Spiritual Compass
“Within each one of us, there is a spiritual compass. It always points toward the good, toward what is holy. The compass is made of our values, what we believe and hold sacred. Over the years, our experience makes the compass within us even more accurate, refining our ability to seek the right direction in life, making us even more sensitive to the pull of compassion and common sense. Therefore, we do not have to be afraid that we will get lost, wandering the wilderness of this age. We only have to follow where our heart leads, and our reason points the way.”—Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook post.
Cynthia Bourgeault would agree with Steven Charleston about a spiritual compass. She calls it an inward GPS (Global Positioning System), similar to the one we use in our car to get us to the correct location. We need to know where we are—and then the address of where we want to go—and the GPS will get us there.
Sometimes, we are not confident about where we are, but we have a good idea of where we want to go. Our aim, above all, is to keep our connection to God. I love it when our ideal location is not yet on the map, and the GPS takes us as close as possible. This may also be true regarding our spiritual life.
Bourgeault calls our heart a “God Positioning System.” When it is attuned and turned on, it will allow us to achieve balance in a completely different way: perceiving by separating and differentiating things from each other, perceiving the whole, and discerning our place within the whole. For Bourgeault, becoming attuned to this spiritual GPS comes through the contemplative practice of Centering Prayer. My own GPS is writing. We are each called to find which spiritual practice best connects us to God. Also, do not be surprised that it may change from time to time.
Cynthia Bourgeault, The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity (CAC, 2004), disc 4.
Cynthia Bourgeault, “How Change Happens” in Transgression (CAC, 2014), Vol. 2 No. 1, p. 86.
GPS