I love to read Lowell Grisham's blog (see this page for a link). Today I read the following:
Rabbi Shapiro suggests that there are "three major phases of life." After we have spent some time, usually some considerable time, achieving some degree of financial success, most people find that pursuit unsatisfying, and shift into a second phase of accumulating -- this time "accumulating spiritual things the way you used to accumulate material ones. You 'collect' gurus, seminars, retreats, and mystical experiences in pursuit of the next spiritual high."
He says that this second phase of spiritual accumulation eventually "proves unsatisfying, and you enter the third phase -- divestment. You simplify your life externally and internally. You stop chasing gurus and focus on those few people who really matter to you. You stop shopping for enlightenment and make peace with not-knowing. You realize that life isn't a question to be answered or a problem to be solved but a gift to be enjoyed, both in solitude and with loving friends. The first two phases are hard work. The third is pure play."
I took a moment to look up this Rabbi Rami Shapiro and found:
"Organized religion is sane and not silly when read as myth and poetry rather than science and law. Religion speaks nonsense when taken literally, but reveals some of the deepest truths of humankind when understood mythically, poetically, and even allegorically—that is when it is read with an active and creative imagination."
Excellent stuff! I am now a follower if Rabbi Shapiro's blog.
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