Human beings have created dozens, if not hundreds, of methods to let go of their ordinary hustle and bustle and move inward, closer to an unseen reality. Many of these practices derive from religious traditions, for example, praying the rosary as in Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and other denominations. The various forms of Yoga can be connected to religious groups. Some methods, such as the popular TM meditation practiced by Dr. Oz and his staff, offer programs to help people learn how to do it. Freer from organizational connections is Martin Boroson’s simple One Moment Meditation.
Whatever the method, the spiritual practices have much in common. In general, there is a liberation from the outside world and a return inward to seek a connection with the ineffable, the divine, or ultimate reality. The experience can be deepened with elements such as music, lighting, scents, etc. The key factor is that the human being can travel to another dimension, so to speak. The world of usual everyday life is set aside for a time to travel to another realm, beyond the regular routine life. Spiritual practices can provide a variety of benefits, from simple stress reduction through creative insights and better relationships to overcoming the fear of death.
A lesser-known way to connect with the mystery beyond ordinary life is to read poetry. Furthermore, listening to poetry can be a vehicle towards a state of happiness. Reading, reading aloud, and listening regularly can produce rich spiritual experiences. Poetry can be found virtually free at libraries, online, and at local poetry readings, among many other places.
Often reading poetry also ignites the inner fire of writing it. When an individual is open to mind, body, and spirit, any experience, whether joyous or painful, can transform into a state of flow, inviting the gift of a poem. Stafford’s son, Kim Stafford, tells the story of his father who gets up every morning before dawn. He would sit in a chair in a dark room with his poet’s notebook in hand, he would sit and wait for what gift would form on the page that day. He would follow that “golden thread”, as he called it, as far as he wanted to go. That was his practice, quite devout and spiritual of him: he wrote that he would exchange all his poems for the experience of writing the next one.
Reading poetry and writing poetry can be a path to a deep spiritual awareness. Taking this road “less traveled” has been for many people, including me, a rewarding practice in exploring mystery, wonder, forgiveness, grievance, and transformation.