If you want to understand the stars you will need to
use a telescope. If you want to understand a molecule you will need to use a
microscope. If you want to understand the ocean eventually you will need to get
wet. If you want to understand the spiritual nature of the world you will need
a spiritual practice. In the center of all the philosophy and science that
explains and debates the existence of the soul and God lays one simple truth:
spirituality is an experience. It is a journey that no one can take for you. It
is an understanding that no one can give you.

The greatest challenge Galileo faced when he
discovered the truth about the organization of our solar system was that the
“experts” and “officials” of his time period refused to look through his
telescope to see what he could see. Many of us reject the Galileo’s of our
time; we avoid spiritual ideas that challenge the way we see the world. Or we swing
to the opposite extreme and believe them without a second thought. We look to
the experiences and ideas of others to tell us what to think and feel. We make decisions
about what we believe without investing ourselves fully in the questions.

We have forgotten that the mind is only a small
aperture through which we acquire limited kinds of knowledge and that the body,
the heart, and even the soul itself, have ways of perceiving what is true and
healing. Wisdom is much more than an idea. Spiritual enlightenment asks that we
awaken our spiritual senses so that we might personally discover and remember
what is sacred.

Excerpt from Return to the Sacred