Pathways to Spirituality, Part II: Sacred Pathways

Another problem that is raised in the session notes is that the standard advice we give on spiritual formation is this: develop a 30-minute quiet time every morning, worship every Sunday, get busy and serve God. The assumption is that all these will help us to grow spiritually. The fact is, ‘doing’ does not equal ‘being’. We give everyone a one-size-fits-all spirituality. How many people end up doing ‘devotions’ (our formulaic version of it) daily? The consequence is that our devotions become irregular, routine or stale. We then start to feel guilty and become spiritually empty.

Why should everyone be expected to love God in the same way anyway?

Good question. So this author called Gary Thomas proposes nine sacred pathways; ways in which we can relate to God and draw near to Him. I am sure that there are more ways than as proposed by Gary Thomas, but I think this is a good list. It helps to be able to appreciate the fact that there are people who will be able to draw near to God in different ways.

Naturalists: loving God out of doors
Sensates: loving God with all five senses
Traditionalists: loving God through rituals and symbols
Ascetics: loving God in simplicity and solitude
Activists: loving God through confrontation
Caregivers: loving God by loving others
Enthusiasts: loving God with mystery and celebration
Contemplatives: loving God through silent adoration
Intellectuals: loving God with the mind

After doing the test at the end of the session notes, I found that I scored highest for Naturalist, followed by Intellectual and Ascetic. Well, I think it’s quite true, but I guess I shall not limit myself to how I can draw near to God! Maybe these are the best ways in which I can draw near to Him, but I sure would like to try out some of the others (becoming an activist is really too much for me though…I scored really low for that one… haha)!