Going Deeper Part 1

November 22, 2024

Going Deeper Part 1

Welcome to this week’s series of Daily Reflections on “Going Deeper.”

As a kid learning to swim, I was scared of the deep end. One day at my friend Freddie’s house, I fell in the deep end and nearly drowned. Luckily, a teenage boy jumped in to save me. After that, I stayed in the shallow end, and when my friends enticed me to venture over my head, I refused. But eventually, I could swim anywhere in the pool. It just took time, practice, but most of all, will. Without the will to swim into the deep, even until this day, I would be confined to the shallow end. However, I know some people who never learned to swim—they were afraid of the water and closed their minds to learning. Some avoid being in and around water to this day.

The spiritual life is much like learning to swim. We may be reluctant to venture into new territories of faith, but eventually learn to navigate deeper spiritual waters. Yet some of us remain in the shallow end. Why? Because it’s less threatening to stay in our comfort zone. When our beliefs are challenged, something inside says, “Don’t worry me with new information—I am happy with what I believe, and I don’t need to delve any further.” This is an understandable response because it can be disturbing and even painful if new truths question our beliefs. “The mystery may drown me.”

Some people think the Spirituality of the Enneagram and Consciousness studies are too deep for them. Many resist learning spiritual concepts like the levels of human consciousness, HeartMath, and the spiritual practice of meditation. They formed a concrete belief structure and don’t want an explorative spirituality. Sadly, the mystery threatens them. I understand this stance because I consciously refused to go into the deep end when learning to swim because I was afraid. And also there were times in my life when going deeper into my spiritual nature was too scary for me.

Many of us who cling to closed systems of belief wall out any new ideas. But the fact is that spirituality has inherently infinite wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. So, when we reach a level of comfort and declare that we know all we need to know, we put a glass floor beneath us. Therefore, we shortchange the exploration into our depths. We never go into the “deep end” of our beliefs and don’t learn and use new tools that grow us spiritually. To think that our worldview and our spirituality have brought us as near to God as we can ever possibly get may be a colossal error.

This week, we will reflect on the stages and levels of spiritual belief and faith development and our place on the spectrum of spiritual and faith trajectories. We look at our own development to see if we have reached a false glass floor or if we are open to more profound aspects of belief. We will explore why many of us do not have the will to dive deeper into our spirituality and why this would be the case.

Spiritual practice: Read Richard Rohr’s levels of spiritual development. Can you place yourself on that continuum?

Self-inquiry: Are you settled on your beliefs or ready to explore more? Why?

Dear God,

Help us this week to genuinely delve deeper into self-exploration. Amen