I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of the master. Early in my spiritual journey, I secretly aspired to be one, hoping spiritual practices, would perfect me, honing my skills and erasing my blemishes, changing me into someone worthy of the title. Paradoxically, I was also uncomfortable with the word, sensing my goal was rooted in arrogance and somehow missing the mark.
I had an image of the master as expert, someone who could answer any spiritual question, who could solve the dilemma of how to live a spiritual life in a material world of sense desires and human conflict. That image offered a sense of control, but it was incorrect. It borrowed from the material world, where content knowledge does create experts, answer questions, and solve problems. It doesn’t work that way on the path of spiritual growth, where answers and solutions are not the primary currency. The concept of mastery is very much alive, but less distant and more personal.
In recent years, I’ve begun to use a different term to describe my journey. I think of myself as an initiate, one who is always searching and exploring the spiritual realms as a beginner. This title carries less arrogant weight but retains the commitment. The idea of mastery remains, now referring to the continually dynamic process of mastering myself. I don’t mean this in terms of self-control, which would be another misplaced use of the word “master.” I mean the simple fact that I have been given a unique task that only I can accomplish.
Just like you, I am a completely unique collection of qualities that can never be replicated. My inherent nature, my life history, my DNA, my strengths and limitations, all form a collage of humanness with a singular perspective. And, like you, I am drawn by the spiritual impulse to walk a path toward something greater than myself that also expresses myself. I walk that path from within my singular perspective, facing a parade of dilemmas that force me to make choices, hopefully from the better angels of my nature, at least more often than not.
I’ve learned that my task is to accept that this collage is who I am. No. More than accept – to embrace it, to love it. No matter how flawed or stained, no matter how many mistakes or failed choices, I am the only living soul that can walk this exact path, the only one who can see the frailties and grandeur of humanness from this perspective and make the choices I can make. And of course, I also bring my unique talents and strengths, capacity to care, avenues of harmony, and breathtaking beauty to the task as well. I am here, as initiate and as master, the alpha and omega of this one life, with burdens and gifts that only I can offer. There is no other who can enact the genius that I am and fulfill the solitary promise the universe made when I was born.
It is a sacred task. To shy away, to leave these choices dormant, mistakes unmade, gifts unopened, is unthinkable. I choose the path of mastery as a commitment to service and self-discovery, not as a mark of achievement bestowed at some magical point of arrival, but as the stance from which I meet each moment.
Photo by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash