My Spiritual Jigsaw

Since my first involvement in Unitarian Universalism I have heard people talk about their spiritual journeys. I have never felt that I am on a journey. A journey implies a destination or a purpose. So, for many years, I’ve talked about my spiritual jigsaw puzzle.

In 2004 I attended a weeklong session for UU lay leaders ran by the Northeast Leadership School (NELS). I spent the whole week during classes and outside of classes working on the doodle you see over there. One of the goals of the week was to write our own credo, and by the time we got to the end of the week I had decided that the doodle was in fact my credo. And more than that, I decided it was my spiritual jigsaw puzzle.

In my jigsaw puzzle, everything is connected to everything else: woman to man to animal to plant, to all living things, to the natural world, to the earth, to the universe, to history, to tomorrow, to ideas, to writings, to art, to music – to love.

The puzzle has no edges, it has no boundaries, and it can’t be completed because not everything can be understood or even analyzed. The most I hope for is to find new meaning, new truths and when I’m especially lucky - new connections. There are voids in the center of my puzzle that need other people to bring them to wholeness.

The interconnections are not simple. They twist and turn in all directions. Sometimes they may run parallel with other connections, sometimes they diverge, or cross, or disappear altogether, perhaps reappearing elsewhere. Some of them are clear and distinct, others hazy or blocked from view by anger or sadness or fear or some other emotion.

Some connections are soft, warm and comfortable. At other times they are hard, harsh, sharp and painful. They can be beautiful, but some aren’t. Look too close at some things and clarity is lost, but stand too far back from life and the details are lost. Things are connected in ways I may never understand, even if I see it all, but I certainly won’t see the connections if I don’t pay attention.

When I first encountered Unitarian Univarsalism, “spirituality” was one of those words I was uncomfortable with. It probably ran a pretty close third to God and religion. Over the years I have become more comfortable using all of those words even though they still come entangled with my own history. At three church auctions I have won the bidding on “a sermon on a topic of your choice”. Helen Cohen and David Boyer each preached on “What is Spirituality?” and I believe Rev Bill owes me one on the same topic. Although I’m still working on getting comfortable with the words God and religion, on the topic of Spirituality, I’m getting pretty close to being able to offer up my own sermon for auction on the that topic. I guess I’ve come a long way over all those years. I now just have fun working on this jigsaw puzzle that has no edges.