| Welcome aboard on a spiritual journey! You may | | | | are ready to undertake this journey on your own. |
| be wondering what a spiritual journey is. Well, it is | | | | Children do not usually undertake a physical |
| the most exciting of all journeys and it is better | | | | journey on their own. They need adults to |
| than all other journeys combined. I hope to tell | | | | accompany them. A certain level of maturity is |
| you here how you can start your spiritual journey. | | | | needed to undertake even just a physical journey |
| But first let us know what a spiritual journey is. | | | | on one's own. |
| A spiritual journey can be known by comparing it | | | | So also you need to have a certain spiritual |
| with other kinds of journeys. Let us compare it | | | | maturity in order to undertake the spiritual |
| with physical and mental journeys. | | | | journey on your own. How do you know you |
| In a physical journey we have a physical | | | | have this maturity? In a physical journey usually |
| destination. It does not matter how near or how | | | | the age and the educational background of a |
| far that destination is. There is a place, a physical | | | | person are considered. In a spiritual journey, your |
| destination where a journey will end. It may be | | | | spiritual age and knowledge of spiritual things are |
| the next town, or the next country, a city | | | | also to be considered. How do you know you |
| halfway around the globe, or the next planet, or | | | | have reached this spiritual age since it is not |
| even a far away star. No matter what it is, there | | | | measured by years, unlike in physical age? You will |
| is a physical destination. | | | | know if you have reached this spiritual age if you |
| In a mental journey there is also a destination. | | | | have fallen in love with your God, just as in |
| Our mind will come to dwell on something. It | | | | normal life falling in love with someone is an |
| might be the ideas of wise men who lived | | | | indication that you have reached a certain physical |
| centuries before us, like Socrates or Aristotle. Our | | | | degree of maturity. |
| mind will travel to the time when they had these | | | | And why do I say that you are undergoing the |
| ideas. It is a destination in time, back to the time | | | | greatest of all journeys when you start on a |
| of the men and women who produced the ideas | | | | spiritual journey? It is because in a spiritual |
| that we want to dwell on. | | | | journey you are going to a place which is no place |
| In a physical journey we need to have a physical | | | | at all but a presence in all the places in the |
| means to get to our destination. It may be our | | | | universe and you are going to a time which is not |
| feet, a bicycle, a car, a train, a boat or an airplane, | | | | a time but an eternity which includes all time, |
| or a rocket plane or a combination of any of | | | | from past to present to future. For the spirit is |
| these. We include also the food while we are in | | | | not bound by space and time, and you are going |
| this or that kind of transportation. | | | | to that place of the spirit who transcends space |
| In a mental journey we need also to have mental | | | | and time. Briefly put, in a spiritual journey you are |
| means to get to our mental destination. This | | | | going to all places and to all times. This cannot be |
| usually consists of our brain, our mind, our | | | | done in a physical journey because you only have |
| imagination, our emotions, the books around us, | | | | one body. As a body you can be present only at |
| the men and women who knew the men whose | | | | one place in one time. But with the spirit you can |
| ideas we want our mind to come to. | | | | be present to all places at the same time. An |
| Furthermore in a physical and mental journey we | | | | analogy may help clarify this if you have ridden a |
| need to have a purpose why we want to get | | | | plane. |
| there, even if it is just to satisfy our curiosity, | | | | When you ride in a plane you begin by being |
| just to see the place or feel the feelings of those | | | | present in the airport. When your plane goes up |
| men involved in a story or drama. | | | | the air you leave the airport but you begin to look |
| And when we embark upon a journey for the | | | | at the place surrounding the airport. Now you |
| first time we need to have a guide, either a | | | | begin to see more places at once, not just the |
| person from whom we can ask ideas about our | | | | airport, a single place. By your vision you are |
| destination and the means to get there, or one | | | | present to all these places below you at the same |
| who will go with us like a tourist guide, or at least | | | | time. So also by spirit you can be present to all of |
| a map or written direction where to start, what | | | | creation when you go beyond them. |
| transportation to take, the sign or signs that tell | | | | And how do you start this journey? Assuming |
| us we shall have reached our destination. | | | | that you have fallen in love with the Original Spirit |
| If you want to start your spiritual journey you | | | | in whatever manifestation he has revealed himself |
| need to know these: your destination, the means | | | | to you, you take his personal guide or the written |
| to get there, the purpose why you want to get | | | | guides left by spiritual men and women of all ages. |
| there, a guide to help you get there. These are | | | | Each person will take a different kind according to |
| the elements of a journey and they are all | | | | his preference. |
| present in a physical, mental, or spiritual journey. | | | | In my case my guides were the Christian Bible |
| The destination in a spiritual journey is the world | | | | and the written works of John of the Cross, a |
| of the spirits, and ultimately the Original Spirit | | | | spiritual man who lived in the 16th century. |
| himself. If the destination of a physical journey is | | | | May I share with you the prescription of this man |
| a place, that of a mental journey ideas in time, | | | | as you begin this journey. He said that if you |
| the destination of a spiritual journey is a spiritual | | | | want to reach your spiritual destination in a very |
| one, the world of the spirits and ultimately the | | | | short time you need to take these steps: 1. |
| Original Spirit from whom all came from. | | | | Desire to have pleasure in nothing; 2. Desire to |
| The means to get to the world of the spirits and | | | | possess nothing; 3. Desire to be nothing, and 4. |
| the Original Spirit consists of spiritual means. | | | | Desire to know nothing. |
| These are basically faith, hope and love that work | | | | If you have an acquaintance with Buddhism these |
| in solitary prayer. | | | | prescriptions of John of the Cross are like those |
| The purpose of a spiritual journey can also be | | | | in Buddhism, where we are urged not to desire |
| curiosity, but more than this, it is to enjoy life to | | | | anything because desire is the cause of suffering. |
| the fullest possible that we can attain. | | | | The most practical advice I can give you as you |
| The guide on a spiritual journey may be a spiritual | | | | start your spiritual journey is to desire above all |
| person who himself has undertaken this journey | | | | to reach and be united with the Original Spirit and |
| or the written guides left by spiritual persons, like | | | | to desire nothing that may hinder you in reaching |
| the Bible for Christians, the Qur'an for Muslims, the | | | | this goal. Do not desire material goods, physical |
| Trepitaka of Buddhism, or the Bhagavad Gita of | | | | pleasure, mental enjoyment or any kind of |
| the Hindus. | | | | pleasure if this will hinder you in reaching your goal, |
| After learning something about the elements of | | | | union with the Original Spirit. |
| this journey you need to ascertain whether you | | | | Bon voyage on your spiritual journey. |