That which can be imitated is not the Self.
More often than not, "spiritual practice" is an attempt to borrow the life-style and energy of our favorite prophet or guru. This we call devotion. Imitating the path of another may comfort us awhile, but if we continue this religious borrowing, we end with a second-hand soul.
Bees do not renounce flowers. Their honey incorporates the taste of every flower they have visited. But the honey has its own bouquet. To become an original soul, I need not renounce the fragrance of my religious tradition, or the flower of my guru's practice. But now, the nectar is within.
I can integrate sacred traditions into my own original life-style, without being bound by them. When I have a first-hand soul that is not the imitation of a holy Other, I no longer feel compelled to buzz around the guru's ashram, the religious community. My ashram is the world. My church is humanity.
In the morning, bees drink lavender, lobelia, honey-suckle, goldenrod. But in the quiet of the afternoon, bees return to the hive and make their own honey.
Painting by Melissa Fischer
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