Deeper

 I am not looking for separateness or renunciation of the world up here in this monastery.  Rather, I am trying to bring  myself to a depth of experience, a deeper self-honesty, a greater removal of obstacles that hinder my connectivity with people.  We can live amidst a mass of people, or in a neighborhood, and yet connect only lightly with ourselves and others.  There is a difference between passing through life and passing by life.  I am very good at finding projects to detour me from the interior work.  Here, at the monastery, I seem to get caught more easily at this subterfuge.  God gets my inattention projects and shows them to me from time to time.  So the process of deepening is first of all to get beyond the bad habits, the detours.  We may grow faster than we think when all seems to be detours.  Grace is at work.  Be I way off track or on the path, grace is at work.