Stranded on the Mainland: Inner Pilgrimage and Living Alone as a Spiritual Path:

"The desert is not for everyone," I heard it said. If it is not for you — you are not alone. If it is for you — you are not alone too. In the desert, what Ruth Burrows describes below, can suddenly (or slowly) happen: "The certainty that one can never go back, that one is safe forever; in a very real sense the goal is reached... . There is still work to be done, but it is not a question of striving, for the struggle is over." (Guidelines for Mystical Prayer, 147) Maybe this is the mystical stage of acceptance? Cb Amen  

To expand on the autobiographical Fairy Tale I alluded to in my last post:  I began the Fairy Tale by saying that the main character hated going to sleep because she never had any big dreams.  I didn't know what I meant by this in 1995, and in fact, for many years afterwards.  The reason being, sometimes poets (and, Fairy Tale writers) don't know what they're saying, it comes through them.  It is in this way I feel they are writing an inner mystery, and being given one to solve. Next. After years of carrying the above Fairy Tale in my heart, I had an important insight:  The main character didn't hate going to sleep because she never had any big dreams, but because she had bad dreams.  She (I) had (and still have) horrible nightmares connected to narcissistic abuse and post traumatic stress.  Writing a Fairy Tale was how my psyche protected me.  On a lighter note, it was making lemonade out of lemons. Speaking of making lemonade out of lemons, I w...

Once I wrote an autobiographical Fairy Tale about a young girl who travelled to the end of the world in search of the Feminine face of God. Now, almost thirty years later, I can tell the young girl in that Fairy Tale, "failure is part of the search for God."  I can tell her that past failures (hers or anyone elses) will not have the last word.  I can tell her she is a contemplative on a beautiful and difficult path.  I can tell her I am in awe of her courage and strength. And I can share below a reassuring teaching from Martin Laird, OSA: "It is not uncommon to find people with very sensitive consciences and who seem to have a certain attraction, even aptitude, for the contemplative path, but who cannot come to terms with things that have happened in their past. Not only can they not accept divine forgiveness, they cannot forgive themselves.  Consequently their self-esteem is too low to accept the fact that failure is part of the search for God.  As Eckhar...