Introduction to the Keys
In our extraordinary age, much of the scholarship and religious tradition of past generations and all of the knowledge and spiritual explorations of those sharing our planet now are literally at our fingertips. Where to begin? How to proceed? My premise is simple: start with the universal spiritual fundamentals, then find the practices, traditions, teachings, and art that help you understand and embody those fundamentals best. If you find one religion or path that provides a cohesive, complete spiritual practice, pour your heart into it without reservation. In the more common experience of restless seekers in our multicultural, media-bombarded age, however, you are likely to build for yourself instead a living spirituality of interwoven truths and practices.
What do I mean by “fundamentals”? The fundament of a building is its foundation, the anchored, solid, reliable base on which the rest is built. I am not alluding to fundamentalism in the loosely applied common parlance of fundamentalist religious sects, which invariably insist that their theology is the only fundament for all. Instead, I would like to suggest to you that there are fundamental practices—or call them ideas, precepts, virtues, as you like—that you can apply to your life as all people who have sought a deeper relationship with Life always have applied. I call them the Keys to Spiritual Practice. The ten Keys are Discipline, Simplicity, Prayer and Meditation, Study, Faith and Doubt, Forgiveness, Community, Creativity, and Gratitude.
These ten Keys provide the anchored, solid, reliable foundation on which you build a spiritual practice. Work and play with them. Search for them with devotion in all faiths, philosophies, and arts; you will find them wherever words ring True. Ask the women and men you most admire; you will find their lives based on them. Do not just read about them in a book; test them in your life and judge the results for yourself, in yourself.
To introduce and illustrate the Keys in this little volume, I have turned to my own bookshelf—the library of White Cloud Press. A small independent book publisher, White Cloud offers spiritual inspiration and exploration of worlds of faith and experience. Intentionally eclectic, the titles in the White Cloud Press catalog naturally serve to illustrate the universal nature of the Keys to Spiritual Practice. These authors have expressed the core principles better than I ever could, so it is my role to gather the examples like flowers into a bouquet. Hopefully, the arrangement offers a fresh perspective, a new opportunity for in-sight.
Remember, it is called a spiritual “practice.” Not a destination. Not a single lifelong conclusion.You don’t have to “win” a practice, nor can you lose, unless you quit. Use these Keys in your daily life, all your days. Your practice will become mastery and, I am certain, full of Love.
Copyright © 2012 Gary Kliewer. Unless otherwise noted, all photos copyright © 2012 Eric Alan
