

Many of us spend our lives pursuing things which we believe we can afford. We assume spiritual life is too expensive, more than we want to spend.

It is a shock when we realize spiritual life is not for sale.

We have given up the skills, like listening and stillness or our imaginations, which allow us to experience spiritual life. It is difficult for us to receive what is not for sale because we can no longer understand how it works.

The Value of What is Not For Sale

We have a difficult time appreciating the value of something which is not for sale. Our world is full of evaluating and analyzing, assessing whether something we consider buying is worth the price.

It is a challenge for us to recognize the value of something which is free.

Spiritual life is not for sale. It is a gift which is ours if we will receive it.

We begin to understand the obstacles and boundaries around spiritual life exist because we create them. Spiritual life is not a financial or economic transaction. We do n0t need to set a value or a price because it is not for sale.

Spiritual life is not about negotiating or haggling or getting the best deal. The more we sit still and listen, paying attention to spiritual depth, the more clearly we begin to understand.

We are not trying to earn spiritual life or qualify for it. As we sit still we begin to appreciate it is all around us and within us.

Spiritual life is not for sale. We do not own it.

How will we appreciate what is not for sale today?

What skills will allow us to receive what is not for sale this week?

[Image by edkohler]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual director in Southern California. He is a recovering assistant district attorney and associate university professor, and is a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com and his email address is [email protected].

Blog

Spiritual Practices

Previous Post

October 5, 2021

Monastic Strategies: My Mind Carries Me Away

Next Post

October 14, 2021 Listening to Sacred Stillness: Becoming a Better Listener

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Blog Book Reviews Everything Else Guest Posts Leadership Monastic Strategies Neighborhood Pilgrimages Sacred Stillness Spiritual Direction Spiritual Practices Work

Select a Month May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Lydia's profession?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Cloth merchant Potter Weaver Farmer