[We become] fully spiritual when we come alive on the highest level of our caring, of our caring for one another and caring for this planet.

Br. David Steindl-Rast

Welcome to Day Five of Enliven Your Spirit

Oh, our beloved, suffering world. No matter where you live on the planet, there is no shortage of legitimate reasons for hopelessness and despair. Daily, it seems, new sorrows find their way to us — violence and wars, persistent systems of inequity, and the dire consequences of global warming. In our efforts to not turn away from what is happening in the world, not only can our hearts be broken but we can also feel powerless to make a difference, paralyzed in the face of such crises.

Is it enough in these troubled times to be grateful for what is working? For a blue sky or needed rain, for a friend or kind neighbor, for our very breath? The answer isn’t simple. Appreciating life’s gifts is absolutely foundational to spiritual aliveness, but it’s not the whole story. Without action, gratefulness, or any spiritual practice really, is incomplete — a bud that never flowers, a book never read, a hallelujah never sung. 

Br. David Steindl-Rast says that we become “fully spiritual when we come alive on the highest level of our caring, of our caring for one another and caring for this planet.” In other words, our spiritual aliveness — while rooted in the body, fueled by our inner mystic, and supported by quiet contemplation — comes to maturity through our care and action. “Gratefulness,” he continues, “will be that full response which releases the full power of my compassion. Gratefulness is creative and overflows into action.”

Action can take many forms. It might be public and obvious — the volunteer hours, the protest, the community garden, the op-ed, the artistic creation. Or it might be quiet and less visible — the letter or donation, the voting booth, the generous and compassionate listening, the random act of kindness that offers someone a sense of belonging. What matters is not its scale. What matters is that we do it — that the pulse of our spiritual aliveness can be felt deep within, while being expressed outwardly through our action and care.

Today’s Practice: Come Alive through Action

In 2018, Dr. Donald E. Miller at the University of Southern California launched a project to profile 100 exceptional humanitarians from around the world to uncover the characteristics of Spiritual Exemplars. The exemplars include individuals from 13 religious traditions, as well as people who are deeply spiritual but not part of institutional religion. What these “spiritual exemplars” have in common is an engaged spirituality — a spirituality that both compels and sustains them as they work on the world’s most difficult humanitarian issues.

After watching the film, take a few moments to contemplate the following questions before beginning the practice. Welcome whatever insights or feelings arise. As I invite and nurture greater spiritual aliveness within, how am I called to be in the world? What needs my care?

Step One: Choose One Thing

With a spiritual orientation of the heart, identify one thing for which you’re deeply grateful but which is currently at risk — anything from a local natural habitat to quality schools, a relationship in your life to world peace. Take a few moments to consider all the ways you appreciate and value this particular thing or idea. How is your life and the life of those you love made better — possible, even — because of the existence and future of this particular thing?

Step Two: Take Action

From this place of gratitude, come up with one new action you can take to nourish and sustain what you care about, something that is an outward expression of your aliveness. Remember that small actions matter.

Step Three: Reflect

After you’ve put your gratefulness into action, take some time to reflect:

  • What does spirituality in action look like for you?
  • In what ways does taking action expand your definition of what it means to be spiritual?
  • How does your action, in a circle of reciprocity, nourish your own spirit? 

Enlivening Your Spirit Is a Lifelong Journey

As you come to the close of the Pathway, spend some time retracing your journey through the last five days and thinking about the road ahead.

  • How would you describe or map the connections among what makes you feel alive, attention to sensory experiences, your inner mystic, the cultivation of silence, and your compassionate care and action?
  • What practices from the Pathway do you want to carry forward to continue the work of enlivening your spirit?
  • How has your definition of spirituality evolved over the course of the Pathway?

Scroll to the bottom of the page (or click here) to find the Community Conversation space where we invite you to share your reflections about today’s practice and the Pathway overall.

Deepening Resource

In A Mighty Purpose by Reflections of Life, Bronwen Lankers-Byrne reminds us how important it is to act on behalf of that which we hold sacred. Here at the close of the Pathway, as a sense of aliveness helps us remember what we most cherish, her words are especially powerful: “Each time one person speaks out against injustice, they create a tiny ripple of change. And when many different ripples join together, they form a current which our leaders cannot ignore.”

Research Highlight

There are numerous studies demonstrating that individuals who feel they have a purpose in life report a greater sense of overall life satisfaction. One of the ways that we can increase this sense of meaning and purpose in our lives is to connect with other people through community engagement and volunteering. Volunteers not only gain the benefit of social connection, they report reduced stress and anxiety. The act of volunteering or donating, in and of itself, increases individuals’ sense of life satisfaction and meaning. 

Thoreson, Angela. Helping people, changing lives: 3 health benefits of volunteering. mayoclinichealthsystem.org, 1 August 2023.

Photo by Marek Studzinski


Pathways