I have recently been re-reading Beldon Lane’s fine book ‘The Solace of Fierce Landscapes‘, and was much taken by a quotation from one Barry Lopez who is writing about the difficulties involved in reaching a mysterious desert that symbolised for him what’s most worth finding. He writes:
There is, I should warn you, doubt…about the directions I will give you here, but they are the very best that can be had. They will not be easy to follow. Where it says left you must go right sometimes. Read south for north sometimes. It depends a little on where you are coming from, but not entirely. I am saying you will have doubts. [But] if you do the best you can you will have no trouble. (p.143)
And it struck me that these would be good words for me to put up as ‘A Disclaimer’, for people to read who come to me for spiritual direction.
Brilliant observation, Henry – I like it very much. And while some in your position might take at as licence to be careless in reflecting with someone else, I’m glad I know you well enough not to have any worries on that score! I suppose it’s similar to the fact that these days I find myself often saying things like ‘Well, that’s what it looks like to me’ rather being the cringeworthy dogmatic young person I once was!
It reminds me of Thomas Merton’s prayer, “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so … “