You are on a Spiritual Journey, Part 1

We are all on a journey drawing closer to God. “The [Realm] of God is within you” [Luke 17:21].

I was privileged to walk the 500 mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage through northern Spain in the spring of 2013. It was grueling, fun, exhausting, inspirational, depressing, joyous, and more. A pilgrimage is a journey unlike others in that the journey itself is part of the destination. The journey with all its ups and downs is where the growth happens.

The Camino de Santiago underscored for me that, in fact, all of life is a spiritual journey. The universal greeting and farewell among pilgrims on the Camino is “Buen Camino.” “Good Journey.” And the understanding is that your Camino is never finished. Of course, you may arrive at the Cathedral in Santiago, but your Camino continues for the rest of your life. Your journey with and towards God is never over. And, likely, it began long before you arrived in Spain.

Image is of the author on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

The purpose of Christianity is not about becoming a moral person, although that will be a side-effect of the journey. The purpose of Christianity is not to be saved from our sins, although that is also a side-effect of the journey. But rather, the purpose of Christianity is to engage in a spiritual journey to Union with God and Each Other, which occurs through a changed consciousness. This is the true meaning of salvation.

“With all wisdom and insight [God] has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” – Ephesians 1:9-10

The Hebrew Bible is about the journey of the Israelites. The New Testament is about the journeys of Jesus and the early Christians. And Jesus tells us the destination: “The Kingdom of God,” or as it is often referred to, “The Realm of God.” Some Christians understand this to be “Heaven,” or the place we go after we die. But Jesus himself refutes that.

He tells his disciples directly that “the [Realm] of God is within you.” [Lk 17:21].

The journey is an internal one, but which manifests externally in this material life, both in our actions and in how the world in turn responds to us. It continues on into the next life. The destination is a place of union with God, and with each other. But because this destination is already a reality, achieving the Realm means waking up to this reality.

Other religions have similar journeys and destinations, although they may have differing beliefs and practices to get there, and slightly differing descriptions of the final landing place. In other words, to be human is to be on a spiritual journey. Granted, some people haven’t pulled out of their driveways yet, but we are all trying to move forward in some fashion.

“I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?... I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” – 1 Cor. 3:1-4, 6

In this passage, the Apostle Paul writes of an expected human journey of spiritual development. Our growth is to move from being people of the flesh to becoming people of the spirit. Signs of still being in the flesh include ego characteristics like jealousy and quarreling. But God will give us growth to move forward.

For Christians (and others) the human destination is not a “place” at all, in the sense that it occupies physical space. It is a change of consciousness.

Paul speaks of “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” [Philippians 2:5].

Christian Theologians speak of having “Christ Consciousness,” which is another way of speaking of the Realm of God. When we live with the mind of Christ, we are living in the Realm of God, regardless of whether we are in our physical body or have crossed the veil.

There are countless Christians through the ages who have described and taught this journey.

St. Isaac the Syrian [613 – c. 700] writes, “Be at peace with your own soul, then heaven and earth will be at peace with you. Eagerly enter into the treasure house that is within you, and so you will see the things that are in heaven; for there is but one single entry to them both. The ladder that leads to the Kingdom is hidden within your soul.”

St. Hildegard of Bingen [1098-1179] writes: “Humanity, take a good look at yourself. Inside, you’ve got heaven and earth, and all of creation. You’re a world—everything is hidden in you.”

St. Teresa of Avila [1515-1582] writes about the journey through her metaphor of the Interior Castle: “It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.”

Fr. Thomas Merton [1915-1968] concurs, “Our real journey in life is interior.”

Wensinck, A. J. (1969). Mystic Treatises by Isaac of Niveveh. A. J. Wensinck.

Bingen, Hildegard von, and Mark Atherton. Selected Writings. Penguin Books, 2001.

Avila, Teresa of, The Interior Castle.

Merton, T. (1989). The Road to Joy: Letters to New and Old Friends. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition