The "book end" metaphor of spirituality

   I had this idea on my way home from work today, which relates to how my experience of spiritual life is literally book-ended: caught between the covers of books. This is not to say that I see spirituality as an intellectual form of book reading, but recently my ideas about what makes a person "spiritual" have expanded a lot.
    I think the important aspect of spiritual life is that it always exists as a narrative which is shaped by communities of practice. Contrary to popular belief, spiritual practices are not about this lone traveler who transcends all social life. In fact, a person's spirituality is literally being mediated by language all the time, even to the point where evaluating how one interprets a spiritual experience is predicated on texts and the wisdom passed down along a lineage. Communities confirm or dis-confirm one's path, and this also becomes a point of reflection on that path. I would say that all of this confirms the important role that community plays in spiritual life.
  But there is more to this "book end" metaphor than that. Since there is always a space "between" book ends, one should also look for the spaces between different discourses that are out there on spiritual life and practice. There are also practices and ways of being that simply don't fall into words at all. Knowing that there are these spaces of unknown or unnameable states of being can help people become less literal minded about the texts they read. Does this suggest that an eclectic approach works better? In some cases, it might, but perhaps a good way to look at it is that texts are always serving as go-betweens for vast spaces of spirit that can only be known through a direct contemplation through practice.