As For myself, this is one of the most thought provoking sites I’ve come across since I began my travels on the Super Information Highway.
http://www.thecourse.org.uk/wpaths.html>Spiritual Maps
The site gives permission to use any of the information found there so long as credit is given to the creator and I do that by providing this link to the site.
I found the “CAUTION” message to be most profound as I pondered its meaning.
MAPS OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY BACK HOME
- A Western Perspective -
CAUTION! - "The map is not the territory"
Many individuals have begun their own journey searching for “The meaning of life” and have found themselves standing at the portal into the spiritual realm. How they got there and what they discovered is as varied as the individuals.
Some “SEEKERS” believe they have found “THE WAY” and at that point they believe they know how to draw a map that others can follow to find their own way to that same destination. But, as the above WARNING indicates to travelers “The map IS NOT the territory.”
I want to include here the first paragraph found at the site.
God cannot be made to conform to our maps. Everyone's path is unique and some take the steps in different order and sometimes simultaneously and some appear to miss out some steps all together. Some experience visions, raptures, voices, ecstasy and other mystical and psychic experiences whilst the majority travel a less exuberant path but still reach the same destination - union with God and even beyond that union. We should not try to fit or force our experience into another's model or invalidate our discoveries because they do not conform to established models. Many of the challenges on the path return again and again in cyclic fashion until the journey is completed. What is required of us is to start out on an unknown journey with a faith that increases with experience. However, this warning aside, the advice of past trail blazers can at times be invaluable on our path home.<>
Life is a journey. Each of us travels from the womb to the grave. Some of us take side trips onto the road less traveled becoming explorers and trail blazers. I don’t think doing so has qualified me as an expert map maker.
I found this sentence to be especially profound: “What is required of us is to start out on an unknown journey with a faith that increases with experience.”
I also appreciated the fact that the author of the above paragraph indicates that ALL the different paths have the same destination. HOME! I have always been an appreciative fan of “old sayings.” Most of them, in my humble opinion, have a basis in fact or truth. “HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.”
Yes! I do consider myself to be an Explorer and possibly even A Trailblazer but I also might be a lousy traveling companion.
I may not be able to draw you a map that can lead you to where I hope to go but I do like to describe for anyone interested, the points of interest I have discovered along the way. I may stop at a wide place in the road and pitch camp. I like to sit on a fallen log or large rock and gaze into the crackling campfire I made and contemplate that day’s discoveries. Or I may lay down on a thick bed of pine needles and gaze up at the nighttime sky and be awed by the vastness of its expanse and marvel at the countless points of light I see displayed there.
All travelers are welcome to stop and share the warmth of my campfire. We can compare notes but you will have worn out your welcome if you are bold enough to try and convince me that I’m going the wrong way.
Think about this fact: If my way is so wrong, how come you are here with me at this moment? Are you lost too?