Sometimes when we are not looking too closely at the details, we can see the intention. I recognized recently how even when I am lost, there is some part of me that is somehow reaching for the light, just the same way that a plant gropes past the rocks into the sunlight. It reminds me of an idea from St Augustine--namely, that there is no such thing as "evil", only a kind of misplaced good or ideal that might just happened to be channeled into something worldly but is always somewhere in the spirit realm.
One can interpret all activity in a worldly or a spiritual sense. If I am interpreting my behaviors only as impure or "of the world", I miss out on the underlying spiritual aspirations. Something as simple as gardening, for example, may be seen dismissively (perhaps) as "digging in the dirt" or only in terms of planting vegetables and flowers, but on another level, it could represent and embody many spiritual aspirations. We see this symbolically in the form of "planting karmic seeds" in Buddhism, but also in the way that cultivation embodies the principles of cause/condition, impermanence, dependent origination and so on. Gardening is one concrete way of realizing such kinds of principles. What I am trying to argue here is that even the most mundane experiences could, when looked at deeply, be interpreted in a spiritual sense as long as one is willing to use their imagination to seek something below the surfaces.
This makes me wonder whether everything could potentially be a spiritual practice. I believe so, if pursed with the correct and proper attitude. But perhaps the biggest habit I should engage in is to see how deep down, sentient beings want to find the light.
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