November 10, 2026
Bear Storyteller (c. 1994), by Seferina Ortiz, a Cochiti Pueblo potter. Tucson Museum of Art
Photo: Joseph Howell
Welcome to this week’s Daily Reflections on “The Interior Life.”
Many of us are in a constant dialogue with our deeper selves. Yet many of us do not always go into our interior life. We may deny many experiences that affect us. We may set aside potential realizations, and therefore never make connections between our deeper thoughts and our conscious life. In short, we engage in little or no inner dialogue with the soul.
If this happens it is because we have bypassed the interior of our being. Instead of being drawn inward to the soul, we can remain on the surface of existence. Skimming the surface can be less challenging than paying attention to what lies deep within us, to the soul's profound concerns. What lies beneath our surface can be both illuminating and disturbing. But it is always a way to become more conscious. The price of entering the interior life may be great, but the price of not entering it can be far greater.
Sadly, those of us who live on the surface may be happy but feel hollow and empty within. Most of us do not stay with that feeling. It is too uncomfortable. We naturally want to feel whole and solid within. We want to feel our inner substance, without which our lives are thin, superficial, and one-dimensional. So, the ego can protect us by filling our plates with a plethora of activities and interests that seem to prove our worth and substance. Or the ego may trick us into believing we already know our innermost selves. So, in this case our ego imitates depth instead of experiencing it. It uses buzzwords that make us feel spiritual when we use them. It may even draw analogies between ego and soul. But it cannot go beyond those mental constructs to the living, breathing soul beneath.
But the ego’s tricks can bring their own suffering. Many who have lived only in their exterior lives and engaged in spiritual bypassing eventually feel starved for intimacy with themselves, not to mention with God. When they reach a critical mass of suffering, their journey into wholeness can begin.
Many dear souls are walled off from the very person whose spiritual nature depends on knowing, learning to understand them, and working with themselves. Those who have bypassed their interior lives do not know of the treasures they miss. They are unaware of such things as soul memories, inner knowings, spiritual intuition, and even inner soul needs that remain dormant undiscovered.
Conversations with someone familiar with their interior self are often marked by their being vulnerable and by referencing their ongoing struggles. This does not mean their conversations are always profound. It does not mean they take no stands. But when we are with them, even if the conversation is light or in passing, we know we have been profoundly in their presence.
Each of us has an interior landscape shaped by our genetics, childhood experiences, object relations, relationships, traumas, enchantments, relationship with the Divine, and the whole course of our lives. If we are familiar with our own inner territory, we have more spaciousness for our inner work to roam in search of spiritual formation and growth. This is why becoming familiar with our interior selves is vital to consciousness, connection with others and with the Divine.
This week, we will reflect on the interior life.
Spiritual Practice
Could you write an essay on the terrain of your innermost self? If not an essay, could you do a collage of your interior map? Do you see intensity, depth, color, texture, gaps, mountains, rivers, oceans, deserts, plains, darkness, and light? What do these features represent? How conscious are you of this interior terrain?
Inquiry
What are some reasons why you would want to know the entire landscape of your inner life?
Prayer
Dear God,
Take me on another guided tour. I cannot learn enough.
Amen
