I went to Sunday School occasionally when I was young. When I was five, I loved it. We made mail pouches out of heavy brown paper; for some reason I remember that. We heard a story about dairy cows and then we got to draw pictures of the cows in the pasture. We sang simple songs that are embedded in my memory. “This Is My Father’s World” was one. I can still hear the old upright piano banging out that song and others.

Many of us on the path left the religion of our childhood behind us. That is only right and proper. But now I realize something. The energy embedded in those songs and teachings about God and Jesus carried powerful energy.

I sit in silence a lot. I breathe gratitude. I pray for grace. God’s energy is ever present in us and as us. But it is a choice. It is not freely given to mechanical man. To get it, we have to want it (pray for it) and it immediately fills us.

I have come to love Leonard Cohen and he loved his Jewish heritage. He wrote about broken hallelujahs, weary and isolated hallelujahs. I have been taken down to my knees many times in my life. Been dealt brutal blows and always God is available to me. It is I that turn away from him. It is still my Father’s World.

Spirituality starts at the broken places. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden. (The mind is cast out of the garden.) The Prodigal Son returned home. (The spirit returns to its divine heritage.)

There are esoteric teachings all around us, but the masses simply are not interested. As Gurdjieff said in so many words, “There is plenty of energy available for the few that want to wake up.”)

Jesus died conscious; the most powerful teaching ever given, perhaps.

Man is not in control of his earthly life. Bad things happen. Good people suffer. All of that is in the Bible. All we have to do is return home.

Vicki Woodyard