it might be difficult, at first blush, to get something seemingly tangible, practical, and readily applicable to one’s day-to-day life from poetry or spirituality. But men die miserably every day from lack of what is found there. In other words, we humans suffer needlessly from an absence of what can be found in poetry and in spirituality.

True spirituality is the degree to which you are out of thought and connected with life. The kingdom of heaven is within.

Our connection to the spiritual plane is the antidote to the ego’s insanity. It gives us a sense of wisdom, scale, and righteousness. It gives us confidence and power. It is the prayer that our work be used by God to make the world a better place.

Most people’s spiritual paths end there, at the personal. When most people think of spiritual tools for change, growth, and finding peace, they think of themselves working internally to increase serenity, perspective, and wisdom. In contemporary American culture, we rarely view a spiritual path as having much, if anything, to do with the peace, ser

As Augustine put it, “Where there’s humility there is majesty; where there’s weakness, there’s might; where there is death, there’s life. If you want to get these things don’t disdain those.” T. S. Eliot once captured the ideal of religious life: “A condition of complete simplicity / (Costing not less than everything).”

The practice of spirituality is a way of looking at a world where you’re not alone. There are deeper meanings behind the surface. The energy around you can be harnessed to elevate your work. You are part of something much larger than can be explained—a world of immense possibilities.

Trial, temptation, and struggle are the making of the contemplative. Take away these and you take away tremendous opportunity for growth, depth, and wisdom.