The ultimate desire and the 'Journey of Ascent'

Psalm 37: 4, Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of yourheart.

So far I have been posting quotes about the mystical idea of the journey of ascent, especially in several Abrahamic religions. Let me get a little more personal.

Somewhere in my childhood, an intense desire was implanted in my soul. It is a desire that is hard to describe. I could call it a ‘desire for God’, or a ‘desire for Truth.’ It could also be described as a ‘desire to make the world a better place’, or possibly a ‘desire to help people.’

This desire was inchoate for most of my first thirty years. I restlessly tried this and then that, trying to understand what was the insatiable desire within me that would not allow me to rest.  In my late teens an early 20s, I helped start several communes and was involved in protests against the Vietnam War. I read a lot of utopian literature. I was attracted to the idea of forming a just and equitable society, where all men and women are treated with dignity and respect, where everyone had ample opportunity to fully realize their potential. For a while, I even became a Trotskyite socialist!

I eventually married and had my own mystical experience with divine agape love. This agape love came to

me in the form of my sweet Debbie and was revealed to me to be Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, a new aspect of my journey of ascent began … and became more focused on the Ikon of God, the divine Logos.

We became involved with a Christian “community”, initially not unlike the communes that I had started. A group of people, banding together to make themselves (and the world) a better place, only under the authority of Christ, and with the empowerment of his Spirit.

I gave myself to serving in mundane ways.  Setting up chairs, being an usher, taking charge of the sound equipment. I put myself under the discipline of a spiritual guide. I strove (jihad in Arabic) to allow God’s Spirit and his Word to form my flawed human character more closely according to the example of Christ.

Why did I do all of this? Because of that intense, undying desire within me that drove me onwards (and upwards) that I am calling the journey of ascent.

To be continued tomorrow!