Assembled

You may notice from some clothing labels that want you to think they were made in the USA, and therefore you should buy them, the label words read, "Assembled in the USA."  It does not say, "made."  What does this mean?  It might very well mean that most of the actual production of the item, say a hat, was made in some other country or countries.  Then the various parts of the hat are shipped to the USA and put together or assembled here, at a fraction of the labor cost of making the hat from scratch in the USA.  I think of this in terms of the spiritual journey.  Anyone who is truly searching for an in depth relationship with the Divine/God/Power, has probably assembled their spirituality from various sources.  Their spiritual formation has come over time in layers, or pieces as they learned from various experiences.  Someone might say, "I left the church, or Judaism, or Buddhist mediation."  What they might mean is that they no longer see themselves as members of that lineage.  But they take something of it with them as they continue to look at other paths.  Even those who say they are "Nones" are being influenced in some way and that will make a difference when they begin to consciously put together a spiritual practice to help them fill up what is missing or help them to navigate their life of work, relationship, and the seemingly ordinary everyday that is filled with the unknown extraordinary.