Part of developing spiritually, for me, is to become more and more aware of how often I bump up against the same old thought patterns, judgments, reactions, and ways of interpreting the world, and then using that knowledge as a reminder to try something totally different. When I complain about the stupidity of other people and their actions, I look for a part of myself that could act that same way; in doing so, I’ve engaged myself in the problem and its solution rather than distancing from them.

In this passage from Love and the Soul, Robert Sardello writes about the need to experience the “soul of the world” (Sophia) in a way that is spiritual, not material.

It can be a great feeling, standing as the bridge between two worlds—being perplexed and nervous on the one hand, and quietly exhilarated on the other—as the body is insisting on happiness in spite of the weighted-down feeling in the mind. This is another reading from Love and the Soul by Robert Sardello that helps us read that compass we carry around.

(Music from Leonard Cohen.)