Spiritual Musing for the New Year

Spiritual Musing for the New Year

The call is weak, not my usual call to writing, a faint whisper to write a spiritual musing on the New Year, today being the first day of 2019; but I’m really not feeling it. And yet, the whisper gets louder as I ponder what to do. Should I reflect on this past year and posit some guiding principles for 2019, or just meander and let my muse do my thinking for me?

Zen poet Jane Hirshfield lets her poetry do her thinking for her, which I understand completely; but my spiritual musings are a different genre, a kind of Tai Chi for the soul, and just as I still miss long distance running, which I haven’t done for many years now, so too do I miss writing my spiritual musings which I had to suspend to write my  book One Rule to Live By: Be Good; but the whisper is getting louder.

It’s all about meaning, isn’t it? This is the simple advice that Jordan Peterson is giving to the wayward young generation with his book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos and book tour talks and interviews; one gets meaning by taking responsibility for their life, both practical and moral, and I can hear my muse whispering to my deepest needs.

To be honest, I miss reading and writing poetry. I so enjoy the concentration of thought when I’m reading and writing poetry. There’s magic in poetry. The creative spirit awakens in me when I’m reading and writing poetry, and there’s no greater satisfaction than the feeling of goodness that comes when I’ve engaged my creative spirit.

This is what professor Jordan B. Peterson has attempted to reveal with his message to the world in his book 12 Rules for Life; but I’ve gone a step further with my own book One Rule to Live By: Be Good, and I can’t wait to bring it to closure.

So, what’s my spiritual musing trying to tell me?

It’s all about doing. Meaning and satisfaction come with doing, and it gives me great satisfaction and meaning when I’m writing, especially my spiritual musings. Just as Tai Chi gives one satisfaction, so too does my writing; but it could be anything.

The secret is in doing. Like taking on a project of restoring an old hotel and bringing it back to life, as an old acquaintance of mine has been doing for the past several years and getting more meaning and satisfaction than he has in years as he awakens the spirit of community in his old hometown; and so too can doing whatever one is called to do fill the void in one’s soul and give one meaning and purpose, which is JBP’s antidote to the chaos of our crazy modern world; and this is the point of today’s short spiritual musing.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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