We take long trips
we puzzle over the meaning of a painting or a book,
when what we're wanting to see and understand
in this world, we are that.

These words were spoken eight centuries ago by a Sufi mystic named Jelaluddin Rumi. They are still true.

The spiritual life for which you are longing - you already are. The true spiritual life is in every act, every gesture. It is not something separate that happens when you meditate, or when you feel blissful or calm. Your very human-ness is your spirituality. This is why awareness of yourself and your actions is so very important.

When you are aware of yourself two things happen. First: you stop missing life as it unfolds. You are sharply aware and you see things in three dimensions. You hear in symphony and smell the wind. Like the deer, alert to every sound.

Sometimes, things may seem ugly. Your own feelings and thoughts are enough to make you want to run. But if you stay aware, you can catch the essence and magic of them.

Secondly, when you are aware, you start to see your own actions in a new light. As you become adept at being yourself you see how your actions affect the world and people around you. You can then make the effort to stop offending others and to become a pleasant force in your world. You start placing your foot prints where you want them to be.

This is how the mystic steps out of karma. With awareness you can stop creating ripples of negativity.

Rumi also says, "Most people guard against going into the fire and so end up in it."
You may be looking for a magical spirituality to bloom out of your heart, but all that is going to happen is more and more of yourself.

For instance: say you admire love and are against anger. You try to give love - and are disappointed with the results! Little angers build and you stuff them away. What you are really doing is stuffing yourself with anger. It will eventually blow out of you in angry fits.

But watch the situation with awareness. The same things are happening; you are giving love and stuffing anger, but there is a new dimension: your awareness. How long can you watch yourself do such a crazy thing?

Eventually you will laugh at the silly monkey you are. You will gain an understanding of why everyone behaves in such an outrageous manner. You won't become offended when others spurt anger because you know, closely and intimately, that you also have this same thing in yourself. The wheel of karma is stopped. Their actions won't piss you off and then the love can flow on its own, unimpeded. A little anger, a little love; it's a natural thing.

So look for yourself inside your own maze of cover-up and illusion. Open the pages of the book of your everyday life and puzzle over that.