The polar opposite of a genuine spiritual path is the use of religion to suppress,
deny or condemn ones nature. Lately, the news has covered several stories about
this variety of religion. In my last column, I explored the homophobic and psychologically
dangerous use of religion by the right wing in their assault on the souls of gay
men and lesbians, which is sometimes called “Ex-gay Ministry”. So now let’s take
up the much more important task of discovering where we might turn for help in walking
an authentic spiritual path?
There are many sources of wisdom, care and compassion to be found by those of us
who seek good counsel on the path. Yet these seldom stir the attention of the media.
Jack Kornfield, offers one such voice in A Path With Heart. Here, the reader,
gay or straight, Christian, Jew or Buddhist will find an authentic spiritual teacher
clearly suited to speak to the modern American seeker. Kornfield a practicing psychotherapist,
and long time teacher of meditation spent six years as a Buddhist monk in Thailand.
He has a deep grasp of both the eastern and western spiritual traditions as well
as the psychological traps that modern people encounter when setting out on a spiritual
path.
It is my contention that all lesbian and gay people, in the act of “coming out”,
are exploring spirituality, weather they are aware of it or not. For coming out
requires one to ask the fundamental spiritual questions: “Who am I?” and “How shall
I live?” If you are out, you have at least dabbled on the spiritual path. Yet often
the degree to which we confuse spirituality with religion, and the degree to which
our experience of religion has been painful, we might miss the fact that our spiritual
path is right in front of us. Let us walk it joyfully, patiently and with the help
of companions.
I have found Kornfield to be a trustworthy companion. While his own path has focused
on Vipassana or Insight Meditation, the Buddhist tradition of Southeast Asia. He
is concerned with spiritual life in general. Kornfeild draws on a wide range of
traditions and teachers. He includes Sufi mystics, Native American wisdom, Christian
desert fathers, Hassidic Rabbis, Indian yogis, masters from all the Buddhist schools
of thought and practice, poets, scientists and an occasional comedian. The book
is deep in insight , yet practical. There is commentary for advanced practitioners
and first time meditators. Each of the twenty three chapter ends with a guided meditation
some suited to almost every temperament.
The book takes the reader through a wide range of exploration. Teaching the basics
of meditation technique, which requires no particular belief system, just the willingness
to try. Also explored is the need to do emotional, physical and mental healing if
on is serious about a deepened spiritual practice. The range is from the most basic
aspects of practice to understanding transpersonal realms and the altered states
of consciousness which can occur for a serious student of meditation. He does not
shy away from the sometimes difficult issues of sex, money, power and the role of
a teacher in spiritual life. He encourages a deepened maturity and responsibility
on the part of each seeker and offers help in the process of getting there. Kornfield
avoids both the pious and the overly heady approach far to common in spiritual books.
This is truly a classic, one of the volumes surely worth taking on the journey.
He opens the book with a quote from Don Juan, which is worth pondering by any of
us who wish to advance on the spiritual path and care for our souls. And so it goes:
“Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think
necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question....Does this path have
a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn’t, it is of no use. “