M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
Going
beyond "Regular Serendipity" to "Spiritual Serendipity"
By Richard Eyre
Editor's note: Richard Eyre continues
to welcome your feedback and inputs regarding his concept of the Three Deceivers
and the Three Alternatives. Write to him at Richard@meridianmagazine.com .
Tell him if you would be interested in receiving a copy of his book, written
in Serendip (Sri Lanka), called Serendipity
of the Spirit.
Spiritual Serendipity
Even though it is best understood after understanding "regular" serendipity, (and best applied by one who has learned to apply regular serendipity) spiritual serendipity is something completely different — a separate and higher form that is different not only in degree, but also in kind.
In regular serendipity, our awareness comes through perceptions of our senses and through the light of education, great books, great minds, and our own feelings.
In spiritual serendipity, our awareness comes through the perception of our spirit and through the light of scripture and prophets. The nudges and impressions we experience come from the Holy Ghost.
Just as the quality itself is higher, so is the method and process of pursuit higher (and harder). But it is worth all the effort we can give, because the rewards of spiritual serendipity, simply and straightforwardly put, are light and life, guidance and glory.
Definition of Terms (higher words for a higher quality)
I had one missionary under my direction who was partial to (and gifted in) statistics and mathematics. He took delight in asking me questions he knew I couldn't answer. One day he said, "President, what do you think is the most frequently repeated admonition in scripture?" I guessed that it was something to do with love. "No," he said. "The most frequent admonition is to ask."
I've thought about that a great deal. Why would it be such a recurrent theme? Why is God so anxious that we ask, that we knock — and so consistent in promising us that He will answer?
I think I'm understanding it better now, as my first children grow old enough to leave home. I want them to be individuals, to be independent and free, but I also have a lot of advice I want to give them, and know I'll still feel that way after they're gone. If they'll ask, I'll be able to give help and counsel that won't undermine their independence or their freedom. If they ask, it will be their initiative, not mine.
God, who has made a total commitment to our agency, (and designed a world to provide us with it) nonetheless remains a loving Father, caring for us and desiring to give to us. To do so without invitation would constitute interference and rob us of agency. No wonder, then, that He asks us so often to ask!
Poetic Overview
As with regular Serendipity,
spiritual
serendipity cannot be completely defined
with
words
(because more than a word it is a feeling).
Words
are useful only if they generate some image or glimpse
of
the feeling.
Spiritual
serendipity is the soft, sweet submission
of
spirit,
a
conscious dependency on the Lord, a decision to
"rely alone upon the merits of Christ." (
It is the righteous,
rigorous realization of the fact
that
when it comes to long-range planning,
life
is too complex for our own calculations
(thus the goal of a guided life — guided
by
a higher, more comprehensive source)
Spiritual serendipity
is sunshine,
which
lights and reveals
what
would otherwise be dark and unnoticed.
It is
the excitement and intrigue of a great game
in
which we ask questions and make requests
and
then try to summon the sensitivity necessary
to
recognize the answers
which
come sometimes in disguise
and
often with much softness and subtlety.
Because the spirit
gives life and light to the body,
spiritual
serendipity transmits to and effects our every part.
Parley
P. Pratt spoke of a force with could
"Adapt
itself to all our organs or attributes.
It quickens
all the intellectual faculties;
increases,
enlarges, expands, and purifies
all
the natural passions and affections.
...It
inspires, develops, cultivates, and matures all
the
fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings,
and
affections of our nature.
It inspires
virtue,
kindness,
goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity.
It develops
beauty of person, form, and features.
It tends
to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling.
It invigorates
all the faculties
of
the physical and intellectual man.
It strengthens
and gives tone to the nerves...it is...
joy
to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and
life
to the whole being."
Elder Pratt also compared
the spirit with electricity,
explaining
how it could warm and light
those
who, as pure conductors,
let
it enter them.
The metaphor of electricity
(dramatic then because electricity was so new)
is
perhaps even more profound now that electricity is everywhere
present
and
always at our disposal.
The spirit of
God, into which we can "plug" ourselves,
is
always there and always here. The circuitry is complete.
No
new line ever has to be gerry-rigged to answer
our
asking
or
meet our needs.
We simply must understand
how to plug in.
When we
do, the world, along with ourselves,
is
transformed.
We once had an old wheat grinder that could be operated either manually with a big iron hand crank or plugged in. With a thought toward building the family's arm muscles, I insisted that we grind by people-power.
One evening, several of the children and I were out in the breezeway where we kept the grinder. We were taking turns at the handle. That night, because time was short and I had to get to a meeting, we finally plugged in the grinder.
I watched the children's eyes as they watched the transformation. The hum and steady friction of the stone wheels warmed the whole machine and it seemed to glow with incredible strength and efficiency. Power, warmth, light, peace. The grinder could do more in five minutes with electricity than we could make it do in an hour — and with ease, softly, calmly. The power was there all the time, waiting. We only needed to plug it in.
The power of
God's spirit, transmittable to ours,
is
so vast.
And
its vastness alone, like a slow, sweeping river
turning
a water-wheel generator,
makes
it peaceful and calm, easy while strong.
We plug in with a three-prong
plug of awareness:
First,
a prong of sensual awareness
that
reveals opportunity, need, and deep reality to us
through
our five senses.
Second,
a prong of spiritual awareness,
a
knowing both of our own spiritual selves and
of
a higher spirit,
together
with an in-tuneness that pulls us to prayer.
Third,
a prong of attitudinal awareness
that
allows us to expect discoveries of interest and joy;
to
savor the surprises of sense and spirit.
It is
the attitude herein called spiritual serendipity,
adopted
into our souls,
which
calms us, opens our vision,
and
sweeps us into the currents of light.
We pursue serendipity
of the spirit, then,
by
developing awareness
through
the senses,
through
the spirit,
and
through an attitude that values, cultivates,
and
inter-connects the two.
A major tenet of our
religion is eternal progression
(defined as becoming more like God).
It could
be well-argued that the accumulation
of
additional awareness
is
synonymous with progress...
and
that the difference between God and men,
vast
as it is,
is
essentially a difference in awareness.
We may be ready now
for a clearer, simpler definition
of
spiritual serendipity:
It is the aware,
submissive, and sensitive condition
of
our spirits which makes them susceptible
to
the calm, the light, the peace, and the power
of
His spirit
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