Spiritual Life is Not About Winning

It is easy for us to get confused about spiritual life and winning.

We live in a society which believes in winning. Winning and losing is how we determine who is right and who is wrong. Winning and losing is how we know who is guilty, and who is not. Winning is how we make decisions, including who will represent us.

Our culture does not approach conflict as an opportunity to listen and learn, to gain new insight. When we are involved in a conflict, we want to win.

We believe winning reinforces, even proves, the justice of our cause. We believe we are, and deserve to be, winners.

The value of winning pervades our lives, including our spiritual lives. We are convinced it is important to defend our beliefs effectively. We want our ideas and interpretations to be generally understood and accepted. When there is conflict, we want our values and beliefs to prevail.

It can be easy for us to forget spiritual life is not about winning and losing.

Spiritual life is not a contest to be won. It is not a test to be passed, nor an ordeal to be endured. There is no plan, no owner’s manual, no rules that must be followed. There is no strategy that will carry us to victory.

Spiritual life is a relationship to the deepest Sacred truth in the universe. As we practice the skills it takes to be open and listen, our awareness of spiritual life grows.

We do not earn spiritual life by winning, and there is nothing we can do to lose it. We open our eyes and see the beauty of spiritual life in the world around us.

How have you learned to be open to the deep spiritual truth around you?

What gifts has spiritual life given you this week?

[Image by F. C. Photography]