There are many paths in our Journey to self realisation. And to our connection with Spirit. Each pathway is infused with learnings and pitfalls as with all things.  Mostly each pathway is a product of the culture we are in, have grown up or or find ourselves in.

What of borrowing ways of connecting? Is there anything wrong with this? Well there are no right or wrongs as such in the Spirit realm. There just is. However it is for us to have discernment and to seek to find if we are acting with integrity or are seeking to emulate. Yes there is no reason why one may not feel more drawn to Buddhist chants than the hymns one sung at school. Or to the iconography from an Irish Catholic church than the simplicity of a prayer hall.

However we need to have respect when collecting traditions. Are we doing it as citizens of the world and have we got a real affinity with that tradition. Or did we quite like the look of that Buddha, Shamanic Drum and thought we would have it in our living room, with no investigation into the background of this sacred object, what it represents to the people who revere such an object and how it really has a place in our lives at all.

There is no real point in having a Buddha on your bathroom wash stand if you have no real connection to his teachings. Ask yourself is that object there because it has some real significance to me. To my spiritual practice to my sense of self. Or did I buy it because it looks good and I fancied some art in the space. This is about integrity in our spiritual practice.

We all need something to hold onto at times, and often inconography serves as a useful reminder of those practices we already have in place.  However if we start borrowing from cultures the world over, having never visited those cultures, never  been soaked in their resonance then we need to ask ourselves what coat are we wearing and why. And what is it we are running away from. What are we seeking to find in someone else’s traditions.

And if truly the traditions of another people’s call to you, then the only way to have true integration is to go to that land and to really steep yourself in those learnings. And in the absence of that due to time, money or other constraints then we find an authentic teacher, direct from that tradition, from those lands from which to learn. If we seek watered down teachers and teachings we shall be left with a watered down practice.

So there are times in the  year when visiting teachers come to the UK, when visiting Shamanic Healers come to the UK and these are good opportunities to at least dip your toes in before you actually go out to that land.

Everything has energy- so that Buddha on your wash stand, that Tibetan Shamanic Drum, all have a story and an energy. It requires a mindfulness and a respect to have such objects in our space. A real connection to the work and practices they represent and in fact a committment to bring that practice into one’s every day life. Otherwise why have the object?

Let us have integrity in our connection to Spirit. Above all inthe tools we use to connect. For then when we come with an open and honest heart, the pathway is so much clearer and so much more direct. Seek your direct communion with the Divine through the most direct means you know how. That does not often involve trickery or trinkets. It requires a connection to the truth of your connection.

So if your heart has always felt drawn to Egyptian Mysticism then go uncover that. To Tibetan Bon Medicine, go seek that out, to Japanese Zen Buddhism then go seek it out. In that land. With those teachers. And truly immerse yourself in it. Till you get there, seek to be the student, to have the humility to know this is a cultural tradition you are stepping into. So do so with Grace and with Pure Intentions.