Sharing Sacred to the Everyday

After experiencing a pilgrimage, I generally feel the need for time to process and integrate what has occurred.  I try to grasp the moment with words, and have an urge for sharing the sacred to the everyday.  But how can one describe the ineffable?  

The life of expression is the tuning fork by which we find our way to the sacred. Mark Nepo

In creating this blog and posting frequently to social media, I am trying to highlight the sacred that is accessible to us.  One has to drop down from the everyday world to appreciate this, and may not be in the right mental space to enter the sacred.  But all I can do is offer it, and if one chooses to receive it, a gift of wonder will be waiting.  

Why is sharing sacred to the everyday not part of our vernacular?  This process is not for solely the mystery schools or those who enter a monastery or convent.  It is available for us all, but we have to want it.  

In Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes, she shares “instructions for living a life”.  These are 

Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

And even though Oliver offers these tips to live a life, I feel this is to live a sacred life.  But I would like to expand on her principles.

Pay Attention

Be Intentional. 

Slow Down. 

Use your five senses 

Minimize Use of Devices.

Be Astonished

Observe the world with wonder

Allow yourself to partake in joy

Let yourself be surprised

Be childlike

Tell About It

Write this down, even for you to remember

The sacred is not secret. 

Share information with others, who are receptive to it

Listen to others’ stories

When we allow ourselves to step into the sacred, our world expands.  The five senses are highlighted.  Time is stretched. We shift from a mode of searching for more to satisfaction. Life is fuller when we experience the world as sacred. 

You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.

Joseph Campbell

*To check out a previous post on prepping for a pilgrimage, check this blog out https://amodernpilgrimage.com/top-5-things-you-need-when-preparing-for-a-pilgrimage/