From Deeper Waters to the Pathless Land
The Hidden Tension in "Spiritual Growth"
Robert Llewelyn (1909-2008) was a priest of the Church of England who served as the chaplain at the Julian Shrine in Norwich, England from 1976 to 1990. He was the author of several contemplative books, including With Pity, Not with Blame, from which this quote is taken:
Once we have shown ourselves ready to enter the shallows, it will not be long before God summons us into deeper waters. — Robert Llewelyn
Such an evocative idea, and it reveals a tension at the heart of contemplative spirituality. On the one hand, there is a developmental dynamic at play in much contemplative teaching: it all suggests that contemplation is a journey, a pilgrimage, a directed path that leads us somewhere: we make the ascent up Mount Carmel; we tour the Interior Castle; we ascend the Scale of Perfection; we climb with Dante (and Merton) to the summit of the Seven Storey Mountain.
These are all metaphors, of course, for what is in essence an interior journey: we travel from purification to illumination to union, we journey through the four weeks of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, and we plumb deeper and deeper into the misty darkness of the Cloud of Unknowing.
But is this really what the spiritual life is all about? Is it really a gradual curriculum, like making our way through elementary school, high school, college, graduate school, and eventually on to post-doc fellowships?
This question brings us to the other side of the tension. That’s the recognition that this is all a function of grace, and we don’t have to travel anywhere or even do anything at all to bask in the freely given light of divine love. There’s no mountain to climb, no cloud to pierce, no program to complete. As Van Morrison (inspired by Krishnamurti) said, “No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.” Indeed, it was Krishnamurti who famously said “truth is a pathless land” in 1929, nearly a century ago.
So which is it? Does God call us into ever-deepening waters, or is the mystical life about walking the wayless way? From a non-dual perspective, there’s only one answer: yes.
Go deeper. Go higher. Walk farther. Learn more. Grow in grace. And do it all knowing that none of it is required of you. Be here now. Rest. Receive. Enjoy. In the mystery, it is all one.
Truth is a pathless land. — J. Krishnamurti
