One morning back in 2012 as I was ringing a customer up at my store, a question was posed to me: what’s your spiritual practice? The question caught me off guard in the language and the context. No one had ever asked me that and certainly not while engaging in an action as utilitarian as bagging groceries. I froze for a moment wondering know how to answer in a useful way and how to explain that it wasn’t one practice but many.
I don’t have any organized religious affiliation though I’ve worshiped at Buddhist and Jewish temples, Christian and non-denominational churches, and chanted around fires at puja ceremonies. Years of yoga and meditation followed years of drawing, journaling, and writing. All of these could be considered spiritual practices, tools that I’ve leaned on through the years to guide me through life. I’ve toyed with the idea of studying comparative religion because I’m fascinated by the intersection of spiritual, political, and regional forces that shape religion, but I’m also drawn to indigenous and wiccan practices that include nature-based worship and honor Gaia.
I stood there, filtering through my responses. It now dawns on me that the answer to the question could be found in my hesitation. As the young man waited for my response, a series of questions flooded my head. How do I answer that? What is my spiritual practice? How can I explain my journey? What is he really asking? Does he want the truth or is he just trying to invite me to church?
Honestly, I don’t know that I answered at all so much as mumbled something about yoga even though I was in the midst of a two-year course of deep meditation study at the Karin Kabalah Center. After all, I was working and had not scheduled time in my day for a spiritual discussion.
Now, as I think back to that moment with the clarity of nearly a half century of searching, I would say the most influential spiritual practice that has led to honing my abilities–spiritual, intellectual, and physical–is curiosity.
Until now, I’d never thought of curiosity as a spiritual practice, but curiosity prompted me to read particular books, show up in distinct spaces, and walk into situations that I could not have conjured without the will to find answers to lingering questions tugging at my soul as well as questions I didn’t even know I had. The curiosity never stops and the rewards for following an intellectual or emotional scent so to speak, has led to magical moments and cherished memories.
From hiking up Macchu Picchu to winding trains through Swiss towns to find Emma Kunz, to the Indian backwaters of Kerala and temples in Thailand and Greece, surf adventures in the Philippines, across the American desert to Marfa, TX, and even shuttling across Lake Champlain on the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry, doors have opened into worlds previously unknown. Many doors still beckon and I look forward to each day that surprises me with a new direction.
-Meteor Crater Natural Landmark (Arizona)
