Shared Experience

Arriving is not the same as staying.  Yes, first you must arrive, but then you have to do something more or different to stay.  If you go on a trip to experience a place or culture or lifestyle, you first have to do all that is required just to get there.  But once there, you do some other things to stay there, such as daily housekeeping, food, shelter and all.  You might need a map to find a place but once there, you need a different brochure to find your way around.  It is the same with a spiritual journey.  Recovery from addiction is an example.  The steps are a way to get sober.  A guide helps you.  But once you arrive at sobriety, you need something more to stay there.  If you want to actually lodge in sobriety you need to show other addicted people what you have done to get where you are.  Otherwise, you will just be "dry" and you won't stay there very long.  You make this great effort to arrive at a destination, but then do nothing required to stay there.  Sharing your experience is like paying the bill.  It would be like going to a buddhist temple and not meditating, or joining a church and then doing nothing more.  The spiritual condition can be a grind, but it beats the misery you left behind.  Hey, that's a rhyme!