Mother Theresa and Me

I'm in the air on a United flight headed toward Denver, to be interviewed on an episode of the Stuart Davis Show, "Sex, God and Rock & Roll.

I'll be interviewed along with Spiritual Cowgirl, Sera Beak, author of The Red Book (http://www.amazon.com/Red-Book-Deliciously-Unorthodox-Approach/dp/0787980544), which you must immediately purchase and dive into tip to toe - after you finish reading this post, of course. I found and read Sera's book when I was writing my own website, re-defining my life path, passion and what I wanted to put into the world. She'll inspire you to re-define your divinity, devotion and spirituality, in the sassiest, most delicious and intrepid ways possible.

But back to what Stuart and I are going to talk about:

Relationship As A Spiritual Path: Can a relationship do what an ashram does? In what ways do we use spiritual practices, communities or teachers to avoid deeper engagement with ourselves and partners?

Sexuality a a Spiritual Practice: What do I actually DO when I support people to re-define monogamy?

"The Age of Integration": We are at the apex of an evolutionary arc which has thrown people, cultures and perspectives - which previously never could have reached each other - into the melting pot of exchange and contact. What does that mean for relationships?

You'll have to tune in to the interview to get the full discussion (I'll let you know when and how to watch it), but the heart of it is that relationships, or should I say relating (the active, kinetic and dynamic verb form, rather than the static noun form) and sex most certainly can be profound, life-long spiritual path.

There is no place that is not holy, no moment that can't offer you opening to God. Perhaps there is no better place than relationships.

The way I see it, spirituality is a path, a journey, a way, with some goals along the way:
- To become fully adult human beings, to ripen the mind, body and emotions in order to awaken to the truth of who we are.
- To align with what matters, and know that nothing really matters. To be a loving, loved human being, wringing all sacred and irreverent experience from this incarnation.
- To mature the mind, body and emotions to have the experience of unity, rather than duality and separateness.
- To align our humanity with divinity; is is our humanity's interplay with divinity.
- To achieve the goal of awakening and/or enlightenment, which to come to know, beyond doubt, from direct experience, Who We Are, What does not die, That which exists always, even when the body dies.

Anything in life, with clear intention, can offer spiritual path; relationship, ashram, dancing, the dishes...

We can get confused and think that being really nice, selfless, generous and meditating a lot is very spiritual, and is what enlightenment and spirituality is about. Enlightenment and spirituality are nothing but kissing cousins, but that's for another blog post. Spirituality isn't about being Good; its about aligning with and acting from love, devotion, celebration and enjoyment as our default, not because it gets us sainted or points in heaven, but because it feels the best and is the most fun, and opens us to divinity the quickest.

As says Mother Theresa:


* PEOPLE are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

* If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

* If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

* If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

* What you take years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

* If you find serenity and joy, some may be jealous. Be joyful anyway.

* The good you do today will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

* Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

* In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.


Relationships seem like they are "between you and them," and on one level they are; they do ripen us into our humanity. Relationships are also a microcosm of what's most sacred, "between you and God."