"Wohin auch immer wir reisen, wir suchen, wovon wir träumten, und finden doch stets nur uns selbst."
Which being translated, means: "Wherever we travel, we seek what we dreamed of, but always find only ourselves."
Every day we are on this Earth, we are adding new adventures, new experiences to our lives. And we always, always take our past experiences along with us. Every human being is the sum of their experiences. And these past experiences will inevitably have an impact on how we perceive what is in front of us today, now. That is how we learn, how we grow.
I don't think it is possible to "start afresh" to leave our pasts behind us. At least not completely. Because our brains do not get wiped clean of our memories. But it is possible to process our experiences, to discern their meaning, to learn from them, and then to move on, enriched by them.
Both therapy and spiritual direction help with this process. When I started my spiritual direction training, we were given a beautiful poem by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin on the first week of the three year course.
Patient Trust
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
If we can trust, we will find ourselves in the course of our journey through life.gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
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