William James defined spirituality as "an attempt to be in harmony with an unseen
order of things.” If we are reading this newsletter, it is probably safe to say that we
have all had a glimpse of something—call it the mystery, God, the true nature of
being, or what-have-you. We might have had this experience as we looked out at
the world: seeing the moonlight through oak leaves or listening to the surge of
waves at the ocean. Or we might have experienced this unseen order through
some kind of inner experience of wonder and transcendence. No matter how
fleeting such experiences might be, we often have a powerful intuition about them: that what is behind or what pervades our experiences of the mystery does not come
and go. It is unconditional and at the same time it is always accessible. It is we
ourselves who somehow seem to turn away. We seem to lose it, to forget, to
become distracted by other things, to get caught up in our preoccupations and we
sense that our anxiety, suffering and confusion comes from that disconnection. The
path [whether Christian or Buddhist], then, is our way of trying to bridge that gulf.
Katie Morrow, "Stumbling Along the Path"
The Buddhist Christian Vedanta Network Newsletter (
November 2010)
