Gosh - it's whizzed by quickly. Gets faster every year. This marathon's becoming a sprint; the pilgrimage through time becomes less and less of a challenge. Lent is six-and-half weeks long, representing one-eighth of a year.
Coming up to the end of my 32nd consecutive Lent, the most significant part of my year - indeed of my life. Indeed, next year's Lent, by which time I'll be 66, will mark the point at which I'll have observed it for half of my life. (And as such, I will subjectively experience it as passing at twice the speed that it did when I was aged 33.) Having embraced Lent, it has become a defining feature of my life, and over the decades it has become an increasingly spiritual endeavour.
Resolutions that started off as being Lent-only have over time become year-round, life-long habits. I have long abandoned sucrose in the form of sugar - no confectionery, cakes, biscuits etc, no sweetened yogurts or other processed desserts. For good. I have massively limited salt snacks (nuts I still eat outside of Lent). Daily exercising, initiated long ago for the duration of Lent, has become a daily routine. Meat outside of Lent has become far rarer, an occasional restaurant treat rather than a staple. My alcohol intake has dropped greatly (in 2014, the first year I counted it, I was drinking on average over 33 units a week, now it's down to 14 units, that is - within the UK government guideline).
So - Lent for body is an excellent discipline, I'd encourage it for one and all. The time of year is important too. Although Easter is a movable feast, sliding backwards and forwards by up to one lunar month, it always begins in winter and ends in spring (unlike Ramadan, which wanders through the year). Although this week has been dismal weather-wise, there are buds on the trees, wildflowers are starting to appear, the grass is beginning to grow, insects are emerging and the miracle of Rebirth is about to kick off.
But how about Lent for the soul?
The discipline of sitting down every day to order my thoughts and intuitions about matters spiritual has been deeply rewarding for me.
One thing I have come to realise is this: we are all different. Only some of us have questions regarding why we're here and what it's all about. What percentage of humanity, I wouldn't want to say. Of those who are engaged on an earnest spiritual quest, some will do so in communion with co-religionists, in keeping with traditions set out in Holy Books written long ago. Others will eschew all forms of organised religion, seeking instead their own path towards spiritual understanding.
I somehow feel a bond of recognition with religious folk who intuitively have a sense of the existence of the Metaphysical, while also feeling that bond with the scientific community whose curiosity drives them to new discoveries and understanding. However, those stuck in a materialist-reductionist mindset, who obstinately refuse to countenance anything beyond classical physics, deriding the very concept of consciousness with a fundamentalist's zeal, are hard work for me. As hard work as those who will only accept a literal interpretation of their holy text.
But through whatever prism we look at humans, we can see countless individuals, each leading their own life, each psychologically different, each with their own personality foibles, habits and obsessions.
These act as filters which colour the way that each of us sees what we consider to be 'the truth'. The question is - are we stuck with it, or does our curiosity drive us forward in an active quest?
I see it as something that's becoming clearer with time - my spiritual search adds focus and higher resolution to my understanding. From out of the monolith is emerging a ever-more finely sculpted statue.
In the meantime, I trust in my faith in the Purpose; I believe in my trust in the Purpose. I believe in my pure intuitions, over and above what others might wish to persuade me to believe.
[Link to Part II, the 2023 Lent finale.]
We all have a lot to learn.
Lent 2022: Day 45
What is the point of it all?
Lent 2021: Day 45
Mindfulness vs Materialism
Lent 2020: Day 45
Unconsummated memories
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